10 reasons to visit… Luxembourg

Having just returned from a short trip to Luxembourg, I thought I’d continue with our ’10 reasons to visit’ series by giving you a few reasons why you should consider a trip to this central European country. Luxembourg may be small, but it’s certainly worth a visit, and here’s why: 1. Great links with the … Read more

Why Fluent English Language is Important for Business

Today we have a post by guest blogger Jeff Peters on the importance of the English language in the business world. Globalization is a dominant feature of post-modern industrial and developing societies and is being led by multi-national corporations. Whether it is high tech companies such as Apple, automobile manufacturers like General Motors, or even … Read more

Rising Demand for English as a Foreign Language Reveals Spain’s Biggest Educational Bugbears

Today we welcome back guest blogger Eve Pearce, with an interesting article about the demand for language learning in Spain, and its implications for the future. It is rather ironic that while numbers of Brits studying a foreign language to A-level have dropped dramatically over the past few years, nearby Spain – officially out of one of … Read more

100 words for snow…?

It’s a commonly stated ‘fact’ that Eskimos have lots of different words for snow. Some accounts say nine; others 48; others still say 100! Language isn’t usually that easy to pin down though – ‘Eskimo’ actually covers lots of different groups of people and if we’re getting philosophical, what do we mean by ‘word’? It’s … Read more

Being bilingual: practice makes perfect

Last week’s post, which contained our top ten tips for learning a language, inspired a few members of the EuroTalk team to share their own thoughts. Here’s what Seb had to say about his experience of learning Spanish, after leaving Colombia and coming to England when he was very young. And come back tomorrow to … Read more

8 bizarre superstitions from around the world

This month, we’ve been having a look at interesting superstitions from different countries. There are literally thousands of examples – here are just a few. We suggest they should be taken with a pinch of salt… If you’re in Malta, don’t rely on the church clock to tell you the right time. Churches are sometimes … Read more

A brief guide to English Office Jargon

Today’s post was contributed by Mark James, Copywriter at Crunch Accounting. It’s been just over a year since I traded academia for the office, my three years spent studying English coming to an end and my career as a copywriter now starting to take shape. In that past year I’ve had to make an array … Read more

It’s Raining Cats and Dogs (and Wheelbarrows and Old Ladies)

‘It’s raining cats and dogs!’ is a common British phrase meaning that it’s raining particularly hard. There are various theories as to where the expression came from – although there’s no evidence that it’s ever actually happened! It may come from the Greek expression cata doxa. This means ‘contrary to experience or belief’ and might … Read more