Namaste: Appreciation or Appropriation?

If you visit India, you might feel inclined to greet everyone with ‘namaste,’ a traditional Hindu greeting that shows your respect. But you might not hear the same thing in reply. In this blog post, we explore the origins of the word ‘namaste,’ how it is used in India today, and the impact of its … Read more

How Different Languages Say ‘Hello’!

Greetings are so important that every language on Earth has a different way to say hello. Have you ever wondered what hello actually means and why we greet people with it? What are some more colourful ways to say hello in other languages around the world? Are there languages where greetings don’t exist? Brian Loo … Read more

All-Singing, All-Dancing: Bollywood, the Gem of Indian Cinema

India boasts the largest film industry in the world, with nearly two thousand films released in 2017. Despite the recent economic slowdown, Indian Cinema still makes money—with the majority coming via Bollywood. Even if you’re not learning Hindi or Urdu or Tamil, or even any other language spoken in India, watching a Bollywood film can … Read more

The Jungle Book’s taught you some Hindi without you realising…

The majority of us have seen The Jungle Book or at least can hum along to ‘The Bare Necessities’. And we are super excited about the release of the new Jungle Book adaptation, so we thought we would find out how Rudyard Kipling came up with all of the animals’ names. As the film is … Read more

How Do You Choose Which Language to Learn?

Everyone’s always talking about how useful it is to speak another language – and they’re right, for so many reasons. There’s lots of advice too on how to get started and how to stay motivated when it gets tough. But the first question any aspiring language learner should ask themselves is, ‘Which language do I … Read more