Learning Languages

Jonathan Henchman, Marketing Designer

A Gaijin in Tokyo

by Jonny Henchman March 19, 2013 Celebration

In our last article, Alison noted how lazy we Brits are when it comes to preparing our Language knowledge when travelling abroad. From my own experience I’ve seen just how extensive this can be and I’m guilty as charged. In both 2011 and 2012 I travelled to Tokyo for a combined total of 5 weeks. As a [...]

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Konrad Krzysztofik Diary of a Pole

Ponglish: Diary of a Pole

by Konrad Krzysztofik February 14, 2013 Case Studies

Eight years ago I arrived in the UK with my fellow countrymen: rocket scientists, brain surgeons, state attorneys, film directors and hairdressers. They let us flow out of the plane and spread all over the country. Back home, in Poland, I grew up watching Mr. Bean, listening to Brit Rock and thinking every Londoner has [...]

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Polish is England's official second language

“Cześć, jestem z Anglii.”

by Jonny Henchman February 4, 2013 Education

If you can understand that, chances are you are one of the 540,000 speakers of England’s new official second language. That’s right, Polish, has overtaken Punjabi according to the results of the 2011 Census carried out by the Office of National Statistics.

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Babies Start Learning Language in the Womb

by Alison Kroulek January 10, 2013 Languages
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By now, it’s a well-established fact that the earlier a child is exposed to a second language, the better. So, if you’re hoping to raise a bilingual child, how early should you start those language lessons? A new study suggests that the answer may be “in utero.” The study, covered in Science Daily, grew out [...]

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Report: Scotland Needs More Languages

by Alison Kroulek December 3, 2012 Languages
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English may be the most widely used language in the world, but is it enough to only speak English? That’s the question Scotland is asking itself after the release of the British Council’s Language Rich Europe report. Unsurprisingly, the answer appears to be “no.” The report highlights two related areas of concern: the declining number [...]

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Survival Spanish

by Alison Kroulek November 23, 2012 Learning Languages

Hola from Costa Rica! I’ve spent the past week here, and consequently I’ve had the opportunity to sharpen my embarrassingly rusty  Spanish skills. I was astonished at how much of the language came back to me — and also at how much was lost to time. If you’re traveling to a Spanish-speaking country, here’s a [...]

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Learning Hebrew from Graffiti

by Alison Kroulek July 25, 2012 Education
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Just as there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is also more than one way to learn a language. In Israel, a man named Guy Sharett has stumbled upon a particularly creative method: translating the street art and graffiti that adorns his Tel Aviv neighborhood. Why graffiti? In an article in [...]

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An Interesting Way to Learn Mandarin

by Alison Kroulek June 19, 2012 Learning Languages
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There’s no doubt about it…learning Mandarin is challenging.  But one website thinks it may have stumbled upon a winning formula, at least if you’re a teenage boy.  At SexyMandarin.com, online Mandarin lessons are delivered by lingerie-clad “tutors” striking a variety of suggestive poses. For example, one lesson, entitled “What Time is It?”, gives the viewer [...]

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US Government Still Short on Translators and Interpreters

by Alison Kroulek May 23, 2012 International

English has become one of the most widespread languages worldwide, and that sometimes leads people in English-speaking countries to discount the value of foreign language education. For example, in the United States, census data shows that in 2000, only 9.3 percent of Americans could hold a conversation in another language, and the BBC notes that [...]

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Language Immersion in your Browser?

by Alison Kroulek May 14, 2012 Learning Languages
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Chrome users, you no longer have an excuse for browsing the web mindlessly. Thanks to Google, you could be learning how to say “I can haz cheezburger” in one of 64 languages! Google calls its new Chrome extension “just a little experiment that may delight (or infuriate) the neurolinguists in the house,” and while it [...]

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