Blog

Christmas is coming, and many of us are excitedly preparing for it.  But beyond the presents, food, family gatherings and decorations, have you ever stopped to wonder where the word “Christmas” comes from, what it really means, and what its meaning is in other languages?  This post looks at the...

The end of the year is fast approaching and we have all got a lot on our plates, juggling work and preparations for family celebrations or New Year festivities.  There will be a break at the end of this BLS term and we will all need to keep up our...

You are learning a language so you will have heard of interpreting: the art of converting one spoken or signed language into another spoken or signed language. The role of an interpreter is to help two or more people who don’t speak the same language to communicate with each other....

In this blog post, we look at a useful way to help us remember vocabulary – putting words into groups.  We find out how to harness our brain’s natural tendency to understand the world through association (this object is green and has leaves – it must be a plant!) to...

When I moved to France, I thought I could speak French quite well – but, I soon realised that although I could hold a high-brow conversation about politics or recycling, I couldn’t have an informal conversation that would help me make friends!  One of the problems was that I hadn’t...

As you remember, we introduced a new series of blog posts (see Spanish, French, German, Russian, Italian, Portuguese & Mandarin Chinese) where we teach you some useful phrases in different languages. Sounds amazing? And it’s ARABIC today! Are you planning your beach holiday in Monastir, Tunisia? Do you travel frequently...

As you remember, we introduced a new series of blog posts (see Spanish, French, German, Russian, Italian & Portuguese) where we teach you some useful phrases in different languages. Sounds amazing? And it’s MANDARIN CHINESE today! Are you planning your beach holiday on Hainan Island? Do you travel frequently to...

As you remember, we introduced a new series of blog posts (see Spanish, French, German, Russian & Italian) where we teach you some useful phrases in different languages. Sounds amazing? And it’s PORTUGUESE today! Are you planning your beach holiday in Ilha de Tavira? Do you travel frequently to Lisbon...

As you remember, we introduced a new series of blog posts (see Spanish, French, German & Russian) where we teach you some useful phrases in different languages. Sounds amazing? And it’s ITALIAN today! Are you planning your beach holiday in Positano? Do you travel frequently to Rome? Do you dream...

In several of our blog posts, we have promoted the benefits of watching films or TV programmes in the language you are learning as a way to help you practise listening and pick up new words and expressions.  It’s not always obvious where you can find film and TV in...