Correct these mistakes for Christmas

‘Tis the season to be jolly, and there’s nothing jollier than knowing your vocabulary. Therefore, today we’re learning about two Catalan words that foreigners tend to get wrong. Now that the tió tradition has gone properly international thanks to Kate McKinnon (see video below), it’s time to debunk the belief that tió means uncle. ‘If …

Interesting facts about the Catalan language – 2015

Just like last year, the same week of the Diada, the Catalan national day, I want to talk about my language. Here's a visual selection of the 50 facts about the Catalan situation nowadays published in the InformeCat 2015 by Plataforma per la Llengua.

Yes, I’m still studying Polish

And my Polish friends find it hard to believe. I haven’t told you about my progress with the Slavic language since October. Before Easter I spent two weeks in Poland. But why? What’s in there? Apart from Poles, there’s my progress test. Once again some friends hosted me. Friends have, nevertheless, no educational obligation and …

English at international events — be patient

Last year I reported the basics of a kick-off meeting for a European research project. At some point I hinted at a post on the English spoken there. Here it goes. Should you need to face an audience in English at an important international event, you’d prepare thoroughly what to say. However, the way you …

Babbel: learning languages online

When I wrote about how I got my survival level in Polish, I mentioned the Babbel site to learn languages and promised to post an extended review that’s available now. Babbel is a tool for learning up to 14 languages online (and on mobile devices)—but you might not want to go for all at the …

Linguistic experiences in Poland (2014)

A promise is a promise: here are the details of my summer experience with Polish in its country of origin. After many months studying the language, I set of on that seventeen-day journey to visit my Polish friends in their country, learn about it and, especially, test my linguistic skills. My monolingual friend—the one who …