French – Amour, toux et fumée En ne secret sont demeurée I live this French proverb. It means “Love, smoke and cough are hard to hide.” It is similar to a Spanish one which says that money, pain and love are hard to hide. In fact, the German one we just looked at has a(…)

As far as I am concerned, the more different ways you can find to inject a bit of fun into your learning of a new language the better. I am a bit of a sucker for proverbs and I always been. This means that I can recommend going online and checking out a few in(…)

Hatless in Paris and Not As Dashing as Maurice The time I went to Paris I was terrified about looking out of place. After all, with so many handsome Gallic chaps looking debonair like Maurice Chevalier I didn’t want to look bad with my faded jeans and my old PSG top. Thankfully, I dredged up(…)

I should start off by saying that I am not the most appropriate person for giving out sartorial advice. The contents of my wardrobe are regularly mocked by my other half, who for some reason considers that my collection of football tops and denim jackets is somewhat behind the times. What I do know, though,(…)

Table Tennis in China I used to love watching table tennis on the television when I was a kid. All the best players seemed to be Chinese and I have particularly fond memories of seeing an exhibition match where a couple of players showed off some amazing trick shots and even started playing while virtually(…)

The few games of football I played soon after arriving in South America helped me learn some new words in Spanish, although not all of them were complimentary. This made me wonder which sports you could try in order to learn a second language better. Chess Boxing in Germany While taking their German lessons Birmingham(…)

Look Up the Internet I might be low tech but I can still use the internet well enough to look up a foreign video clip on YouTube or to download a foreign song. Actually, I don’t always manage to download the songs successfully but you know what I mean. Some of my favourite songs of(…)

There are many different ways of learning a second language and while some students like to go hi tech others are happy to do theirlearning without using too much technology. I have always been a low tech sort of person and to this day I wouldn’t know what to do with a smart phone if(…)

Try a Different Approach It might be that the difficult days you are experiencing can be a sign that it is time to do things differently. For example, are you trying to learn too much on your own with a book instead of getting out and practising more? As far as I am concerned the(…)

Learning a second language is far from being the easiest thing you are ever likely to do. A lot of new skills you learn offer a way of learning by constantly building up your confidence and knowledge. When you study a foreign tongue it isn’t quite like this. Instead, you could find that you suffer(…)