According to a survey by Cilt - the National Centre for Languages, the number of state secondary school pupils in England learning a second language continues to decline. It shows the proportion of state schools where more than 50% of pupils study a language in Year 11 dropped from 43% in 2009/10 to 38% 2010/11.
Here in the United Kingdom we are supposed to have four seasons, each of about three months long; winter, spring, summer and autumn (fall in America) - though sometimes we seem to get them all in one day: There's an English saying, "If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes and it will change".
Italians are quite used to feeling "lo stress", looking forward to "il weekend" or trying to look "cool". But now an influential cultural institute has asked Italians to protect the language and reject "Anglitaliano". The Dante Alighieri Society asked people for examples of over-used foreign words and "il weekend" emerged as the worst offender. The […]
The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) have recommended that pupils should learn subjects like history and geography in French to stem the decline of modern foreign languages. They said that students learned languages best in a bi-lingual environment, and schools that teach aspects of mainstream subjects in foreign languages had good results. Actually there's […]
According to a survey conducted for software specialists Corizon by YouGov, people in Scotland swear the most. About 15 per cent admitted turning the air blue when arguing with call centre staff. Londoners were second in the foul-mouthed league, with 12 per cent confessing to losing it with "inappropriate language". I always feel sorry for […]
In the late 18th century, there were between 350 and 750 distinct Aboriginal social groupings, and a similar number of languages or dialects. At the start of the 21st century, fewer than 150 indigenous languages remain and all except roughly 20 are highly endangered. Now Australia has pledged 7.8 million USD this year to help […]