The time it takes to learn a new language depends on what you want to do with it

If you go by the ads for some language learning apps, you can “have a conversation in a new language in three weeks”.

But the experience of most Australians when trying to learn a new language is more likely to resemble that of our prime minister who, a few years ago, wrote:

Learning any language at school is…difficult because there simply aren’t enough hours in the school calendar for most students to achieve any real facility – as many Australians have discovered when they tried out their schoolboy or schoolgirl French on their first visit to Paris!

The time it takes to learn a language depends on what you mean by “learning a language”. If your definition is being able to order a “café au lait” or ask for directions to “les toilettes, s’il vous plait” on your next trip to Paris, three weeks is perfectly realistic.

 

Source: The time it takes to learn a new language depends on what you want to do with it

What might an anarchist language look like? I created one, inspired by Ursula le Guin

What might an anarchist language look like? I created one, inspired by Ursula le Guin

The many articles written in memory of Ursula le Guin, who left this world on her final voyage last month, are testament to the great power of her storytelling. Le Guin’s tales give us insights into different ways of being human, from the deceptively mundane (the Orsinian Tales) through the remote but plausible (the Hainish Cycle of science fiction novels), and into the enchantingly fantastic (the Earthsea stories). Her stories help us to understand others and ourselves. They demonstrate the great power that language has in creating imagined worlds.

Source: What might an anarchist language look like? I created one, inspired by Ursula le Guin

Making teaching personal | How to bring client-led content into your teaching – Oxford University Press

Making teaching personal | How to bring client-led content into your teaching 22 February 2018 by Oxford University Press ELT Leave a comment Teaching a group of business English students first thing on a Monday morning – short of going for a jog in sub-zero temperatures – is one of the surest ways I know of having to get out of bed and get into the swing of things snappily! I can’t say I look forward to the ordeal, but I can say that I don’t think I can remember a class which disappointed, and after whi

Source: Making teaching personal | How to bring client-led content into your teaching – Oxford University Press

G is for Grice (and his Maxims) | An A-Z of ELT

What would the language philosopher H.P. Grice have made of Twitter, I wonder? If you recall (and if you don’t, you have only to check the A-Z!) Grice formulated what is perhaps the most influential theory in the development of pragmatics, now best known as the Cooperative Principle.

Source: G is for Grice (and his Maxims) | An A-Z of ELT

British Empire’s hidden workings in India and Iran revealed in remarkable new film footage

In a basement office at the Royal Geographical Society in London’s South Kensington, grainy 16mm film footage flickers silently across the screen, one of over a hundred expeditionary and travel films digitised recently by the society and the British Film Institute. They are now free to watch on the BFI website.

 

Source: British Empire’s hidden workings in India and Iran revealed in remarkable new film footage