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The Dutch language is a West-Germanic language (others in this family include English, Frisian, German and Luxembourgish) and its use goes back to the fifth century. Modern Dutch (Nederlands) is spoken by about 23 million people as a first language in the European Union —including most of the Netherlands and...

Do I have time to learn a foreign language every day? Of course, not! But, I think you may change your mind after reading this article, so let me explain. Impossible possible? First of all, I’m not talking about spending hours practising every day (although, that would be just perfect!),...

I am lucky enough to speak five languages and be learning a sixth.  Part of the reason why I have learnt them is because I have lived in several different countries, but you could say the other part is because I am motivated to learn them.  I enjoy the challenge...

“The big ‘secret’ to improving second language skills is practice.” Eve Lindemuth Bodeux (p. 9) I became in love with this book from the very first page. The author, Eve Lindemuth Bodeux is an experienced second language user and the content is predominantly based on her own experience. This, I...

When you are learning a language, sometimes you want to have something official to show for it, to demonstrate which level you have got up to according to recognised examination bodies.  This can be useful if you are applying for a place at a university, which often require proof of...

Estimates say that there are up to 7,000 languages spoken in the world today (in around 200 states!).  Some languages have millions of speakers and some have just a few thousand speakers.  But with so many languages to choose from, how do you decide which one to learn?  This blog...

We hope you found our post on writing skills useful.  This is the last post in the skills development series – and it talks about the most active skill of all, speaking.  Speaking is what most people want to do when they learn a language – it is how you...

One of the most widely-learned and widely-spoken languages in the world is spoken by England’s neighbours across the Channel. Many of us will have learnt some French at school.  The chances are we mostly learnt about France in our lessons.  However, French speakers can be found all over the world,...

We hope you enjoyed our post on how to improve your reading skills in another language. Now we are back with tips on how to work on another skill – writing.  Each language has its own writing conventions for different genres. Practice these and you can write letters to your...

You may remember our blog post from a few weeks ago on how to improve your listening comprehension skills in a new language.  This week we give you more tips on how to optimise your language learning – this time with advice on how to develop your reading in another...