Are Birds The Reason We Speak?

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Euro London

Have you ever questioned where language derived from? Some believe it originated from the Twenty-sixth dynasty in Egypt whereas others, rather comically, referenced cavemen in their answers. However, could a rather unlikely thought be true – that birdsong was the actual origin which language derived from?

In the 19^th century, Charles Darwin wondered what the similarities between birdsong and human speech were as he observed their similarities in pattern. In his studying he believed that ‘The sounds uttered by birds offer in several respects the nearest analogy to language.’ [1] Researchers from MIT and scholars from the University of Tokyo, strongly believe that Darwin was on the right path in his speculations with language and birdsong.

Evidence suggests that human language is a merge of communication forms which similar communications can be found in the animal kingdom from birds to primates; in particular birdsong which closely resembles the expression layer of human sentences. There are also different types of expression as well as songs that come from animals such as birds, bees and primates that are similar to human language. All humans, bees, primates and birds communicate either visually, through a range of sounds and body language and it is therefore thought that the human language evolved through these animals. Professor Shigeru Miyagawa from MIT’s Department of Linguistics and Philosophy said that ‘It’s this adventitious combination that triggered human language.’

The theory behind the link between birdsong and language is that as something evolves it builds on old parts. This is seen over and over again in evolution and even in languages today across the globe even if the old structure is slightly different.

Where did you think language came from? Share your thoughts we’d love to hear from you!

[1] http://web.mit.edu/press/2013/how-human-language-could-have-evolved-from-birdsong.html

International Mother Language Day

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Euro London

At Euro London we have a real love and passion for languages for so many reasons – from the culture behind the language to the benefits and traditions. It’s all quite fascinating. This week marked the 13^th year of celebrations for International Mother Language Day on the 21^st February!

The worldwide annual celebrations began in order to try and promote linguistic and cultural diversity; it also serves as the foundation for all social, economic and cultural life. UNESCO was the brain behind the yearly celebrations since announcing it in November 1999 as they believed that language is critical; it’s through language that we can communicate meaning and develop a sense of individual and communal identity. Language and culture is lost at an alarming rate and UNESCO believes that it is in the world’s best interest to promote languages so that they do not die out.

The date represents the day in 1952 when students demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bangla, as one of the two national languages of the then Pakistan, were shot and killed by police in Dhaka, the capital of what is now Bangladesh. [1] The Director of UNESCO believes that “Multilingualism is a source of strength and opportunity for humanity. It embodies our cultural diversity and encourages the exchange of views, the renewal of ideas and the broadening of our capacity to imagine.” Therefore wanting to promote and keep the love of language alive for years to come.

Languages are a powerful tool in life; we see it many ways everyday at Euro London. How do you plan to keep your mother language heritage alive this year? Why not teach children new languages via games and activities or have a dinner party with friends where you can only speak in a foreign language for the night?

[1] http://www.panorama.am/en/current_topics/2013/02/21/mayreni-day/

Say Goodbye To Distinct Languages

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Euro London

Did you know there are over 6,000 languages in the world today? However, disappointingly they are dying out slowly but surely, just like endangered species. The disappearance of languages can be due to their ancient nature and lack of cultural support as generations get older. This makes us contemplate, how many languages were there that no longer exist, and can we ever revive them?

Over time languages evolve but continue to use characteristics of the original language. As a result of this the original language can soon become ancient. On the other hand, sometimes languages can simply just die out with a generation. It was once thought that these extinct ancient languages would not be able to be revived, until now. This is due to a computer which has been taught to reconstruct lost languages using the sounds uttered by those who speak their modern successors.

A group of linguists and computer scientists from the United States and Canada have created a piece of software that can analyse enormous groups of languages to reconstruct what the earliest human languages might have sounded like. The researchers made a prediction that by using this program, linguists may one day know how people sounded when they talked an astonishing 20,000 years ago, long before there was writing.

Statistician, Alexandre Bouchard-Côté began working on the program when he was a graduate student at UC Berkeley. He used common procedures to compare sounds and words that are the same in multiple languages. [1] This gave him the advantage of being able to predict which language groups were common to one another. This lead him to the conclusion that, a sound that remained the same across distantly related languages was probably a sound that existed early in our linguistic evolutionary tree.

By putting sounds together, the researchers were able to reconstruct a staggering 600 ancient Proto- Austronesian languages. How amazing! Would learning an ancient language ever interest you?

[1] http://news.yahoo.com/software-revives-dead-tongues-141348127.html

Using Music As A Key When Learning A Language

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Euro London

Learning to play a musical instrument can change your brain. Music training can lead to improved skills such as; listening, learning, memory, attention and literacy skills, speech and foreign language skills. Over the last twenty years researchers have made advances in the theory of language acquisition and its positive links with music.

According to research the neurological links between language and music are enormous but the key thing to remember is that music activates more parts of the brain than language does, on both the right and left sides of the brain. [1] It is considered to be more likely that those learning a new language will remember words or phrases when it is accompanied in a tune like form rather than if it is just heard or spoken.

State Opera of South Australia chief executive Timothy Sexton said that “You have to be able to hear a language; you need have that music education to tune the ear to the pitch and subtleties of a foreign language.” [2] Many people are unaware of the connection between language learning and music and therefore not actively made the connection with it but it is a critical advantage.

It is concluded that there should be an investment into music training perhaps in schools as particularly early music education had been shown to have wide-ranging benefits. So perhaps if you are learning a new language and are finding it slightly too rigid and dull, why not make it fun again to reach your goal.

Have you used music as an advantage whilst learning a language?

[1] http://www.everydaylanguagelearner.com/2012/01/30/language-learning-tip-use-music-learn-foreign-language/

[2] http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/music/music-the-key-to-learning-language/story-fn9d2mxu-1226507858819

Keeping Your Brain In Shape

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Euro London

Every year at some point or another, we are all are concerned about our physical appearance – the way our hair looks, the way our skin looks or our weight. This concern is dealt with by going to the hairdressers, purchasing the latest skin care products or taking up a new exercise regime. The battle is constant for us to feel at our best, but when was the last time you were worried or even just thought about the strength of your brain?

The brain is the most complex organ of our bodies with its function to control the other organs of the body, a vital organ that without it we would cease to exist. As previous studies have proved knowing a second language keeps the brain sharper later on in life. As the brain plays such an important part on our body and lives it can make us wonder why are we not taking a bigger interest in trying to keep our brain at its best?

In a recent study in Sweden, Scientists studied young recruits at the Swedish Armed Forces Interpreter Academy who learned a new language at a vast pace. Participants involved went from having no knowledge of a language such as Arabic, Russian or Dari to speaking it fluently simply by learning the language over the short space of 13 months. [1]

Whilst observing what happens to the brain when a language is learnt in a short space of time, scientists did indeed detect some change in the brain. MRI scans were taken before and after the intense language courses were undertaken and show particular developments in the parts of the brain (both hippocampus and the areas of the cerebral cortex) that are associated with learning new information. The precise development of the brain was determined by the amount or lack of effort that was put into learning and studying the languages. Therefore those that took a greater interest and effort in learning these languages over the course of 13 months found that their brain had developed far more than those that did not.

Consequently “there is a lot to suggest that learning languages is a good way to keep the brain in shape” as said by psychology researcher at Lund University Martensson.

Do you personally feel sharper during or after learning a new language?

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/language-learning-makes-for-bigger-brains-2012-10

Survival Of The Fittest Language

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Euro London

According to researchers one language dies every two weeks, washed away like writing in the sand – a somewhat disturbing revelation. Now, as we are all aware (from our own back ground) a single language holds depth such as history and culture which helps us understand where we came from and consequently shapes our future. What could this mean for the future of languages and the population of the world?

With there being 7,000 languages that exist today and languages dying every two weeks it’s hard to determine which languages will conquer. Could languages face what evolution faced with a battle of survival of the fittest? If this is the case at present, the English language is leading the race, particularly in the world of business.

At present the English language is considered to be symbolic of modernity, work, higher education, business, economics and science and technology. Historically speaking, it has also always been a language that is the most successful as it is spoken on every continent around the world.

However this may not always be the case particularly due to the rapid loss of languages. It is easy to say that English as a language will not completely disappear, yet it may not be the predominant language of the future. Languages such as German could be in the running for the future language as Germany is a leading power for technology, medicine and science. Mandarin is also in the limelight as the Chinese are becoming a major economic power and growing more each and every day. Other possible contenders for language of the future include Spanish, Hindi-Urdu of India and Arabic could be among the most popular languages of the future.

Top 10 disappearing languages:

10. Chamicuro (Chamekolo, Chamicolo, Chamicura)

9. Dumi (Dumi Bo’o, Dumi Bro, Lsi Rai, Ro’do Bo’, Sotmali)

8. Ongota/Birale

7. Liki (Moar)

6. Tanema (Tanima, Tetawo)

5. Njerep

4. Chemehuevi

3. Lemerig (Pak, Bek, Sasar, Leon, Lem)

2. Kaixana (Caixana)

1. Taushiro (Pinche/Pinchi)

What do you think the language of the future could be and why?

Think You’re Smarter Than A Baby… Think Again

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Euro London

Knowing different languages offers untold opportunities and has the ability to banish narrow mindedness in life. There are countless benefits of knowing different languages including improving cognitive behaviour, having an advantage edge in global communication and economy (therefore valuable when applying to a job), and simply having cultural superiority when you’re travelling. The use and understanding of another language will always help to prevail in life. So why not start learning a new language before its too late?

According to previous researchers hypotheses there is a time frame in which second language acquisition skills are at their peak; usually at the age of 6-7 years old. This contradicts what Oscar Wilde famously said ‘with age comes wisdom’ suggesting that the older we get the wiser we become. However this is not always the case, according to recent research babies as young as three months were capable of out performing adults in reference to the skills it takes when learning a new language.

The research was conducted by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig with an outcome that would not be assumed by many [1]. The findings showed how children manage to learn language at a faster rate during the early stages of development as well as a strong link between very basic auditory skills and sophisticated rule learning abilities. Perhaps it is therefore time to get the future generations learning and continue evolving our planet.

How old were you when you first started learning a language?

Do you think those that learn language from a younger age have a greater advantage over those that learnt at an older age?

[1] http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/09/11/116-Babies-better-at-detecting-and-learning-complex-languages-than-adults.html

One Giant Leap For Man Kind

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Euro London

Man kind is constantly evolving; from the discovery of fire to the invention of electricity, events separated by hundreds of years are interlinked by the combined goal of human development. Our ability to experiment, explore, discover and decipher all combine to improve humanity. One of the driving forces of the 20^th century, the Space Race, saw humanity push the limits of innervation and saw Neil Armstrong take the first steps on the moon announcing “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. During this time two spacecraft were launched to explore our solar system which were aptly named Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, each powered by plutonium generators and carrying hardware designed in the 1970’s. Their original mission was to explore Jupiter and Saturn however their success saw the continuation of their mission through our Solar System. Following a software update delivered by radio signals the mission brief was updated to include interstellar space exploration discovering what is contained outside of our solar system; 35 years after lift off the spacecraft are almost there.

Contained within these space craft is a ‘golden record’ which includes a collection of 116 images as well as a variety of sounds including wind, thunder and rain. Also included are spoken greetings in 55 languages including English, Dutch, German, Korean, Swedish and Welsh as well as four dialects of China and 5 ancient languages including Ancient Greek and Latin [1].

Once again human desire for exploration and interaction has manifested itself through the use of languages; 55 languages to be precise. When the spacecraft cross over into interstellar space, history will be made as the first man made objects to leave the Solar System. Once more mankind will have taken a giant leap pushing the limits of human ability.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contents_of_the_Voyager_Golden_Record#Greetings

‘Be Active – Learn Languages’ – The European Day Of Languages

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Euro London

September 26^th see’s the European Day of Languages take place all over Europe. This will be the 11^th year that the day has taken place and this year it is hoped it will be bigger and better than ever by building on the success of Euro 2012 and the summer Olympics, it wont be hard to beat the attempts of previous years’ [1].

Approximately 3% of the world’s languages come from the European area and with the freedom of movement being an integral building block of the EU; these languages are spoken in towns and cities all across Europe.

Last year the day passed by relatively quietly in the media. In the UK a few primary schools held assemblies and a limited number of libraries put up presentations about what advantages languages can bring, but on the whole it would have seemed like any other day. There was limited success elsewhere in Europe with the major success story coming from Poland which organised a Gala dinner to highlight the advantages of a second language. With a budget of 30 million euros and organised by the Council of Europe, the European Day of Languages shamefully faded into obscurity on the whole.

So what’s happening this year? In Warsaw, Poland, a mini festival is kicking off on the 24^th of September with language workshops in 70 languages, theatre classes, storytelling, quizzes and film screenings which will be taking place until the 29^th. However, elsewhere around Europe there seems to be a muted response. In the UK there seems to be the unfortunate assumption that organisations and institutions should organise their own activities and events without any central planning or help from councils or government [2]. Elsewhere around Europe the situation is pretty similar with information on events hard to come by.

With only a few weeks to go until the European Day of Languages it seems like another year for the event to pass by with relative obscurity. The ‘Council of Europe’ may evoke imagery of grandeur and importance but in reality it seems they’re about as useful as a chocolate teapot when organising the European Day of Languages.

We’d love to hear what you’ve got planned this year to celebrate the European Day of Languages, have you got any plans for the day?

[1] http://eurolondonappointments.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/european-day-of-languages-is-it-even-worth-the-paper-it%E2%80%99s-written-on/

[2] http://www.europe.org.uk/2011/12/20/european-day-of-languages/

Do Indo-European Languages Originate From Turkey?

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Euro London

Researches using a computer program designed to examine the evolution of the Indo-European family tree have reported that they have solved the longstanding question of its geographical origin.

The family which includes French, Spanish, Italian, English, German, Persian and Hindi to name but a few all descend from the same Proto-Indo-European language.

There are two main theories relating to the origins of the Indo-European family tree. One is that the first speakers of the “mother tongue” known as Proto-Indo-European were chariot driving farmers who conquered Europe and Asia 4000 years ago. The other is that they were largely peaceful farmers from Anatolia (Turkey) who migrated through choice not chariot around 8000 years ago.

To conduct this study the researchers used a geographical range of 103 languages and began walking them back in time. Vocabulary items that are known to be resistant to linguistic change such as family relations and pronouns were compared. Words that have a clear ancestral route to their same ancestral word are known as cognates. “Mother” (English), “Mutter” (German), “Madar” (Persian) all derive from the Proto-Indo-European word “Mehter”.

These cognates were then assigned the score of one with the unrelated words being assigned a score of zero. Other information was then also included in the calculation with researchers supplying geographical information about the present distribution of a language as well as providing the computer with known dates of language splits such as Romanian’s divergence from Latin around A.D. 270 when Roman Garrisons started pulling back from the frontiers of their empire.

Once all calculations were included the machine calculated that the most likely origin of the language family tree was Anatolia (Turkey), the base from which agriculture is thought to have come to Europe and one of the two main theories. Whilst the evidence is substantial opponents have pointed to evidence to contradict this research, their main argument being that the Proto-Indo-European language had vocabulary for chariots including ‘wheel’ and ‘axle’. Numerous descendants of the Proto-Indo-European language also have these words in their vocabulary; however the earliest known example of a chariot is 3500 B.C. at least 4000 years after the date at which the farmers of Anatolia were supposed to have started migrating around Europe and Asia. This would on principal rule out any connection between Indo-European languages and the migration of farmers from Anatolia.

Maybe we’ll never know quite where our languages descended from but I’m sure this debate won’t settle down anytime soon. What do you think?

Language Spies In Canada

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Euro London

Canada’s airline industry faces a tense few weeks with the announcement of a language audit taking place throughout Canada’s airports that receive at least one million passengers a year. These linguistic spies probably won’t turn up in a trilby and wearing a trench coat but they will be keeping an eye on eight of Canada’s largest airports, reporting their findings back to the language commissioner.

Although the language commissioner doesn’t have the power to punish an airline or service provider (Security checks provided by third party companies and duty free shops etc.) the office will produce a report outlining its findings and providing recommendations on how to better serve the public.

Languages are an integral issue in Canada’s aviation industry where both English and French are widely spoken. The official language act states that Air Canada must offer services in both English and French whilst aboard a flight. The airline, which is Canada’s largest, went to court last year when a Canadian couple complained that they weren’t served in French during their flight between Ottawa and the United States. The court found in favour of the couple and ordered Air Canada to pay $12,000 in compensation and apologize to the couple for not serving them in French. A 2011 audit of the airline found that in almost every case where there was lack of service in an official language (English or French), French was the language involved.

Five years ago a similar survey of the airline industry returned disappointing results. Vancouver airport received a score mark of 30 out of a possible 100 with Toronto, Halifax and Ottawa fairing only marginally better scoring 39, 42 and 56 respectively.

Not all employees of businesses at airports have to be bilingual under law but a bilingual person must always be present in case someone needs to be served in French or English.

The exercise is due to cost $90,000 out of Canada’s public purse and in a time when households are really watching their budgets, many Canadians feel there are better things the money could be spent on. What are your thoughts? Is it important to make sure that bilingual capabilities are up to scratch or are there more important issues at hand?

Bilingual Children ‘Better At Problem Solving’

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Euro London

Historically it was thought that learning a second language when young could lead to ‘language confusion’ and be detrimental to a child’s academic growth. However recent studies have been proving this stigma wrong time and again in recent years. Studies have shown that it can increase a child’s communication and social interaction abilities above those who can’t speak a second language [1]. There are also medical benefits with studies of later life adults who know a second language showing that it can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s by several years [2].

Previous research has been backed up this weekend when a study into primary school pupils aged 9 was published in the International Journal of Bilingualism. 121 children, 62 of which were bilingual, were involved in the study from both Scotland and Sardinia. Those children who were not bilingual knew either English or Italian alone. Those who were bilingual knew either English and Gaelic or Italian and Sardinian.

The study showed that bilingual children outperform children who only speak one language in creative thinking and problem solving skills. Dr Fraser Lauchlan, a lecturer at Strathclyde University, who conducted the test along with their Sardinian colleagues at the University of Cagliari said, “Bilingualism is now largely seen as being beneficial to children, but there remains a view that it can be confusing, and so potentially detrimental to them.” Adding “ our study has found that it can have demonstrable benefits, not only in language but in arithmetic, problem solving and enabling children to think creatively.”

The study not only found that both English-Gaelic and Italian-Sardinian speakers outperformed their monolingual counter parts, it also showed that those English-Gaelic speakers out performed those who spoke Italian and Sardinian. The study concluded that the differences could be attributed due to Gaelic speakers having formal teaching lessons in the language and extensive literature compared to Sardinian which is not widely taught in schools, surviving by oral tradition, meaning there is no current standardised form of the language.

The study is another great success story adding to the growing call for children to learn languages.

[1] http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/bilingualism-is-good-for-learning/

[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/feb/18/bilingual-alzheimers-brain-power-multitasking

Google Glasses – An Evolution In Linguistics?

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Euro London

In early April Google announced one of their most ambitious projects to date, the Google Glasses. These glasses are designed to change the way we live our daily lives by augmenting our reality and giving us the opportunity to access information which could include receiving turn-by-turn directions, view up to date weather reports and access to communications such as emails; on the go and in real time. Current functionality of the glasses at the moment is hypothetical as Google has not said what the glasses could be used for or what features they may contain, instead using the context of the glasses as a conversation starter.

However a video that has appeared this week from independent inventor Will Powell could hold some of the answers. The video shows Will talking with his sister whilst playing a game of chess; however Will is talking in English whilst his sister talks in Spanish. Will’s Sister’s conversation is translated through a processor and displayed on the lenses of Will’s custom made glasses in English, showing only a minor delay through the use of Microsoft’s real-time translation service connected to Will’s glasses.

Translation programs are widely used by businesses and individuals around the world, however moving a display from a computer to directly in front of your eyes may be an important step in the world of linguistics. It may allow the wearer to understand the alternate language whilst simultaneously reading the body language and gestures of the person speaking it, which experts predict that 60% of human communication is contained in.

In previous blogs we’ve looked at our current technical ability to translate one language to another including Microsoft’s present ability to read the text of one language, translate it and speak it in separate language [1].

Will Powell’s demonstration of his current ability to translate languages and read them through his glasses has shown that technology is changing our languages, could Google Glasses present another technological leap in linguistics?

Watch the video through the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vw6dJDMmnlw

[1] http://www.eurolondon.com/blog/en/is-technology-the-future-of-language/

The Endangered Languages Project

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Euro London

The Endangered Languages Project was launched last month as an online resource to record over 3000 threatened languages in the world today allowing future generations to access, share and research endangered languages later on in life.

The project, which is helped by Google, hopes to document these languages allowing these languages to be recorded and documented, strengthening their resistance to language extinction. Currently there are around 7000 languages in the world; by 2100 AD this number is estimated to be around 3500, meaning around 50% of the all languages spoken in the world today could be extinct in just 90 years time, on average this means one language disappears from existence every 14 days.

Although it may not be practical or necessary to keep these languages ‘alive’ in the 21^st century, documenting them allows us to build a picture of our past culture, as well as documenting any untranslated information contained in these endangered languages which may include scientific insights of cultures gone by.

On the site you can read comprehensive information about the endangered languages listed, listen to brilliant recordings and read historic documents written in the endangered language. You can also see how endangered languages are documented and transcribed with a do it yourself resource, allowing you or people you know to record your own language for future generations.

The announcement of the project along with the website is not only a great resource for Language learners and teachers alike, but will also benefit many through social studies, scientific research and cultural knowledge.

As it says on the website, “If we lose languages, we lose testimony to centuries of life.”

http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/

Eurobarometer – 98% Say Learning Languages Is Good For Their Children

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Euro London

The European Commission released a study into languages this week which showed that 98% of parents think that knowing an additional language would be useful for their children [1]. The study was carried out in 14 countries of the EU which included Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, England, Estonia, France, Greece, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Almost 9/10 EU citizens believe that the ability to speak another language, separate to their mother tongue, is useful. However the report highlights a skill gap between these aspirations and reality as tests carried out across the EU showed that only 42% of EU citizens are competent in a second language and 25% in a third. It also highlighted the difference between countries, for example in Malta and Sweden 82% are competent in their second language whereas in France only 14% were competent in a second language and a staggeringly low 9% in England.

Austria has seen a considerable improvement in the amount of citizens able to speak a second language with a 16% increase since 2005 to 78% along with Finland showing 6% growth to 75%. However Slovakia has seen a noticeable decline according to the European Commission survey down 17% to 80% competency (Still an awful lot better than a lot of countries) as well as Hungary down 7% to 35%.

There are signs of improvement around the EU as governments across Europe are highlighting the importance of learning a language through their schooling systems; there are also signs of improvement technologically as the number of Europeans who regularly use foreign languages on the internet increased 10% from 26% to 36% since 2005.

The report highlights that the most widely spoken second languages remain English, French, German, Spanish and Russian.

More than half of those surveyed use languages at work, with 45% believing they got a better job in their own country thanks to their foreign language skills. Do you believe that knowing a second language has helped you at some point in your career?

[1] http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?aged=0&format=HTML&guiLanguage=fr&language=EN&reference=IP/12/679

Disappearing Languages – Is It Necessary To Save Them?

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Euro London

There are around 7000 languages spoken in the world today; however, this number is due to fall by as much as 50% at the turn of the century. This means that on average one language will disappear from existence every 14 days, a startling statistic! With seven billion people around the world and 7,000 languages it would be nice if there were one million speakers per language; unfortunately life doesn’t work like that. Amazingly around 80% of the world’s population speak just 85 languages and a quarter of the world’s population natively speak just 4 of the world’s languages which are Mandarin, English, Spanish and Hindi.

What’s becoming clear in the modern world is that due to globalisation families strive to teach their young the most relevant language which can bring them success in life and who can blame them? Parents in towns, villages and cities across the world often teach their children the skills they will need for the future, not the past; knowledge of a ubiquitous language will help the child thrive in education, business and hopefully happiness.

Languages originating from Asia or Africa may be at most risk, with 33% of the worlds current languages originating from Asia and 30% from Africa compared to just 3% from Europe. In our blog last week we examined how Indonesia currently has 146 languages listed on UNESCO’s endangered list, only 88 languages fewer than the whole of Europe.

As languages see a decline in the number of their speakers, will knowledge perhaps not yet translated be lost with the language too? Unfortunately the decline of languages may be a natural occurrence within the modern world we live in today, but the knowledge contained in these endangered languages should be examined before it’s too late and the details of the written word and spoken language recorded. One thing is for sure; the last speaker of a dying language lives in almost unspeakable isolation.

When writing this blog yesterday I was unaware Google would be launching a philanthropic effort to save these languages today. You can explore Google’s strategy to monitor and record endangered languages here http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/.

Can A Law Save A Language?

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Euro London

Authorities on the Indonesian island of Java passed a law last month requiring all inhabitants to speak a little bit of Javanese each week in a move to try and preserve the language and the culture of the island. The news was announced following approval by the legislative council of Java passing bylaw No. 17/2012.

The law, which comes into affect in 2013, may be more symbolic than pragmatic, as it doesn’t state how the obligation to speak Javanese will actually be implemented and measured or stipulate any sanctions for violations of the law; how a court could prove an individual had not spoken Javanese in the last 7 days is also highly questionable.

In interviews with the media, Councillor Muhammad Zain, one of the main advocates of the bill, has argued that the main threat to Javanese isn’t from Indonesian, (Java’s second most spoken language), but English, which is being used to enjoy western film and TV shows as well as giving residents the opportunity of using it to find office work in nearby Australia.

In our recent blog post we talked about the current options available to us to protect endangered languages using digital technology to catalogue languages [1]. We’ve also seen cases in particular countries where languages are legally protected by law due to the historical relevance, Maori in New Zealand for example [2]. But whilst Maori has approximately 156,000 speakers (2006), in the 2000 census of Indonesia it was revealed there were 85 million speakers of the Javanese language, exempting it from UNESCO’s endangered language list, whilst 146 other Indonesian native languages are at risk of extinction [3].

In practice the law may be more concerned about the preservation by local government of the island’s culture as it requires Javanese authorities to promote the use of the language through the naming of public places and buildings in the Javanese language. But the motion to encourage people to speak Javanese through law is certainly interesting and we’ll be keeping an eye on this news story whilst it develops.

[1] http://www.eurolondon.com/blog/en/is-technology-the-future-of-language/

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_Language_Act

[3] http://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/index.php?hl=en&page=atlasmap

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/05/21/residents-obliged-speak-javanese-preserve-culture.html

The British Relationship With Foreign Languages

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Euro London

This week Michael Gove, the British Education Minister, announced that children will have to learn a second language from the age of seven. These include traditional modern languages such as French, German and Spanish as well as emerging languages including Mandarin, Hindi and Russian.

The move is part of broader reforms within the British schooling system but the debate over whether British children should or need to learn another language from the age of seven has been the main headline.

It may surprise some of you from outside the UK that British schools currently only require students to learn a language from 11-14, at which age students in the UK pick which subjects they’d like to continue studying . Unfortunately a foreign language is often not picked. Government ministers hope that the decision to make learning a language compulsory at a young age will see a higher continuation of language learning when students pick which subjects they are going to study further, leaving them better equipped to compete in the global economy.

There have been two schools of thought emerging when debating the subject of teaching children a second language (I think you may be able to guess which side we fall into).

One side argues that teaching children English needs to come first, an argument I’m sure that resonates around Europe with each country and their own language, but this leaves me wondering how some countries equip their students with a second, third and even fourth language whilst the UK seems to focus on only one? This argument also usually comes with the assumption of “we don’t need to learn a second language as most people speak English anyway”; a statement that isn’t actually that true now and with the emergence of the BRIC countries will see it become less and less true in the future.

We support the school of thought that learning a second language as a child can give you the best possible opportunity starting in life and that in a difficult jobs market can differentiate you from the crowd. As we’ve highlighted before [1], languages are not just extremely useful in the workplace, but also in your personal and private life and to learn a language as a child will give you a great head start in life.

Here in the UK, around one in ten primary schools offer no language classes at all with a further 20% only offering them to specific year groups, so one thing is for sure; Michael Gove will have a lot of work on his hands with these reforms.

[1] http://www.eurolondon.com/blog/en/12-reasons-to-be-proud-of-knowing-a-second-language/

European Hiring Trends – Spring 2012

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Euro London

Welcome to Euro London’s European Hiring Trends Report. With offices in London as well as operations in Windsor, Manchester, Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Paris, Luxembourg and Zurich, we are in an ideal position to give you a snapshot of recruitment trends for multilingual staff across Europe.

The findings in this report reflect a mixed picture across Europe, though there are finally signs of at least some light at the end of the tunnel. In the first quarter of this year, the economy of the European Union as a whole has been stable, although some individual member states are facing austere times with debt deficits to take control of.

To read the full report please click the link provided - Euro London Appointments – Hiring Trends

Multilingual Celebrities

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Euro London

We don’t just love languages because they can be used in the workplace; we love languages because they can be used throughout life. Last week we were surprised to find a number of multilingual football managers and Footballers, so this week we thought we’d take a look at celebrities and we were surprised to find that a growing number of Actors, Actresses and other Celebrities can speak a variety of languages.

1. Mila Kunis is famous for starring in the Black Swan and Forgetting Sarah Marshall but is well less known for her ability with languages. Brought up in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic before moving to the United States; she first learnt Russian, then English once in the USA.

2. Bradley Cooper star of The Hangover and Limitless took it upon himself to learn another language whilst he was at university. He started to learn French whilst studying English at Georgetown University, perfecting it on an exchange program spending 6 months France.

3. Malin Åkerman may not have starred as the lead in many films but the Swedish born actress has been in some big blockbusters including Watchmen, The Proposal and the summer release Rock of Ages. Åkerman can speak English and Swedish after moving from Sweden to Canada in her childhood as well as speaking some French and Spanish.

4. Johnny Depp has not only had an amazing career as an actor starring in Edward Sissorhands, Donnie Brasco, Blow and the Pirates of the Caribbean saga, he Can speak French as well. The actor has split much of his time living between Los Angeles and France over the last 10 years where he lives with his wife and kids.

5. Sandra Bullock who has starred in Speed and Miss Congeniality, as well as appearing alongside Malin Åkerman in The Proposal, can speak fluent German which she picked up whilst living in Germany for 12 years as a child.

6. Viggo Mortensen most famously known for playing Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as playing parts in Eastern Promises and a History of Violence grew up in Venezuela, Argentina and Denmark in his youth obtaining dual American-Danish Citizenship. Today he can fluently speak English, Danish and Spanish as well as having conversational Italian and French.

7. Christopher Lee famous for starring in both Lord of the Rings and Star Wars as well as playing to many lead roles in his illustrious 64 year acting career can speak fluent English, Italian, French, Spanish and German, and is moderately proficient in Swedish, Russian and Greek. Rumour has it that he has done his own dubbing for some of his films international versions.

8. Natalie Portman holds dual Israeli-American citizenship due to having an American mother and Israeli father and can speak both Hebrew and English. The actress who broke through playing Mathilda in the film Léon has also appeared in V for Vendetta and co starred alongside Mila Kunis in Black Swan.

9. Joseph Gordon-Levitt star of hit indie film 500 days of Summer and Inception has impressed fans with his ability to speak fluent French as well as English.

10. Last but not least is Will Smith – possibly the coolest man in the world. He can act, sing, dance and can add speaking languages to his list with his proficiency of the Spanish language. The actor who broke through with the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has been playing the lead in TV and film ever since the late1980’s.

Do you have a favourite actor with a multilingual capability?

International Mother Language Day

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Euro London

This week saw the celebration of International Mother Language Day, the day which is in its 12^th year, celebrates our languages around the world. International Mother Language Day was announced by the UN in November 1999 and has been celebrated every year since February 2000 by the member states of the United Nations General Assembly, helping to promote “unity in diversity” with the aid of multilingualism and multiculturalism.

The day can trace its routes back to 1952 when students demonstrated for the recognition of their language, Bengali; to become a recognised language of Pakistan, in what was to become the Bengali Language Movement. This led to the events of February 21^st when a number of students were killed by police in Dhaka protesting for the right of their language to be recognised officially. (The picture features the monument dedicated to those students killed)

The UN itself states that “Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.”

It’s great to see some leadership on the cause to learn languages when so often they are forgotten. It would be a standing testament to the globalised world and multicultural societies we live in today to see this day continued to be promoted around the globe in years to come.

The Evolution Of Language

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Euro London

There are over 7000 languages still spoken in the world today, an extraordinary feat in the evolution of humanity.

Languages come to prominence for differing reasons; English for example is widely spoken as a testament to history and industry, the British Empire which has long since disbanded left an undeniable mark on the world through the English language.

However as with languages spoken by the many, there are also languages spoken by the few. It’s estimated that 50% of the 7000 living languages at the moment are spoken by 3000 people or less and some of these face the possibility of dying out by 2100. But what can be done to stop a language vanishing from the pages of history? Well for the first time in our history we now have the technology to harvest information, store it and play it back to you with the click of a button. That’s exactly what’s being done, with headlines this week around the globe stating that Facebook, YouTube and even texts are being scoured and stored to build up a library of words, grammar and speech; archiving what soon may become extinct. But is it actually necessary to do so? If history has taught us anything, it’s that nothing lasts for ever; evolution is natural and it hasn’t stopped. Even today we’re still seeing animals evolve to meet the practicalities of some of the 21^st century’s least admirable traits; such as elephants starting to be born without tusks as those with tusks are unfortunately poached. Humans too are still adapting! The development of technology over the last decade has seen the rise of what’s called text talk, “you” becomes “U” and “are” becomes “R”, some are calling this lazy and I certainly don’t see it becoming used in business anytime soon, but this new type of social language has evolved and adapted to become widely understood and used in informal settings. So is it actually worth keeping languages that are dying out? Why should we save a language spoken by 100 people instead of learning languages relevant to us today in business, life and society?

Chinese New Year: Enter the Dragon

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Euro London

January the 23^rd saw the welcoming of the Chinese New Year, a story that is steeped in custom and tradition.

According to Chinese legend, the beginning of the New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian.

The Nian would terrorise a Chinese village; eating their crops, livestock and sometimes even the villagers themselves. To protect themselves the villagers would leave food on the front door in hope that the Nian would take the food and leave the villagers alone. The villagers then noticed that the Nian was scared of a child in a hooded red coat and realised that it was scared of the colour red. At this point they began to hang red lanterns on their door and use firecrackers to scare the Nian away along with beating a drum. Since then, although the Nian is still supposedly alive, it has not been seen.

Just like other public holidays across the globe, the celebration is masked in tradition and myth. As well as hanging up red lanterns and letting off firecrackers, red envelopes are given out containing money to the children of the family to symbolise good luck. Traditions like this are ubiquitous around the globe, cultures and social norms vary greatly, whether you move country or continent.

International awareness plays an important role in global business! Customs, formality and tradition can make or break a business relationship and are different around the world. What one party may consider the norm, another may consider rude.

As we have previously discussed in some of our blogs, a lot of what we actually say isn’t actually the vocal language we use at all. Rather it’s in the body language we convey and this can be just as true as the customs we use when in the company of different cultures.

So if you have a job interview with a company based in another part of the world or thinking about re-locating, make sure you research what customs are specific to them and adapt your behaviour accordingly.

This year is the year of the dragon, supposedly the luckiest of all Chinese Zodiacs! What Zodiac year were you born into and do you suit the characteristics associated with this? Perhaps you yourself are feeling lucky and are looking to better your career, let us know!

What is your Chinese Zodiac? http://www.chinesezodiac.com/calculator.php

There’s no such thing as a multilingual President

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Euro London

This week saw the race to be the Republican presidential candidate hit the headlines around the globe for all the wrong reasons!

The reason wasn’t any pending legal issues or personal life discrepancies; the reason was much more worrying than that!

This week the Republican candidates, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, were targeted through ad campaigns because they are multilingual! Mitt Romney was discredited for being able to speak French, whilst Jon Huntsman viewed with suspicion because he speaks Mandarin. I’m not an expert on the manifestos of each of the individual candidates, but I think it’s beyond belief that a perspective leader of any country would face suspicion due to the fact they are multilingual, let alone the campaign to be the president of the United States of America.

English is spoken by many people around the globe and is considered the lingua franca of the modern world. However the percentage of the global population able to speak English as either a first or second language is about 25%; far less than what is usually thought and almost equalled by the percentage of mandarin speakers. The perception that everyone speaks English is an old wives tale that was never really true in the first place.

Knowing a language can lend you much in life! First and foremost, it makes you much more employable; although evidentially not for Presidential elections.

Corporate institutions are focusing their efforts all over the world, requiring communication and integration between staff; the problem with this is often the language barrier. This is one of the main reasons that corporate industry is hiring more and more multilingual corporate staff; it’s nice to have staff with different life experiences as well.

Then there’s the effect on your intelligence! Whether you learn a language as a child or later on in life, there is an increasing amount of evidence that being multilingual provides an added advantage in communication, cognition and social interaction than those who can’t speak a second language [1]. There is also research that shows that the ability to speak more than one language may reduce the susceptibility to mental illnesses such as Alzheimer’s [2].

You might use your languages on holidays and travelling, maybe you like connecting with new people all over the world, or perhaps you learnt your second language just to understand your native language better.

What ever the reason, there has never been a better time to be multilingual for your career and for your personal life!

[1] http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/bilingualism-is-good-for-learning/

[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/feb/18/bilingual-alzheimers-brain-power-multitasking

Screen test

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

Ever wondered about how you can demonstrate your language ability to potential employers – or how to test language ability before agreeing to interview someone. A new service from language jobs board multilingualvacancies.com may have the answer. They have developed video CVs, a system for candidates to demonstrate first hand their multi-lingual abilities to camera. The application is simple to use with candidates being prompted by a link at the end of the process after uploading their details. They then have as many opportunities as they like to record themselves and exhibit those all important skills online. It presents the ideal opportunity to differentiate themselves from other candidates and demonstrate their unique capabilities directly to an employer.

Language Barriers?

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

The UK is not known for its great linguistic ability, with the majority of the population’s foreign language skills limited to “bonjour” or “una cerveza por favor”. But a school in England is facing the opposite problem – its pupils speak 26 different languages! The staff have been teaching the young children English and learning the basics of the other languages spoken, which range from Spanish to Mandarin. However they have also been using Makato, a form of sign language, so that they can communicate with all of the pupils at once. At Euro London, we’re trying to encourage more pupils to study languages - and show then the range of careers available to them when using a language – by being part of the Business Language Champions Scheme. We are also partenring with CILT as sponsors of the Buisness Language Prize in the European Awards for Languages

Language ability and the US

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

While it’s ususally the Brits who are chastised for their lack of language ablity, it seems that our friends accross the pond are even worse. According to the National Council for Languages and International Studies in Washington, only 44% of American high school students are enrolled in foreign language classes, only 31% of elementary schools even offer foreign languages and less than 8% of US undergraduates study a foreign language. What’s even more startling is that according to the 2000 census, only 9% of Americans can speak a foreign language compared with 50% of Europeans. Against the backdrop of a global marketplace, it seems that the UK and US have a lot of work to do!

WANTED A-Level Language Students

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Steve Shacklock

Following the release of the 2011 A-Level results, the subject of modern language education has once again come to the fore. In previous blogs we’ve highlighted the often confused attitude towards languages in the UK, with languages removed as a compulsory subject on the one hand, then reintroduced as part of the English baccalaureate on the other. However, it appears that this approach may have taken its toll, with negative consequences for the student uptake of foreign languages.

While the number of students studying maths and science have seen a welcome increase this year, traditional modern languages such as German and French have continued to decline. But why are teenagers abandoning language subjects in their droves? Is it because they are perceived as difficult? Or that students simply deem them as unnecessary? After all, English is the international lingua franca, right?

Wrong. Here at Euro London, we have always championed the studying of languages above and beyond the age of 16 – something we believe is essential for students to have the best future job prospects. This is a view also supported by the CBI, the UK’s top business lobbying organisation. In response to the 2011 A-Level results, the CBI reiterated the need for more people to study languages to fill demand created by emerging global markets. Capitalising on these new markets was pinpointed by the organisation as a crucial element in driving the UK’s economic recovery.

We think the key to getting more students involved with languages is the greater promotion of language careers outside of the traditional routes of translation and teaching, focusing on the increasing demand for languages within global businesses. Drawing attention to the wealth of job opportunities available in all sectors may just be the incentive for teenagers to hang on to those precious language skills.

Check out our website http://eurolondon.com to see the range of employment possibilities that learning a language could open up for you.

Munich’s First International IT Networking Event

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Steve Shacklock

Social networking is the talk of the town and more and more companies are jumping on the metaphorical bandwagon to reach customers in new, innovative ways. Whether it is via Twitter or Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube, the methods are constantly diversifying. But while we support the social networking revolution and its importance in relationship building, here at Euro London we also believe that it is vital to meet people face to face to build lasting connections.

After all, we should not forget that all business, especially recruitment, is all about people. And while a tweet, a Facebook message or a Google+ post can keep you in touch, building a solid and long-lasting relationship requires a good old-fashioned personal meeting. This is why at Euro London it’s not all about social media and networking 2.0!

Our Munich office has been holding its candidate networking events regularly ever since it opened back in 2006 and this July saw the launch of its first ever “International IT Networking Event”. The event was a huge success and saw Munich IT specialists from all industries come together to network. It was the perfect opportunity for those involved to relax with a beer, build relationships and catch up on the latest industry news. The candidates who attended emailed us the day after to say what a successful networking event it was and even asked us to exchange their contact details so they can stay in touch with each other.

Euro London will now continue to hold it’s newly established “IT Stammtisch” on a regular basis to expand Munich’s Information Technology network.

What better reason to learn French – to win the X Factor of course!

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Steve Shacklock

When we came across this story at Euro London, we couldn’t help but read on. A British student winning the French X Factor?! It sounds absurd, but Matthew Raymond-Barker touched the European nation’s hearts with his renditions of pop classics in the native language. Although admitting being less than perfect at the language when he arrived in the country, with the X Factor winner’s crown at stake Matthew quickly found his fluency with French.

The story is a perfect example of how language learning can open up opportunities that you may never have dreamt possible. Ok, this is a rather exceptional example but nonetheless illustrates that you do not need to let language be a barrier to your ambitions.

Learning a language may just be the X Factor you need to find your dream job!

Spelling Faux Pas

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Steve Shacklock

Bad spelling – the cause of feverish frustration for some and immense hilarity for others. Whether it be on posters or menus, food labels or road signs; spelling mistakes can be found everywhere – just take a look at these examples found throughout the UK.

However, in a recent BBC article it was the impact of misspelling on internet businesses that took the focus. Charles Duncombe, the online entrepreneur, found that dodgy spelling had the power to reduce online sales by a massive 50% – wiping out both website credibility and customer trust.

With the need for international businesses to reach out to a global audience, a multilingual online presence has become increasingly necessary. This is in line with research that shows consumers spend more time on websites that are in their own native language.

However with the introduction of multilingual websites, the scope for mistranslation has also soared – pathing the way for inaccurate accents and grammatical gaffes. A rather amusing example highlighted in a recent article, saw Braniff Airlines offering Spanish customers the chance to ‘fly naked’ with their airline rather than on their leather seats!

In light of research conducted into the impact of misspelling on website sales, it is therefore more important than ever to recruit individuals that have an accurate grasp of the relevant foreign language to provide good quality translation. It again reinforces why languages are such a valuable commodity within a global business and why Euro London’s clients are constantly seeking multilingual candidates.

Boosting the value of your language degree!

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Steve Shacklock

Graduate employment has been hit hard by the recession, with students finding it increasingly difficult to find a job following graduation. Although there is a reported 2.6% rise in graduate opportunities this year, finding employment is still a daunting prospect for many students.

At Euro London, we meet language graduates who are finding it difficult to find their niche in the world of work, leaving them feeling despondent about their job prospects and overlooked in favour of their European counterparts. They often find that although speaking a language can lead to certain opportunities, if not combined with relative work experience it can be difficult to find employment.

The year abroad, that is a mandatory requirement for many language degrees, offers you the chance to demonstrate your ability to adapt to a foreign environment and interact with people from different cultures. This is an invaluable skill in the workplace and makes you an appealing candidate if a job involves travel.

However, at Euro London we also actively encourage language students to support their language skill with extra activities such as internships, holiday jobs and work experience. Seeking experience in the fields that you enjoy is just one way to increase your chances of standing out from the crowd. In addition, work experience can be an excellent opportunity to test out different job sectors and discover which one suits you best.

Combining your language skill with other experience and qualifications ensures that you have a varied and well-rounded CV that increases your value to any employer.

Do you feel your language skill is valued by employers? We would love to hear your opinions and experiences, so leave your comment below.

What could your language degree do for you?

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Steve Shacklock

This article will be part of a series of blogs focusing on language graduate employment.

Here at Euro London, we often encounter students who are unaware of the career opportunities available to language graduates – with many perceiving translation or teaching as the only options to utilise their language skill. We aim to dispell this myth!

Although a career in translation is a viable option for many multilingual individuals, it only represents a small minority of the employment opportunities available. We deal with companies that want multilingual individuals for a diverse range of sectors, recruiting professionals with languages into banking, office support, igaming, HR, marketing, sales, IT and customer service – proof that languages are a valuable commodity within a wide range of careers!

While a language will not always be advertised as essential to a role, it can be advantageous to an employer. In particular, languages provide an important means of communication to businesses with overseas clients. Within international businesses it is also increasingly expected to trade in the buyer’s language, therefore fueling the need for those with language skills.

So whether you wish to to be in HR or PR, an accountant or an actuary, your language may have a niche value. Taking a look at these broader options will enlighten you to the alternative career choices that your language degree could hold!

Don’t forget to check out next week’s blog for ways that you can add value to your language degree…

What kind of language learner are you?

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Steve Shacklock

Whether you’re a natural when picking up the lingo on holiday or just can’t get your head round your adiós and au revoir, we all have different learning styles when approaching languages. The process in which you learn a language can often determine whether you throw your books down in frustration or reel off vocabulary with ease.

As individuals, we have a natural preference for a particular style of learning. Discovering which style is best suited to you can enhance the process of language learning, as well as making it a far more enjoyable enterprise. Here at Euro London, we encourage anyone and everyone to take up new languages and whether you are a visual, kinaesthetic or auditory learner here are some handy tips to help.

Visual – Do you delight in drawing mind maps? How about scribbling down lists? If yes, then you may be a visual learner. Visual learners thrive on seeing vocabulary written down and therefore flash cards can be a useful prop to learning.

Kinaesthetic - If you enjoy learning through the act of role play and interactive group work then you are most probably a kinaesthetic learner. Kinaesthetic learners prefer to reinforce the act of learning through a physical activity. Interactive language games are perfect for those who prefer this style of learning.

Auditory - Do you find yourself singing Adele’s latest hit, word for word? Then you may favour auditory learning. Auditory learners tend to pick up conversational language more rapidly than others and rely largely on the spoken word to process information. Making up rhymes to remember vocabulary and listening to language tapes are both ideal approaches to learning a language for these individuals.

Discovering whether you favour visual, kinaesthetic or auditory learning may just be the key to unlocking your language potential!

Bilingual Officers – The Future of Policing?

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Steve Shacklock

The future of policing?

Ever had your purse pinched? Well fear not, the police’s latest weapon in the fight against crime is here: the bilingual officer. The recruitment of overseas officers is a police initiative set up to crack down on foreign gangs, many of whom target the Westfield shopping centre.

French-speaking officers have been used in an undercover operation to infiltrate an Algerian gang. Although this may read like a James Bond script, the use of bilingual policemen has led to the arrest of ten individuals responsible for theft.

Inspector Dan Stobbart claims that such measures are necessary to tackle the growing number of foreign gangs in the area, especially at a time when the police are experiencing Government cuts.

Only time will tell whether this is an effective and sustainable approach to policing gangs, however, in the mean time foreign criminals better watch out for those who may be listening in…

Languages – should the government make up its mind?

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Steve Shacklock

When it comes to language learning in the UK, the figures aren’t great. Less and less students are taking languages but we’re hearing more and more stories about the increased importance put on learning them. So where do we stand? I think that more needs to be done to encourage young people to study languages and there must be a clearer policy when it comes to languages in education.

Since 2004, studying a language at GCSE has been optional in the UK, however the new English Baccalaureate will only be awarded to students that take GCSEs in language subjects. Furthermore, there are set to be changes to the way league tables are calculated to encourage more students to take languages, and Universities like UCL will soon only consider applicants who have studied a language at GCSE level.

We are giving young people such mixed messages when it comes to studying languages. One minute languages are optional but then they won’t get the English Bac without them – is this a case of a bit too little, too late? With schools and students both unsure of where they stand when it comes to language learning, the current situation is too contradictory and I think that languages should again become compulsory to ensure the UK remains competitive and that British students get the best future job prospects.

As business becomes increasingly international, languages have become a crucial skill for employers, but we’re finding fewer and fewer British graduates with strong language skills as those that took their GCSEs once languages were no longer compulsory are now coming out of the education system. This needs to change if we want young people to have the best chance of finding a job and if we want British business to remain competitive.

What do you think?

Too little, too late?

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Steve Shacklock

Why the government made languages optional, as the business world becomes increasingly international, is still somewhat of a mystery to me. Employers need more linguists than ever to help them build and maintain strong relationships with customers and colleagues overseas, but statistics show there are less and less young people learning languages at school since they stopped being compulsory. A recent report by Ofsted highlights that some state schools have not one pupil taking a foreign language GCSE and only a third have reached the target of having half of their students taking a modern language GCSE.

It seems that rather than admit the error of its ways and make languages compulsory once again, the government is trying to come up with other ways of producing future linguists. It is proposing that the way schools are ranked is changed and saying that they should be judged on the level of success at GCSE in five subjects, one of which is a foreign language.

Although if this does happen it will hopefully increase the number of young people learning languages, is it too little too late? Many schools are not geared up for such high levels of language teaching after the government made them compulsory – “You can’t have schools judged against criteria that were not previously in place,” said National Union of Teachers leader Christine Blower.

So, what will happen in the future? Whatever legislation the government decides to implement, we hope that schools will be encouraged to get as many of their students as possible taking languages, and encourage them to pursue these subjects past the age of 16. Language skills can lead to some great jobs – see our posts in the category ‘language jobs’ if you need proof!

GCSE shake up

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

Seven years after the Labour government removed the compulsory requirement for students to study a foreign language at age fourteen, the Government of today looks set to change things. A recent article in the Guardian reports that in a shake-up of the league tables, the number of pupils taking a language should increase.

New plans will see every school rewarded for the amount of students who achieve good grades in English, maths, science, a language and one humanity subject. Currently, some schools are seen to boost their league table scores through offering softer subjects like media. This is great news and should see the number of pupils learning a second language increase to the levels seen prior to 2003. In fact, if schools want to rate high in the league tables it will see languages at GCSE being compulsory. With more pupils studying language GCSE’s we hope this will result in more carrying on studying them at A-Level and university. Continue reading →

Hyper Japan

Posted on November 9, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

Our Japanese desk took some clients to the recent Hyper Japan event – and what a successful day it turned out to be. It was the first time the event was put on so we had no idea what to expect but had done our research and looked forward to seeing and hearing all about Japanese culture – we weren’t disappointed!

We had a great time! We got to sample some great Japanese food – octopus ball and one of my favourites, sushi; we were even shown how to make it by a top sushi chef! We listened to some great music and our clients seemed to enjoy it as much as we did! So why did we go to the event and why was it being held? Continue reading →

Japanese speaking roles on the rise

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

You may have read in the news recently that we have seen a sharp rise in the number of Japanese speaking roles in the financial services sector. We have found that the roles we recruit for in this sector are largely determined by the stability of the market, to see so many coming our way is a clear indication that the recovery is in full swing. We are also hearing from our Japanese clients that the strength of the Yen is encouraging more companies to invest in Europe.

However it is apparent that Japanese companies are not just looking for employees that can speak the language; equally as important is the ability to understand the culture and the way business operates. Candidates are now required to understand the pace of business in Japan and also how to interact with people. In fact there is a well known story of a multi million pound business deal in which an American supplier did not present business cards to Japanese managers in the correct manner, and toyed with them throughout the meeting. A major sign of disrespect in Japanese business culture, the deal fell through!

It is important therefore for applicants to understand a country’s culture– just speaking a language will not always get you the job.

Learning a foreign language – the way to boost your career

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

We recently featured in an article in the Guardian discussing how learning a new language can really boost your career and that it is never too late to learn. To see the article and our comments in full click here. But here’s a summary of the piece:

Speaking to people in their own language for business purposes will yield results; people are far more likely to speak freely and openly if you are speaking in their own language
In jobs in sales, marketing or technical support, languages can really open doors. In fact it is estimated that having an additional language on your CV can add between 10% to 15% to your salary.
For those looking to boost a career, and in particular the graduates that are currently facing a tough time getting work, learning a language is very beneficial.
Most countries may speak English, and whilst some business may very well be completed in English to accommodate parties from across the globe, if you are seen to know a language and demonstrate this it can help to retain business. It is form of courtesy to show someone you can and are willing to speak to them in the native language.
Cultural knowledge is just as important as being able to speak another language. If you know the way of life of the country you are doing business in or with it will really prove beneficial.
The five most useful languages to learn currently are as follows: French, Spanish, Swedish, German and Russian.

What’s your experience? Can you relate with the points in this article or are you thinking about learning a language to boost your career? Let us know!

Languages considered least important for children to learn

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

According to research published by YouGov, school children benefit least from learning languages at school. That’s according to the adults surveyed. We were shocked to hear this, as we believe that languages are essential to a child’s learning and prove very beneficial in later life.

Of those surveyed, 95% considered maths to be the most important subject to study, 94% considered English Language to be important with IT and science following closely with 91% and 90% respectively. This may not be a surprise, but what is was the finding that only 43% of adults believe French an important language to learn. Learning German was seen as even less important with 31% followed by Spanish with just 30%.

In fact some subjects which were seen to be far more important than languages were home economics,technology and woodwork! Although it would be nice if everyone could bake a nice cake or whip up a park bench I think languages are a far more valuable skill set!

We recently blogged about the plight of languages in A Level choices and this data goes some way in showing why this may be the case. If adults see languages as unimportant they are less likely to encourage their children to take these up when they are given the choice at school. We know that languages can put you ahead of other candidates in the job hunt and provide rewarding careers but these statistics show that we have a lot of people to convince.

What are your thoughts? Do you see languages as unimportant? We hope not!

Welsh woman takes law into her own hands

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

We have heard plenty of stories about Brits abroad annoying the locals because they can’t speak the local dialect and only communicate in English. You might also get annoyed when people here don’t try to speak English when they are in this country.

Well we found a rather amusing story recently about a Welsh woman who was fed up with the lack of Welsh language used by the police. The Guardian recently reported that the women in question staged a five hour car protest in response to two parking tickets she had received. After she had received the tickets, the police force in question had sent her several correspondences in English and not Welsh,so she refused to pay them.

Due to lack of payment her car had been clamped and she refused to move from the car so it would not be towed. She eventually agreed to pay the fine once the police force offered to review their language policy.

This just goes to show that persistence can pay off – of course we don’t know if the police force will do anything about this issue and we wouldn’t condone breaking the law, but it is certainly nice to see someone willing to go to extreme lengths, (and pay a hefty bill) in order to preserve the language they are proud of!

123 year old language makes a comeback

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

Ever heard of Esperanto? If not, you might be interested in an article I came across recently which discusses it. Esperanto is a language that was created over 100 years ago and is spoken by huge numbers of people across the world and was officially recognised by the UN in 1954.

Esperanto was introduced by Dr Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof, a Polish doctor who wanted to devise an international second language to enable people to communicate worldwide. While the language may have declined over the years, with the increased use of the internet worldwide, Esperanto is seeing a comeback! Continue reading →

A-Levels & languages

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

With A Level results recently published there have been plenty of stories in the news about the lack of university places for some students and the increase in the number of students bypassing further education and opting to go straight into work. This got me thinking about some figures recently published about languages.

According to the National Centre for Languages (CILT) recent figures show that there has been a 3.7% fall in the number of students sitting A-levels in modern languages. Whilst there may have been an increase in those sitting the Spanish exam, those taking German and French both decreased which seems to have become a recurring theme over the years. But why is this the case? Continue reading →

Business Language Champions

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

We’ve blogged before about the National Centre of Languages (CILT) and the various initiatives they run. Last week, our Manchester office attended the Business Language Champions (BLC) event which is a national programme that encourages and helps businesses and schools to work closely together to promote and encourage language learning to young people.

The programme is sponsored by the Department for Education and is a great way to get schools and companies working together for a good cause. We know only too well that there is a big problem surrounding a lack of candidates with language skills and companies increasingly have to look abroad to get the skill set they require. With statistics issued by UK Customs and Excise claiming that 72% of UK international trade is with non-English speaking countries there is clearly a need for organisations to have a multi lingual workforce. Continue reading →

Bilingualism key to prevent language extinction

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

I came across an interesting piece on twitter last week regarding bilingualism and it caught my attention for two reasons – firstly the very nature of my job means I am always on the lookout for stories regarding languages and secondly it reminded me of a post I wrote recently on disappearing languages.

According to researchers in Spain the dominating languages such as English have led to the decline and eventual extinction of less dominating languages like Scottish, Gaelic and Welsh. This, they say, is proven by mathematical models. Continue reading →

EU backs linguist recruitment drive

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

I was pleased to see an article in EurActiv about the European Commission taking steps to promote language learning in school – a topic we have blogged about before and one that I feel strongly about.

According to the article, the European Commission has teamed up with several other international organisations to call for proper funding to be made available to schools for their language departments. Furthermore, they call for better funding and career prospects for professions like translators and interpreters which are currently facing a shortage and will continue to do so over the next 5 to 10 years. Continue reading →

French is useless!

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

‘The useless modern foreign languages such as French’. That lovely quote was in an article I was reading in the Independent last week. ‘Ridiculous’ was my first thought (and still is) but let’s put it into context. The quote came from former government minister Chris Bryant when he was (we assume) trying to defend the actions of the previous Labour government’s failures to increase foreign language learning to school children. Chris Bryant wasn’t saying that languages shouldn’t be taught; on the contrary he was encouraging the teaching of foreign languages but just the ‘useful’ ones which he quoted as ‘Mandarin, Spanish, and Portuguese‘!

We’ve blogged before about the previous government lobbying to get languages such as Mandarin on the school curriculum but what amazed me was that a language like French that is so poplar and widely spoken was branded as useless by Chris! In our job as recruiters we see lots of jobs that specifically require French, which certainly shows it is not useless. More to the point shouldn’t we be encouraging the learning of languages whether it be French, German or Mandarin?

As pointed out in the article ‘according to some estimates it [French] has 265 million native or second language speakers, more than Arabic for instance, and is the most important trading language in large parts of Africa and elsewhere’. Clearly then in our opinion French is not useless and will continue to be an important language for the foreseeable future regardless of what an ex minister claims!!

20 years of recruitment success

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

We are pleased to be celebrating our 20th Anniversary here at Euro London appointments – doesn’t time fly?! There have been a lot of changes in the recruitment sector over the past two decades and we have witnessed them all – both the ups and the downs.

We came across a video recently that we recorded back in 1999 when we were approaching our 10th Anniversary and a lot has happened since then – we have expanded throughout Europe and I certainly now look somewhat older (but wiser)! It’s also amazing how much we have moved on in terms of video production and digital media – the video may only be 11 years old but it still made a few of us chuckle – and who knew 11 years ago that this video would end up on YouTube and our blog?! Continue reading →

Disappearing Languages

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

There are currently over 7000 languages spoken in the world but if we are to believe recent findings by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) by the end of this century half of these languages will have vanished entirely.

“Approximately half of the world’s languages are considered to be endangered. And we may be losing a language as often as every two weeks” commented Profession David Harrison. These are quite shocking statistics and according to Harrison, the reason these languages may soon vanish is because “speakers are pressured to assimilate to a more dominate culture” – in other words individuals are made to believe that their mother tongue is not desirable and other languages are better. Continue reading →

Top fliers – languages & understanding cultural differences

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

We recently wrote an article which was featured in Changeboard discussing the lack of UK nationals with the necessary linguistic skills to fill the amount of roles available, why this is the case and importantly what the implications are for the future.

To view the article in full click here but we have also put some of the key issues below:

The UK has become increasingly tied into one worldwide system and there is more demand for business professionals across the globe. As a result professionals need to be equipped with foreign langauge skills but also a cultural awareness of different markets.
The rapid growth of many foreign economies and markets, especially in Asia has seen an increase in demand for languages like Russian, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Having an understanding of the local languages of your customers base gives tremendous advantages in day-to-day business meetings, negotiations and in building relationships with clients.
Languages also allow valuable insight into emerging markets, having people on your team who are multilingual can offer useful marketing and business development skills.
More effort needs to be made to encourage language learning in schools – only 75% of the highest achievers take a language at GCSE. If this does not increase, the pipeline of linguistic talent will continue to shrink.
There is a perception that the only roles available to linguistically skilled candidates is either as a teacher or an interpreter – this just isn’t the case!
A survey we carried out revealed that 86% of employers viewed languages as an important skill and the majority believed that in the future those who are not multilingual will struggle in the employment market.

We hope you enjoy reading the full article!

Language skills improve employability

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

We all know how important languages are, but here are the stats to prove it! We recently surveyed 228 employers and 86% felt that languages were an important skill set and improve someone’s employability. (You may have seen this story covered in various blogs and magazines!)

We asked our participants what they thought the most useful languages were and the majority of respondents (74%) cited the traditional western European languages of French German Spanish and Italian as the most useful. Over a third (37%) commented that those more exotic languages such as Mandarin and Arabic would grow in demand in the future – particularly in areas such as the financial services sector. Here are some comments from the employers we spoke to: Continue reading →

Lobby for Latin?

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

We’ve blogged before about Ed Balls’ announcement that all school children should be given the chance to learn Mandarin at school. But now it appears that the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson also has his own ideas on what the state school curriculum in the UK should be offering kids – the chance to learn Latin!

Boris Johnson is lobbying for Latin to be added to the state school curriculum and was quoted as saying “I firmly believe that we must not starve the minds of students eager to embrace the great intellectual disciplines of Latin……..we cannot possibly understand our modern world unless we understand the ancient world that made us all and there is simply no better way than to make young minds think in a logical and analytical way”.

His comments, as always, have sparked much debate on the subject and so we started a discussion on LinkedIn a few weeks ago to gauge public opinion on the matter, which attracted huge responses. Critics called it typical of Boris and his public school mentality and said that he was simply “grabbing headlines”. They argued that school children should of course be taught languages at school but what would be beneficial to them would be to learn modern foreign languages that they would, in the future use to further their careers (French, German, Spanish etc). Some also argued that teaching Latin just wasn’t realistic for schools to do – why? There is simple a lack of Latin teachers.

These arguments are valid, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and there were also plenty of people that agreed with Boris. They argued that encouraging the teaching of any language to children is a good idea – “it opens up your mind to a different culture, a different way of thinking and understanding where we are coming from” all of which are important later in life and in the world of work.

With the election looming and education being a key issue – who knows what will happen – I guess we will just have to wait and see after 6th May!

Try Life in Another Language

Posted on April 28, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

The National Centre for Languages in association with the Department for Children, Schools and Families launched the ‘Try Life in Another Language’ campaign. The campaign is designed to get as many kids learning a second language at school so that they are better placed to get a job when they reach the beginning of their careers.

The campaign was launched following a survey of 500 employers which found that other than I.T, the most important skill for jobseekers was to have a second language on their CV and this really set them aside from other candidates and furthermore, salaries for people with another language was higher.

As we all know, the job market was greatly affected by the recession so this got me thinking about language skills and the recession – were those candidates that did not have a second language simply unemployable? Of course not – but clearly those that did were at an advantage and having a second language can help candidates get a foot in the door at a time when competition for jobs is particularly high.

We recently blogged about a petition which calls for the Prime Minister to reinstate the compulsory teaching of modern foreign languages up to the age of 16 – we hope you all signed this petition and fingers crossed we will soon know that all kids at age 16 will have some grasp of a foreign language and, if they choose to pursue this – a good chance at getting the job they want!

Text messaging, and translation

Posted on February 23, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

Phones seem to be able to anything these days. Calls are just the beginning – now we can surf the web, listen to music and play games on our handsets too. But those technology pioneers over at Google are preparing the next big thing when it comes to phones: translation. It is building software to translate languages almost instantly – your very own translation machine.

Google are building the software from a combination of automatic translation and voice recognition technology, and aim to have a basic version ready within the next two years. Will it work? That remains to be seen. The existing online translation tools are handy if you want a rough translation, but can’t be relied on for accurate interpreting – as I’m sure many of us have experienced before! The question is: if the people at Google do pull it off, will it spell the end of language learning?

Personally, I don’t think so. First of all, even if you did have a tool like this to enable you to communicate in another language, what about the cultural knowledge of the country that is so crucial? What about the use of slang? What if your machine breaks?! There really isn’t a substitute for learning another language, and although this would be a great tool to help you out, I don’t think it will replace the old fashioned way.

Jobs market improves for linguists

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

Towards the end of 2009 Euro London was busy putting together its biannual ‘European Hiring Trends Report’ - a survey of employment markets across the areas we operate in (London, Windsor and Manchester in the UK and Paris, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Munich, Luxembourg and Zurich across mainland Europe.)

The results? Overall the message was positive – conditions are improving slowly but surely and the jobs market looks set to improve throughout 2010.

Here’s a summary of what we found in the UK:

French and German remain the most popular languages, although there has also been a strong demand for Dutch and Scandinavian languages
Most sectors improving slowly
Demand has grown for sales and marketing professionals, especially in the digital marketing arena and inbanking and finance
iGaming and betting remains buoyant
Continued lack of high quality candidates but bigger pool of talent has led to employers being less flexible
Increased confidence about the year ahead

Elsewhere, Germany has been experiencing stronger growth, especially in IT. Along with France it has also seen a boost in sales and marketing, and accountancy remains quite strong. Most countries also found that the decision making process was a long one when it came to hiring new staff, often leading to businesses losing out on the best candidates.

The full report contains details of recruitment trends in each region – for your free copy just click here: http://bit.ly/85FRbI.

Languages could keep you young

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

If ever there was a reason to speak more than one language, this has got to be a good one. Researchers at Bangor University in Wales are looking for people who speak both Welsh and English as well as monolinguals to see what benefits being bilingual brings. Professor Virginia Gathercole says “The very act of being able to speak, listen, and think in two languages and of using two languages on a daily basis appears to sharpen people’s abilities to pay close attention to aspects of tasks relevant to good performance…Some researchers have also found that bilingualism could also play a role in guarding against the decline in our brain’s abilities with ageing.”

The researchers will be looking at over 700 people between the ages of 2 and 80, but still need some over 60s to take part – and you’ll get £10 for taking part. If you’re interested then contact Ms. Leah Jones, leah.jones@bangor.ac.uk, 01248 388892, or Ms. Emma Hughes, emma.hughes@bangor.ac.uk , 01248 383820, for further information.

Is Mandarin the future of language learning?

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Steve Shacklock

There has been a lot of controversy lately over Ed Balls’ announcement that all children should be given the opportunity to learn Mandarin, the world’s most popular language. Critics called it a gimmick, saying that there wouldn’t be enough teachers and that the government should instead concentrate on addressing the lack of mainstream language learning. Continue reading →

Sign this petition!

Posted on December 18, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

We’ve blogged before about the falling number of students taking GCSEs in languages. According to CILT, the National Centre for Languages, this year only 44% of GSCE students took a language – compared to 78% ten years ago. We all know that today’s marketplace is becoming more global and without the language skills that enable us to communicate on a global scale, UK business is going to suffer dramatically in the future.

With this in mind I was pleased to see on Twitter recently a link to a petition calling for the re-introduction of a compulsory language GSCE. Please click on the link below and sign your name – hopefully it will be given some serious consideration.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/TeachLanguages/

OPEN TO INTERPRETATION?

Posted on November 1, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

I was more than a little surprised to read a piece in The Telegraph last week about translators needed for foreign visitors to decode…wait for it. Glaswegian! Apparently Today Translations placed an advert in The Herald asking for “speakers with Glaswegian English with a knowledge of vocabulary, accent and nuances, to meet the interpreting needs of clients who find it an unexpected challenge.” It made me think about the general lack of foreign language ability among the British population and how hard it is to find translators and interpreters who have an English mother tongue. There just aren’t enough column inches given to the importance of learning foreign languages – and how they can help in winning new business for UK plc. What happens if the foreign visitors don’t speak English – will they be taught Glaswegian?

Language of the month

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

Could businesses take a leaf out of this school’s book? Newbury Park primary school in North East London teaches pupils who speak between 30 and 40 languages, but instead of seeing this as a hindrance, the school has embraced it. Pupils learn a different “language of the month” which is spoken by a child at the school every month, with video clips of the pupils teaching their classmates words from their native language.

Already having covered about 50 languages, from French to Swahili, the scheme has been really popular, with pupils keen to promote their own languages. The teacher who came up with the scheme said, “It started simply as a common courtesy, but as we went on we found that children who have their language valued are more open then to learning English than if we just let them hide their language away.”

Could we learn something from this scheme? If nothing else, it would be a great programme for other schools to replicate – learning small snippets of another language from such a young age can really help with language learning, and boost children’s interest in it.

But what about businesses? If you find yourself dealing with an international client, why not make an effort to learn some of the language? Whether this is in the form of a language course, or just spending a few minutes figuring out how to say hello, it could make a big difference. Teacher Joe Debono adds “If you want to get to know a person you want to get to know a little about their language. It’s only polite…A child’s language is a big part of their identity. It comes after their name and family.” This doesn’t just apply to children – this bit of knowledge may just make a big difference to business success.

Bad translations

Posted on September 10, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

I recently came across the Telegraph’s ‘Sign Language’ gallery – some perfect examples of translation gone terribly wrong and why it’s so important to know a language well. There are 65 weeks worth of these so I have picked some of the best ones!

Now u can txt in Welsh

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

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Mobile phones have been an indispensable technology for us for so long now that I can’t even remember how long it’s been – but I know it’s at least ten years. Phones have evolved so much that they are no longer phones, but devices that you can use for listening to music, taking photos, browsing the internet and maybe the odd phone call or text message. So all this considered, it’s quite shocking to hear that until now, there hasn’t been a mobile phone for Welsh speakers!

Both a phone with Welsh menus and predictive text and also an iPhone application for those wanting to learn Welsh have been unveiled at the National Eisteddfod festival to celebrate Welsh culture.

The Samsung S5600 will have over 44,000 Welsh words and be available on the Orange network. The iPhone application was developed with the help of the head of Computer Science at Aberystwyth University Professor Chris Price, who is also a Welsh learner. He said “There are many apps for learning other languages available to iPhone users, amongst them 27 for French, 23 for Italian and even ones for Irish, and Tagalog, which is spoken in the Philippines. I felt it was high time that help of this kind was made available for those learning Welsh.”

Top language blogs of 09

Posted on August 11, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

Apart from our own of course (we’re slightly biased) there are some great blogs on languages out there. Language blog Lexophiles and language portal bab.la have recently held the Top 100 Language Blogs 2009 competition. You can read the results here.

We’ll definitely been taking a look through these blogs. And hopefully now that ours is off the ground, we’ll make the 2010 list!

We’re putting together our own list of favourite language blogs so please leave us your suggestions!

Learn to babble with babbel

Posted on August 7, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

There’s no doubt about it – learning another language is no easy feat. Most of us will recall French textbooks and trying to remember those irregular verbs at school. But should you want to learn a new language from scratch or brush up on your existing skills, the power of the internet brings us a website called Babbel, which can help you do just that.

Registration is free and users can learn English, French, German, Italian or Spanish, through vocabulary and writing exercises, with the site in their native language. As well as this, you have access to the over 420,000 other users of the site, to chat to, receive help from and also offer advice to.

A language learning community seems like a great idea, and a cheap, easy and fun way to improve language skills. So if you fancy getting another language under your belt to put on your CV, why not take a look? I’m going to give Italian a go…

Ireland pays the price for lack of translators

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

We know how valuable language skills are to the workforce and the economy, but it seems like there’s even more evidence now to show that there’s a high price tag attached to the lack of language skills across the English speaking world.

A new report shows that a shortage of translators in Ireland, capable of translating documents into Irish, has cost the government there over €1.5 million since 2007. The department of education was the biggest spender, with the department of social and family affairs also spending significant amounts.

This means that not only are the UK and Ireland both losing out on valuable contracts through the lack of language skills in their workforces (as we reported recently) but this skill shortage is actually costing us a lot of money too. This comes as another report states that around a fifth of UK primary schools could miss a target to offer languages by 2010. Without this pipeline of talent, the situation is going to get even worse.

‘Twittern’ – the new German words

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

A new, 25^th, version of the Duden German language dictionary has now been launched, featuring 5000 new words. It’s always interesting to see what new English words make it into the dictionary, but what new vocab have the Germans been using?

New words include twittern – to twitter and komasaufen – literally translated as ‘to drink into a coma’, but more commonly known as binge drinking. A more German related entry is Abwrackprämie, a ‘car scrapping premium’ of €2500 for those that scrap their cars which are over nine years old.

Which other words would you like to see added?

Language degrees disappear

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

Where have all the linguists gone? Making modern languages optional at GCSE must be having a knock on effect, as Universities are now facing the effects of less students applying to study languages.

The University of the West of England is stopping courses in French, German and Chinese for the next academic year as they only received 39 applicants, compared to other subjects which saw a 14% rise in applications. This comes as Queen’s University Belfast announced plans to close its German department.

This is just another example of the damage that a drop in language learning is causing. In a few years’ time this will have a significant effect on the business world too, with a shrinking pipeline of linguistic talent. At the recent European Award for Languages held by CILT, Baroness Coussins quoted some interesting research from Cardiff Business School, which found that the UK loses £9 – 21 billion from lost contracts every year due to our lack of language skills. That’s a phenomenal amount of money that could be helping restore our economy, but with news like this, the situation doesn’t look like it’s going to be improving in the near future.

Language learning at record low

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

It’s no surprise that ever since the government made the learning of a foreign language at GCSE level optional, the number of students taking them has fallen. But according to the exam board, Cambridge Assessment, only 75% of the highest achievers take a GCSE exam in a modern language – that’s down from 94% 25 years ago. The research also said that Spanish is set to overtake German as the second most popular language after French.

Three quarters of the highest achievers studying languages is still a high percentage, however it’s worrying that this number has decreased so dramatically. And if it’s falling among the brightest students, what about the rest of the school population? More efforts need to be made to encourage language learning, or the pipeline of linguistic talent in the UK will continue to shrink.

The benefits of bilingualism

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

We all know that being bilingual is a useful skill to have in the workplace and when travelling, but research now shows that those of us that are able to speak two languages can learn an additional language easier than those of us who are monolingual.

According to research from Northwestern University in the States, it doesn’t matter which other language you speak, as researchers tested people who spoke both English and Mandarin and English and Spanish, and asked them to learn words from a made up language that did not resemble either Mandarin or Spanish. Both groups did significantly better than those who spoke only English.

Viorica Marian, Associate Professor of communication sciences and disorders at the University, said: “It’s often assumed that individuals who’ve learned multiple languages simply have a natural aptitude for learning languages. While that is true in some cases, our research shows that the experience of becoming bilingual itself makes learning a new language easier. After learning another language, individuals can transfer language learning strategies they’ve acquired to subsequent language learning and become better language learners in general.”

This is an interesting, although not particularly surprising find. Learning another language often teaches you a lot about your own language that you didn’t know before, and knowledge of how language works in general. This is even more reason for schools to start teaching languages from an early age, as it would provide a basis for further language learning.

You can read the full article here. So what’s your next language going to be?

Police learn sign language

Posted on July 3, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

When you think about languages, sign language isn’t often the first one that comes to mind. But it’s an important one, as police in Country Durham are learning. They have been offered sign language classes to help them communicate with a wider range of people in the local community.

The course will teach up to 17 people over the course of nine weeks. This is a great idea – if more companies followed suit and helped their employees with language learning, it would make a huge difference to the UK’s ability to communicate in the global marketplace.

Scottish language

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

We often forget that although the UK is one nation, we don’t all speak the same language. Much of Wales speaks Welsh, and now there is a push for more acknowledgement of Scottish. A Scottish Nationalist politician has written to supermarkets requesting that they change their packaging so that the fruit and veg are given their Scottish names. Bill Wilson says, “I can’t see why they shouldn’t use Scots words. For example, nobody uses the word ‘blackberry’ in Scotland; they’re always referred to as brambles. The stores are very keen to say that they use Scots goods. Why don’t they use Scots words as well?” However according to the Scotsman, critics have said he is wasting the supermarkets’ time during a recession and he hasn’t got very far in his quest, with the main stores telling him that a change would lead to confusion amongst shoppers. Language is a part of a culture and identity and therefore it is important – but isn’t this more a case of regional words and slang as opposed to a different language? London stores don’t have cockney rhyming slang on their packaging. Or is it important to relate to your customers in this way? It seems that there are some very different views – let us know your thoughts!

Ireland also faces language challenge

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

It’s a widely held belief that Britons aren’t the best at learning languages. But it seems that the Irish share our lack of linguistic ability. The Irish Independent reports that according to the latest Graduate Recruitment Trends Survey, over 23% of employers complain that Irish graduates lack fluency in a foreign language. The article also says that Chinese and Japanese are growing in popularity in Irish schools, with these nations becoming increasingly significant in the business world.

Professor Fan Hong of the Institute of Chinese studies at UCC is working to try and get Chinese taught in more Irish schools. He says: “Mandarin will become an important language for Ireland in the 21st century. People have to realise that if you want to find a job, you have to be able to communicate in other languages. It may not be necessary to learn the language so that you speak it fluently. But some basic knowledge will certainly help people. Mandarin is now a major language of business.”

Both in Ireland and in the UK there does not seem to be enough emphasis on the importance of language learning due to English being the lingua franca. Teaching languages like Chinese would be a great move forward as at Euro London we see a constant demand for candidates with Asian languages. More work like this needs to be done to get children learning languages at an earlier age and to encourage them to continue with their language studies.

If you’re a company interested in promoting language learning then visit CILT – Euro London have been involved with the Business Language Champions project for 2 years now and it’s a fantastic way to show young people just what opportunities languages can bring.

Spanish day

Posted on June 25, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

Many of us in the UK can only manage a few words of Spanish, the most common ones being ‘hola’, ‘adios’ and ‘una cerveza’, I would imagine. So to celebrate and promote the Spanish language, the Cervantes Institute has launched the first international Spanish Language Day, or ‘el día del español’ which took place on Saturday 20^th June.

With events planned in 43 countries, including concerts, films and storytellings, the Institute plans to hold the Spanish Day every year. It was officially launched this year at the Institute’s headquarters in Madrid where a cannon fired out thousands of pieces of paper with Spanish words written on them.

This seems like a great way to promote language learning around the world and something that schools and businesses could really get involved with. We’ll get thinking about ideas for 2010.

Lost in translation?

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Steve Shacklock

Translation by machine may have come a long way but even today the most powerful computers cannot guarantee a perfect interpretation of documents. All road signs in Wales need to be bi-lingual and when Swansea Council emailed its in house translation service asking for “No entry for heavy goods vehicles, residential site only” to be translated into Welsh, their response was gratefully received and put to use. However some knowledge of Welsh, or someone who could check the translation, would have been useful. When the sign was put up, it took a local Welsh speaker to point out that the sign actually gave an out of office auto reply which said “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.” If you think its time to replace your web translation tool with the human version then Euro London has a range of multi-lingual office support staff available.