South Korea tries hard to make their 10 million visitors per year welcome. English is not only the language of business but most street signs, advertising slogans, and announcements on…
Magazine
After the success of the European Year of Languages in 2001, the Council of Europe initiated the annual European Day of Languages, which takes place on 26th September every year….
Just how important is it to learn another language? For the European Parliament the answer is very. The EP has always maintained a focus on promoting language learning and cultural…
Gone are the days of competing just against other stores on the high street. Your business, no matter the size, or the type can now attract customers from around the…
You see them at parties, at work, they might even be your friends, you recognise them immediately. They’re conversationalists, and you wish you could be one too. Some people are…
So you’ve got a nice new website, ensured it’s fully mobile responsive and you’ve had it translated into English. That’s all you need to do to attract international customers, right?…
“Culture is king”, as the saying goes, and if you don’t know the culture, you can’t understand the people. That’s why it’s important to be familiar with traditions and cultures…
With the latest chapter in the Star Wars saga now available on DVD and Blu-ray, it’s time to celebrate Star Wars day properly this year. When is Star Wars day?…
Hands up. Who’s never heard the saying “Keep calm and carry on?” Nobody! What most don’t know though is that this (often annoying) catchphrase wasn’t made up by a modern…
Originally a victory party to celebrate 2,000 untrained, badly armed Mexicans defeating 6,000 French troops in the Franco-Mexican war, Cinco de Mayo is now a celebration of all things Mexican….
Learning to write in another language isn’t the same as learning to speak – it can be much more daunting. Whatever you write stays there on the page (or screen)…
“Sooner or later I’m going to have to learn English”… “I’ll do it next year,” “I’ll never learn,” ”What if I fail”? Why do we do some things immediately and…
READ IT IN ITALIAN What would Milan be without all the Chinese-run sushi bars, or Brixton without Balti, or anywhere without spaghetti? The profusion over the years of emigrants, escaping…
OK, so “OK” is once again considered to be the most understood Global English word worldwide. I like it, it’s accompanied me through life, it’s friendly, and it’s fair, and…
The recent purchase of Grom by Unilever is only latest in a series of foreign investment in the excellence of Made in Italy. But the tables are also being turned;…
Halloween has become a worldwide festivity. Even if most of the world has opted to celebrate the American version of All Hallows Eve others have held on to their own…
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Tongue twisters rely on alliteration – the repetition of the same letter or sound in adjacent words…
Punctuation is, today, an integral part of any written text. Words become almost nonsense without the presence of commas, full stops and question marks. Yet thegreekswroteexactlythatway, yes, just like that,…
So you want to be able to speak better English, to improve your English communication skills, you want to be – say it – you want to be fluent. Fluency…
To non-speakers, Arabic can seem strange and difficult; yet many of those alien words have actually become part of our English (and Italian) vocabulary, here are ten of the most…