Speech is an essential element of language, one that we all employ in our daily lives. What about a speech? A speech is a formal address, delivered to an audience, that seeks to convince, persuade, inspire or inform. From historic moments to the present day, the English language » Read More
An Illustrated Tour of Slang Terms for Money The English language is rich in slang expressions for money, and often these terms tell us something interesting about the nation using them. With this in mind, the team at Art Money and Go Compare has created a series of artworks » Read More
A New Approach to the Perfect Accent: The Rules of Romancing a Language Want to perfect your English accent? Consider dating it. It may sound silly, but approaching a new foreign language using the same “dating” process you would when meeting a new love interest has proven successful for » Read More
TED Talk Summary: Yang Lan, a journalist and entrepreneur who’s been called “the Oprah of China,” offers insight into the next generation of young Chinese citizens — urban, connected (via microblogs) and alert to injustice. The chair of a multiplatform business empire, Yang is pioneering more-open means of communication in » Read More
Numbers… I hear your groan! Often hard to learn in another language. I mean, look at the French, for 92 they say ‘four twenties twelve’ (quatre-vingt douze) whereas the Chinese confuse us by grouping tens of thousands together which makes 25,000 ‘two ten thousands five thousand’ (两万五千 – liang » Read More
I have that dastardly habit of correcting non-native English speakers. It just comes out. The correction, that is. Sometimes they thank me, sometimes they seem impervious to my help (interference) and sometimes they ask me to explain the rules. When it comes to countable and uncountable nouns, I always » Read More