Hi from Singapore! I arrived here four days ago for a work trip straight from the Greek city of Thessaloniki, where I was attending the fourth Polyglot Conference. Look out for my review and videos from that wonderful event later. I've got a vlog on the languages of Singapore in the pipelines too. Now though, I want to tell you about the new project I hinted at in the last … [Read more...]
Basque Intensive! 5: post-course native speaker call
Hi from Thessaloniki where I've arrived for the 4th Polyglot Conference. Look out for more later on the site on that, as I'll be blogging and vlogging like last year and the year before. I'll be straight on from here to Singapore with work. A second leg to Hong Kong was cancelled at short notice, so I'll have a spare week in South East Asia. So, just time to duck and dive … [Read more...]
At large at Language Show Live (vlog)
I've just attended Language Show Live at London's Olympia. The show - which is free - is held there over three days every October (and, since last year, there's one in March, in Glasgow). The event's core is a large hall packed with exhibitors including publishers, app developers, language schools, educational agencies and cultural institutions. I went on Saturday and Sunday … [Read more...]
Basque Intensive! 4: second half diary
I'm now back in London after a month's intensive Basque course at the Maizpide residential language course south of Donostia (San Sebastián) in northern Spain. Regular readers will know that I've been learning Basque for a while now, taking classes in London and online via Skype but this has been my first time "in the field" as a Basque learner. The Basque Country straddles … [Read more...]
TRKI 4th certificate: this top Russian exam really does exist and CAN be passed (interview with a successful candidate)
A lot of mystery surrounds the TRKI 4th Certificate, the top exam for Russian as a foreign language within the framework guidelines established by the Russian Ministry of Education (тест по русскому языку как иностранному Четвертый сертификационный уровень (ТРКИ-4)). It's "the ultimate" Russian exam, the equivalent of the C2 level ("Mastery or proficiency") on the scale of … [Read more...]