Category: Language Learning

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Colloquial Ukrainian – New Edition Incoming!

If you’re a new or returner learner of Ukrainian, then Routledge have some good news. A fresh, updated edition of its bestseller course Colloquial Ukrainian sees its release this June.

The update is a long-awaited one. The course first saw light of day in 1994, just three years after Ukraine gained its independence, and in the wake of renewed interest in the country, its people and language. Obviously, a lot has happened since then; for that reason, it’s perhaps one of Routledge’s most timely and important recent releases, and for many, key to acts of cultural solidarity. Amongst other things, we can expect an up-to-date, fresh set of dialogues (which, as always, should be available for free download at the Colloquial support site).

Routledge has always shown an impressive commitment to keeping its courses, long-time favourite in the language learning community, up-to-date. Amharic, Hebrew and Irish all had similar treatments, with the Slovenian course in the pipeline for later this year. Its Ukrainian course is a stand-out in quite a small field for the language, and is the perfect step-up for those who have had a first taste on Duolingo and are hankering for more (#LanguageJam, anyone?).

The second edition of Colloquial Ukrainian will be out on June 23rd, 2025. That’s too late to catch the rather excellent 20% sale that’s currently on at Routledge.com, which is nonetheless worth checking out – the discount makes it cheaper to buy existing Colloquials direct from the source rather than sites like Amazon.

19th-Century Newspaper Correspondence and Language Learning

A hundred years before language learners were organising communities online, there was newspaper correspondence. 

Writing to the newspaper as an everyday reader used to be the surest route to having your voice heard. Victorian titles devoted columns and columns to “letters to the editor” – a place for readers to share their opinions on the matters than concerned them. Politics, both local and national, led the way there, as you might expect. Thoughts on local dialect, too, get a good look-in.

But language learners made their presence felt, too.

There’s a lovely sequence of letters I came across an 1897 edition of the Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, which shows the kind of language expertise being shared back then. These letters, titled How to Learn Gaelic, almost come across as mini lessons. They’re full of interesting tidbits of information for learners – no doubt invaluable if the nearest bookshop was many miles away. Here’s one example from repeat reader’s letter writer Alexander MacDougall:

Newspaper correspondence on learning Gaelic, 1897.

Newspaper correspondence on the Gaelic language, 1897.

Readers used the letters page to promote the Gaelic cause, too. This 1912 submission to the Banffshire Advertiser from Arbroath reader Seumas MacGaradh is full of optimism and encouragement:

Letter to a newspaper on the benefits of learning Gaelic, 1912.

Letter to a newspaper on the benefits of learning Gaelic, 1912.

They’re the kind of things you see readily on social platforms today – grammar advice, encouragement, celebration of language. It’s language community at a slower pace, for sure; there are no instant answers, just patient readers. But their needs and wants as learners aren’t much different from our own.

And perhaps that idea of learning as a slow burn is still quite tantalising. In this instant-answers world, might the absolute ease of sharing information take some of that early magic away? As much as I love and appreciate learning on-demand, I can’t help but imagine the thrill of finally seeing your words make it to print – and sparking a volley of replies.

An issue of "Our Gaelic Page" in The Highland News, 1897.

Learning Gaelic in 1900 : Highland News’ “Our Gaelic Page”

Over a century before the BBC’s Speaking Gaelic team were building a community of modern learners, the Highland News was doing the same with its regular feature Our Gaelic Page.

A couple of weeks ago, I shared a chance language learning find in the BNA – the regular Gaoluinn Irish language lessons in The Irish Independent. I’ve spent some time this week on the trail for similar resources for Gaelic in vintage newspapers. Did anything like Gaoluinn exist in Scotland?

Our Gaelic Page

Well, around the turn of the 19th Century, it happens that The Highland News was publishing this regular page packed with language learning content. Although Our Gaelic Page didn’t consist of lessons in the sense that Gaoluinn did, it featured poetry, prose, song, a learner’s Q&A section, and even recent exam paper questions.

Its aims are clearly different from those of Gaoluinn – this a page for those with Gaelic, who want to maintain or improve it. But it offered a wealth of material for that end; in some ways, the content reminds me a little of the NRK podcast Språkteigen – discussion of language simply for the love of learning it.

Clàrsach nan Gaidheal

Its regular song section, Clàrsach nan Gaidheal – the Gaels’ Harp – is a great find for anyone interested in traditional music. Editions ran into the hundreds, each one offering background notes, lyrics in Gaelic and English, and even the music in the form of what I think are chords. Annotation like m, n and r aren’t familiar to me, though, so if anyone has an idea about what they refer to, I’d love to hear from you!

An edition of the Gaelic song series, Clàrsach nan Gaidheal from The Highland News, 1898.

An edition of the Gaelic song series, Clàrsach nan Gaidheal from The Highland News, 1898.

Exam Reports

One of the more academic inclusions consists of exam reports from various places – sometimes Glasgow, sometimes as far as London. As well as the top performers’ names, we get, unusually, a rundown of all the exam questions, too. Newspapers as a repository of past papers is a brand new genre for me (and one I quite like, I must admit!).

That said, the exams take quite a different tack from the more communicative approach of today. This is Gaelic being taught much as Latin and Ancient Greek were – declensions and conjugations by rote. As much as I love that traditional take, perhaps treating the language as a written classic wasn’t the best strategy for reviving it in conversation.

Gaelic examination reports from The Highland News, 1902.

Gaelic examination reports from The Highland News, 1902.

Our Gaelic Page seems to have run from 1897 to 1902 – at least that’s what turns up in the BNA scans. But it’s certainly not the only focus for learners a century ago. Further searches turn up plenty of other evidence for an active, enthusiastic community at the time. Amongst the tidbits are reports from language societies, notices seeking teachers for adult classes, and ads for new reference books. Nothing new there – in fact, it’s heartening to draw a continuous line between learners then and now.

In any case, it’s a lovely glimpse into life as a language learning a hundred years back, as well as a great reading resource for this modern-day learner. I’ll doubtless be dipping into more of Our Gaelic Page over the coming months.

Vintage TV set for franchise hopping! Image by FreeImages.com

Target Language TV for Titters : Amazon’s Last One Laughing

I’ve long been a fan of highly exportable TV show franchises as ‘authentic target language with stabilisers’ media for learners. The language is rich and colloquial, but the format is familiar enough to be more accessible to L2 speakers than other TV genres.

Well, I’ve recent discovered another one that is available in a wonderfully broad array of languages. It’s Amazon Prime’s Last One Laughing, the show where comedians vie to keep straight faces in an onslaught of silliness, and be the very last to crack up.

It’s a simple concept, and for sure, it’s simple, cheap telly. That’s probably why Amazon found it so easy to roll it out to so many different language settings. All you need is a studio and a bunch of comedians willing to act daft. The result? Last One Laughing has local versions in languages from mainstream French and Spanish to more niche learner langs like Dutch and Norwegian.

Good TV Fit for Learners

In terms of the language, the show is a curiously good fit for L2 learners. The improvised dialogue can be slow and deliberate, as the contestants try to out-pun each other. It can often have a touch of the bizarre and clownish about it, too, which is always good to keep learners on their context toes (did she really just say her brother was a fish?).

(Pop-)Culturally, too, it’s a winner. If you didn’t know much about the comedy scene in your target language countries before, then you certainly will after a few episodes. The guests are fresh, current TV faces that give a good sample of who’s popular right now where your language is spoken.

If you’re looking for some target language listening fun, then Last One Laughing is both great learning material and just good TV. Well worth a punt if you have Prime.

An Irish lesson printed in the Irish Independent, 1924 (British Newspaper Archive)

Irish Lessons from 1924

As part of my PhD research, I spend countless hours trawling the British Newspaper Archive for forgotten dialect writing. Occasionally, the net catches more than I was expecting.

So it was this week, when I was searching for some Black Country collocation or other. Because they’re often short – like doh yer (don’t you) – and because of OCR errors in the transcriptions, the chance for false positives can be really high.

But this false positive was a bit more interesting than many. The search had mistakenly picked out some Irish text in a 1924 edition of the Irish Independent. It turned out to be part of a regular “Teach Yourself” style column, Gaoluinn. That’s an alternative spelling of Gaolainn – the Munster word for Gaeilge, the Irish language, which suggests that it’s Munster dialect that is the basis for the lessons.

Now, newspapers and language learning lessons are nothing new – there was a giveaway in the early noughties (I can’t remember the paper) where you got a special edition Teach Yourself book with every copy (I still have that mini Teach Yourself Basic Italian somewhere!). But Gaoluinn looked to be part of a run of language lessons that built up readers’ knowledge across editions.

Gaoluinn – Newspaper Irish Lessons

An Irish lesson printed in the Irish Independent, 1924 (British Newspaper Archive)

An Irish lesson printed in the Irish Independent, 1924 (British Newspaper Archive)

It’s typical of the language learning of its time, taking a systematic grammar-based approach (you might remember this from my raving over Teach Yourself Polish 1948!). The particular week that popped up here explains plural formation in Irish, alongside a bunch of illustrative phrases with just a hint of the aphorism and sermon about them.

A lovely thing about the lessons is its attempt at ‘folk’ phonetic spelling alongside the Irish. You can imagine readers giving it a go – readers whose families had maybe lost the language a couple of generations ago, and wanted to reconnect with Irish.

There’s More Out There

There’s clearly loads more Gaoluinn to explore in the archive, but I haven’t investigated further yet. Of course, I have more pressing things to be getting on with on the BNA, as fun as false positives are!

But I’m intrigued by the find nonetheless. A quick peek shows that it ran from at least 1922 to 1925, and later on, often taught via the target language (how modern – the way I learnt to teach!). I have so many questions, though… Was it serialised from an existing course book, or was it turned into a course book later? Was it popular or well received?

It’s definitely something I’ll circle back to when I have a bit more time. And, incidentally,  I’m sure there’s some PhD material in there for anyone interested in the evolution of language teaching, too!

A neon lock with a glowing owl motif, reminiscent of Duolingo

Multi-Language Alternatives to Duolingo

In the vast landscape of language learning platforms, Duolingo often takes centre-stage. And deservedly so in many respects – the Duolingo project has made language learning accessible to the masses.

However, a bit of healthy competition never hurt anyone, and at Polyglossic.com, we’re all for choice! Here are four platforms that can give you an alternative to the owl when you need it.

Lingvist

Estonian platform Lingvist takes a personalised approach to vocabulary acquisition, employing adaptive algorithms to tailor learning experiences based on individual progress. By focusing on high-frequency words, it aims to accelerate language acquisition efficiently. While premium features are available, the free version provides a great array of tools for tailoring and tracking your language journey.

50Languages

For those eager to explore a multitude of languages, Germany-based 50Languages is a treasure trove, offering materials for over 50 tongues. On the surface, the platform is a bit of a glorified phrasebook, but organised thematically and very useful for a mass-sentence learning technique. It focuses on practical vocabulary and phrases, facilitating real-life communication. All resources are freely accessible, supporting self-paced learning without financial barriers.

The downside? It’s pretty heavily ad-supported, so you’ll have to navigate some intrusive screen content. That said, I did give it a run in the Brave browser, which suppresses most of them (although bear in mind you’ll be starving a small site of its income by using ad-blockers).

Duostories – Community-Sourced Duolingo Clone

A bit of a cheat, this one, as it is Duolingo… Well, almost. Duostories is a community-sourced website that has licensed much of the story content of Duolingo proper. The twist? Community members have translated them into a good many more languages than the original site offers. You can enjoy the cheesy story content in Catalan, Icelandic, Telugu and more, all in the familiar Duolingo layout. A great alternative to the site that spawned it, at least while users wait for official ports for each of those languages.

Busuu

Busuu, a former UK startup before it was acquired by educational giant Chegg.com, provides courses in 14 languages, and while that’s fewer than Duolingo, it nonetheless covers a great range of ‘mainstream’ ones. Its strength is in its lesson format, which is a bit like a supercharged Rosetta Stone  – interactive exercise units combine with community-based learning for a double whammy. The standout feature is the opportunity to practice with native speakers, supporting authentic conversational skills. While it’s a freemium model, the free version offers substantial resources.

Each of these platforms proves that there are options beyond Duolingo. Some are much simpler, like 50Languages, and others are more fully-developed – Lingvist has features to rival the biggest platforms. But all offer diverse methodologies and features that can complement your language learning journey. If you’re tiring of the owl, why not give them a try? We won’t tell.

Darren Paffey MP giving the keynote speech at ALL Language World 2025

ALL Language World 2025

I was out waving the yellow flag for Linguascope, working the stands at the ALL Language World conference this weekend. Now, it’s not often I’ll rave about attending conferences. After all, they can be pretty dry affairs, especially as an exhibitor, where your main job is to smile and hand out goodie bags.

But there was something so positive about the vibe with this one. Perhaps it was the smaller scale and more intimate setting in rural Warwickshire. Maybe it was professional solidarity, after some tough years for secondary language pedagogy. Whatever the reason, it was a lovely opportunity to mix with other language professionals, faces both familiar and new.

One of the highlights was the keynote speech by Darren Paffey MP. Darren is one of the new 2024 intake of British MPs (and, we are told, one of only three Darrens to be elected to parliament!). Before being swiped by politics, Darren was a professor of sociolinguistics at the University of Southampton, and a long-time language learning enthusiast. The ideal guest, then, to reassure an anxious crowd, worn down by years of official neglect of languages on the curriculum, that he will be fighting our corner in the new government.

It’s not often we get one on the inside!

Darren Paffey MP with Didi, the Linguascope Dog at ALL Language World 2025.

Darren Paffey MP with Didi, the Linguascope Dog at ALL Language World 2025.

Perhaps it was the encouraging tone of that keynote that helped buoy the mood. In any case, it was one of the nicest events, in terms of camaraderie, mutual support and optimism that I’ve attended in recent years. Props to the ALL for organising it, and for bagging such a thoroughly decent keynote speaker.

An Anki card with a note image and a template image.

Top Three Gamification Plugins for Anki

If you’re committed to mastering a new language, you already know the power of Anki’s spaced repetition system and its range of fantastic, functional add-ons like Review Heatmap.

But let’s face it—purely functional flashcards can sometimes feel monotonous. That’s where gamification plugins come in, introducing arcade-style elements into your study sessions to transform them into engaging, motivating experiences.

Below, I’ve pulled together three perhaps lesser-proselytised entries from the plug-in cache that introduce a, well, off-the-wall element to your card reviews. Think kawaii rather than cahier. Yes, they are a little whacky. But there’s often method in language learning madness, and these are all great fun as well as being squarely aimed at increasing your motivation.

Let the fun begin!

1. POKEMANKI – Strategic Learning Meets Fun

Pokemanki ingeniously blends language learning with the mechanics of Pokémon, turning your Anki reviews into a game where you hatch eggs, train Pokémon, and climb leaderboards. With over 30,000 downloads, it’s a clear favorite among learners who appreciate its strategic depth and nostalgic appeal.  If you’re looking for a plugin that combines fun with serious progress, this is an excellent choice.

Download Pokemanki here.

2. ANKIMON – Catch ‘Em All, Pokémon-Style

OK, there’s a theme emerging here… and it’s perhaps not surprising, judging by how many of my polyglot pals are also into Pokémon. Ankimon takes gamification to the next level by turning your Anki reviews into a full Pokémon adventure. As you review cards, you catch, train, and trade Pokémon, competing with others online. With over 15,000 downloads, it’s a hit among learners who thrive on immersive gameplay. If you’re a Pokémon fan looking to inject excitement into your language learning, this plugin is a must-try.

Download Ankimon here.

3. ANKITTY – Simple, Effective Motivation

Sometimes, the simplest incentives are the most motivating and fun. Kitten Rewards displays charming kitten images on your “congrats” screen after completing a deck, offering a small but effective boost. With over 10,000 downloads, it’s a popular choice for learners seeking a low-pressure, low-key way to stay engaged. If you appreciate subtle, positive reinforcement (and love kittens), this plugin is worth exploring.

Download Ankitty here. Alternatively, for doggie fans, there’s this puppy alternative!

Final Thoughts

Gamification isn’t just about enjoyment—it’s about leveraging psychology to sustain your language-learning momentum. Whether you’re strategising with Pokemanki, tracking progress and hatching eggs with Ankimon, or enjoying the small joys of Kitten Rewards, these plugins can transform your Anki experience into something quite unique.

Choose the one that best aligns with your learning style, and take your language skills to the next level. Happy studying, polyglots!

The flag of Ukraine - Learn Ukrainian

Ukraine and Cultural Resistance

Some truly awful things are happening in the world right now. The sudden and shocking turn against Ukraine in some quarters has left many of us reeling. And it’s natural to feel quite helpless in the face of that, as a plain old everyday person.

But I’m reminded of a post I wrote around this time, three years ago, during perhaps the starkest, most shocking episode of this whole saga. During the all-out invasion of Ukraine, it’s cultural resistance that is one of our great powers as language lovers. In face of a monolithic dictatorship that seeks to deny the existence of a separate Ukrainian identity, support its language, music, literature – celebrate it to the hilt.

General disquiet comes not only from the Ukraine issue, of course; many are concerned about the more general political winds that are blowing the same way. How do we distance ourselves from regimes that go against our values – especially in a world that seems dominated by its products and services?

To that end, there are switches we can make that show our resistance against a new order that feels so at odds with our own values. For instance, sites like European Alternatives give us plenty of options. Enjoying ChatGPT for language practice? Give Mistral’s Le Chat a go instead, and support European AI research. Looking for a more federated community platform that hasn’t been X-ified? Mastodon is still out there, as promising as ever.

They give us a way to state our disquiet, well, quietly. And they’re little things that become big things, the more of us that do them. 

Switching Costs

Switching sounds easy, of course, but we should also acknowledge that it’s not zero effort. In many cases, switching costs are high – technically, socially, in terms of convenience. In Cory Doctorow’s terms, services like Duolingo are walled gardens that offer us a place to stay, often for free, but at the cost of trapping our progress, social links and learning data, and feeding us to advertising algorithms.

There are ways, however, to limit the ad revenue you generate for economies you want to take a stand against. Use ad-blocking, privacy-boosting browsers like Norway-based Opera as your portal to services, and you’ve at least untangled yourself financially.

More little acts, of course – but little acts multiplied can make themselves felt.

Progressive Gaelic by Moray Watson

Progressive Gaelic

I sometimes think I should write a “gems from my bookshelf” series on this blog. I’ve collected language learning books for years, including the hardy stalwarts like the Teach Yourself and Colloquial series, as well as more off-the-beaten-track, lesser known courses. The latter type often deserve so much more recognition than the mainstream ones, and so it is with the excellent Progressive Gaelic series.

The author, Moray Watson, is a prominent figure in the field of Gaelic studies, serving as a Professor of Gaelic and Translation at the University of Aberdeen for over two decades. That shows in Progressive Gaelic – it comes across as a really comprehensive course that’s been designed to take students from zero to a high degree of competency. Spread across four books, it’s very well graded, too, with a real sense of progression.

One of the best touches is that Scottish history and culture is woven into the material throughout, in the vocabulary and reading passages. It’s certainly not a course that treats language in isolation, but uses a cross-disciplinary approach to set it in context. To back it all up, there’s also a nice set of workbooks to go alongside the course material.

Best of all, they’re really affordable, compared with other courses – you can pick up most of them for around a tenner brand new. And other learners have given their seal of approval – each of the volumes has almost five stars on Amazon. Give them a go – jump in at book 2 if you’re already on your Gaelic journey. They really do deserve some more attention and praise!