Tag: language learning

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SingaKids: A Glimpse of Where Multimodal AI Tutoring May Be Headed

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A recent pre-print on SingaKids, a multilingual multimodal tutoring system for young learners, offers an interesting look at how AI-supported language learning is evolving. You can read the paper here: SingaKids: A Multilingual Multimodal Dialogic Tutor for Language Learning.

Designed for early primary classrooms, SingaKids is an AI-based system that uses picture-description tasks as the basis for spoken interaction. It combines dense image captioning, multilingual speech recognition, a dialogue model tuned with pedagogical scaffolding, and child-friendly text-to-speech. The system works in English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil, with extra attention paid to the lower-resource languages to improve recognition and generation quality.

Flexible Scaffolding

Something that stood out to me in particular was the system’s focus on scaffolding rather than straightforward correction. That approach is flexible; depending on a child’s response, the system shifts between prompts, hints, explanations, and more structured guidance. Higher-performing learners are pushed towards fuller reasoning; less confident learners get clearer cues and more supportive turns. It’s a step away from the rigid “question–answer–score” pattern and closer to the texture of real classroom dialogue.

Although the work is aimed at children, several ideas have wider implications for the rest of us. Picture-guided dialogue isn’t new in ‘grown-up’ resources – think Rosetta Stone, for instance. But it could easily support adult learners practising free production in AI tools, too. Improved multilingual ASR – especially for hesitant, accented, or code-switched speech – would benefit almost every speaking-practice tool. And the flexible scaffolding approach hints at future e-tutors that adapt to the learner’s behaviour dynamically, rather than funnelling everyone down the same path.

The project sits firmly in the research space, but it points towards what the next generation of tools may look like: multimodal, context-aware systems that don’t just respond to learners but actively guide, prompt, and adjust. For anyone keeping an eye on developments in educational AI, it’s a nice indication of the direction of travel (and I’m probably a wee bit envious of those kids getting a chance to try it first!).

Macmillan’s “Mastering” Series: Language Learning Stalwarts of the 80s and 90s

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You might remember that I was reminiscing about the forgotten Made Simple series the other week. It led me to recall another language learning series of old, and one I often mix up with Made Simple, I must admit. It’s Macmillan’s Mastering … series, another once much more familiar name in the self-paced and further ed market.

It’s not surprising that they sometimes merge into Made Simple in my language book memory. The book format itself was similar – a somewhat taller paperback, with that thick, off-white paper that feels really satisfying to turn (and crease, for fellow page corner turner-downers like me). Even the covers features that black, yellow and red of their Made Simple cousins. Like those books, these feel like grown-up courses, and, were likewise staples at night classes in the 80s and 90s.

The Mastering library overlapped with Made Simple in topics, but with a couple of important differences. For one thing, the series contained an intermediate stage for the mainstream languages; Mastering German 2, for example, is a very decent second-tier course that picks up where the first leaves off.

Impression of Mastering French I (Macmillan)

Mastering … take a slightly broader path with its titles, too. Mastering Arabic, for example, is one of the few really accessible, off-the-shelf courses in the language from the time. Perhaps that’s the reason it’s one of the titles that’s still very much with us; now acquired by Bloomsbury, Mastering Arabic continues as a respected and well-used course book today.

That’s not to say the old ones aren’t worth a look, too. And you can often pick them up on eBay for just a couple of pounds – you know we like a bargain at Polyglossic!

AI Role-Plays that Actually Move the Needle

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Papers on AI in education are two a penny at the moment, but there’s a particularly nice one that appeared recently in Frontiers in Education (30 Sept 2025). It takes a fresh look at AI-generated, scenario-based conversation practice for university EFL learners – one of perhaps the most obvious and widespread use cases for AI in language learning, but given a smart, systematic treatment by a team of scholars from Saudi Arabia, China and Pakistan.

The gist is simple: build realistic speaking scenarios with AI, let students interact in them over a term, and see what happens. Over 18 weeks with 130 first-years split into control vs. AI-scenario groups, the AI cohort came out ahead on pronunciation, accuracy and conversational flow. They also reported higher interest and better teacher–student interaction to boot.

The catch? Emotional thinness in AI dialogue, patchy content quality if you don’t curate, and a risk of learner over-dependence on the tech. 

So, what can we pinch for our own learning? Well, the paper itself is full of useful nuggets and worth a careful read. But here are some key takeaways for avoiding “AI for AI’s sake” based on the team’s findings.

1) Make your speaking tasks scenario-first, not tool-first.

Before opening any chatbot, sketch a brief: Where am I? Who am I? What’s my goal? What counts as success? That mirrors the paper’s “input → interaction → output” design and stops generative models meandering (always an occupational hazard worth mitigating against).

2) Bake in “flow nudges”.

The study’s gains in conversational flow suggest prompts that push you to repair, clarify and keep turns moving. Add rules to your prompt like: “If I give a short answer, ask a natural follow-up; if I stall, offer two options.” That keeps the exchange discursive rather than Q&A-ish. 

3) Add in a feedback micro-loop.

The report notes improvements in pronunciation, which is fine if you’re using AI in voice mode. If not, replicate that with a regular mini-feedback cycle that gives short explanations for tricky words of phrases.

4) Curate, don’t just generate.

A recurring warning was inconsistent or culturally off-kilter content when left unchecked. Make sure to describe your scenario frames in terms of function, time and place (e.g., returning a faulty purchase in Athens; arranging a GP appointment in Lille). 

5) Add a human(-like) layer to keep things warm

Students benefitted from richer teacher–student interaction around the AI tasks. Translate that to solo study by doing a quick human check: post one 60-second recap to a study buddy, social feed or tutor each week. This ‘social accountability’ step compensates for the AI’s limited emotional range. Try recording the dialogue afterwards as a voice note, too, for some added spoken practice.

6) Watch the dependence trap.

The authors flag tech over-reliance. Give yourself “AI-off Fridays”: repeat a scenario from memory with real materials (voice notes, a friend, or even talking to your phone camera), then compare to your AI-assisted version for gaps. 

AI in Practice

Bringing all that together, here’s a ready-to-use mini-format you can try for a 15-minutes role-play practice that isn’t crow-baring AI in for no real gain:

  • Minute 0–2: Choose a vetted scenario card (place, role, goal, 3 key phrases).

  • 2–3: Prime the bot with constraints (stay in A2/B1, insist on follow-ups, correct only one thing per turn).

  • 3–10: Converse. Every third turn, ask for a meaning / explanatory nudge on one tricky word or structure.

  • 10–12: Bot summary with 3 personalised upgrade lines you could have said.

  • 12–15: Record a no-AI voice note version. Park it for a weekly human warm-layer check.

Pastable Prompt

You are a language conversation partner tasked with improving the language skills of me, the user.
We’ll do a short scenario-based speaking practice in French.
Follow these rules carefully:
1. Keep the level at A2–B1 CEFR.
2. Always stay in character and make the conversation feel natural – imagine we’re really there.
3. Insist on follow-up questions whenever my answers are too short or unnatural.
4. Correct only one thing per turn, briefly and gently, then move on.
5. Every third turn, give me a short “💡 Language note” explaining a tricky word or structure that came up.
6. After about 20 lines or so of dialogue (ideally when the conversation draws to a natural close), give a performance summary, including what I did well, some ‘upgraded’ versions of my sentences showing how I could sound more natural or advanced, and 2-3 new phrases worth learning from this conversation.
7. Keep the tone friendly, realistic, and mildly humorous if it fits the setting. When ready, start the conversation by greeting me in the target language and setting the scene.

The bottom line is that AI role-plays can be genuinely useful when we design around them: scenario first, small feedback loops, and human warmth stitched back in. Treat the model like a scene partner with good timing but flat affect, and you’ll harvest the fluency gains without outsourcing your judgement.

The paper’s results are encouraging; its realistic caveats are a gift that ground us back in practical realism. As always, build guardrails into your AI usage first of all, to ensure that you get the most from – and enjoy – the chat! 

Perplexity Tasks for Language Learners

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AI techniques to support language learning are pretty well-known now. From structured conversation partners to resource creators, LLM platforms have been embraced by the polyglot community.

Like many of us, I dip in and out of them almost unthinkingly now. Often, I’ll snap in a page from a chapter I’m working on with my Greek teacher, and it’ll help me prepare ahead of a lesson. Sometimes, I’ll get it to reel off a list of useful phrases on a topic I’m studying. LLMs can make great worksheet creators, too. In many ways, it’s simply a very interactive reference tool, giving (mostly) reliable answers but with a big nod to context.

I’d been pretty dogged in my choice of platform, sticking for the most part with ChatGPT Plus. Claude and Gemini were also in the mix, alongside some fun running local models. But for the most part, I thought my tool choices were pretty settled.

But then I gave Perplexity a whirl.

Perplexity – Task Master

Perplexity isn’t an LLM in the sense that ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude are. It uses LLM technology. But it’s actually more of an intelligent, context-sensitive search tool, that uses natural language APIs to turbo-boost its web-hunting activities.

I’d clearly not found that prospect very exciting, as I’d not gone near it until now. But thanks to a bundled free upgrade, I got to try the premium tier of late. And one particular feature stands out as potentially transformative for my learning habits: Perplexity Tasks.

Tasks are scheduled searches you set up with natural language instructions. And those instructions can be as rich as your usual LLM prompts in terms of requested formatting and such like, so in essence, you can build regular bulletins with up-to-date information in any language you like. Take one of mine, that runs daily:

Search the global news for the biggest world news story of the day. Summarise it in French, German, Modern Greek, Polish, Scottish Gaelic and Swahili at a level appropriate for an intermediate learner, ensuring that the translation is of the highest, native speaker standard quality, idiomatic and natural-sounding. Summaries should be 3-4 sentences long. Highlight key words in bold.

Accompany each summary text with a glossary / vocabulary list detailing all the key / difficult words from it in dictionary format (listing word class, irregular parts if applicable etc.). Hyperlink glossary items to Wiktionary entries where available with further information on them (use the English version en.wiktionary.com).

Lay it all out neatly to make it easy on the eye. Use plenty of emojis for impact too. Make this a fabulous resource for polyglot language learning! 🌍

Now, every morning, I get a wee news digest emailed straight to my inbox in multiple languages. It’s learner-friendly, includes vocab support, and gives me something to talk about in my language meets and lessons. I’ve done the same for academic paper searches in linguistics, and stories on dialect appearing in news outlets.

It feels like a proper game changer!

Tasking on Other Platforms

Now, you don’t need Perplexity to do this – it’s just one of the most user-friendly ways I’ve found to do it. If you have ChatGPT,  check out Scheduled Tasks. In Gemini, Scheduled Actions will do the trick for Pro members. Copilot is in on the game too. Others will no doubt follow suit shortly – clearly, task scheduling is becoming one of those features AI platforms are expected to have.

What I like about Perplexity, though, is that its whole raison d’être is the search – it feels particularly suited to web-based tasks like news digests. It’s also quite nice to keep the separation between my everyday LLM ramblings, and my more structured, scheduled items (use it for a few weeks and you’ll have clogged your timeline up with dozens of chats!).

If you’ve been looking for a way to make AI genuinely work for your learning rather than distract from it, try setting up a task or two – you might just find it becomes part of your morning ritual as well.

The Made Simple Series : Language Learning Blasts from the Past

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While helping my uncle clear out some old boxes lately, I came across a proper forgotten classic of language learning: the Made Simple series.

I knew it as soon as I spied the familiar black, red and yellow paperback – it was an early nineties edition of Spanish Made Simple, chunky, well-worn, and still with my teenage pencil notes in it. I’d passed it on to my globetrotting uncle ahead of a trip he made to South America, so it had done some serious miles.

Spanish Made Simple, Third Edition - cover impression

Made Simple was a series familiar to many who took evening classes back then. And with its slightly polytechnic-esque look and feel, it sat naturally alongside Teach Yourself, Colloquial, Hugo In Three Months and language course stalwarts, keeping up but not quite displacing them. They covered the usual mainstream languages – French, German and Spanish – but also featured other self-teach titles from Electronics to Philosophy. 

And they feel solid, with a no-fluff, down-to-brass-tacks grammar-vocab-reading model. There’s a real ‘adult ed’ feel to them, which is probably why I loved them as a language-obsessed teen. They just felt grown-up.

Made Simple… Made Disappear?

Despite the Spanish edition making it to 2.5 million copies in print, the series never held the primacy that rivals like Teach Yourself and Colloquial hung onto. Other series expanded into more languages, for example, and shifting formats – especially the rise of audio media – made keeping courses like these a real specialist undertaking. In fact, they did manage to cling on in a modern incarnation by Penguin Random House, with fresh, up-to-date jackets. But those original, ubiquitous Made Simple language titles drifted into obscurity, and you’ll only spot their tricolore jackets on the shelves of second-hand booksellers these days.

That said, being obscure and forgotten doesn’t mean being obsolete. You will know, by now, my take on old language learning gems! For those of us who cut our language learning teeth before apps and streaks, they’re a charming reminder that all you really need is a pencil, a bit of patience, and a good old-fashioned tome.

So with that, consider the original Made Simple series unearthed and celebrated once again in this post. If you’re hankering after a new angle on your language, those old Made Simple volumes are still well worth a look!

ElevenLabs Hits the Right Note: A.I. Songwriting for Language Learners

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In case you missed it, A.I. text-to-speech leader ElevenLabs is the latest platform to join the generative music scene – so language learners and teachers have another choice for creating original learning songs.

ElevenLabs’ Creative Platform ElevenMusic takes a much more structured approach to music creation that other platforms I’ve tried. Enter your prompt (or full lyrics), and it will build a song from block components – verse, chorus, bridge – just as you might construct one as a human writer. It makes for a much more natural-sounding track.

ElevenLabs music creation

ElevenLabs music creation

As you’d expect from voice experts ElevenLabs, the service copes with a wide range of languages and the diction is very convincing. A tad more so, I think, than the current iteration of the first big name on the block, Suno AI. No doubt the latter will have some tricks up its sleeve to keep up the pace – but for now, ElevenLabs is the place to go for quick and catchy learning song.

Anyway, here’s one I made earlier – a rather natty French rock and roll song about the Moon landings. Get those blue suede Moon boots on!

It’s definitely worth having a play on the site to see what you can come up with for you or your classes. ElevenLabs has a free tier, of course, so you can try it out straight away. [Note: that’s my wee affiliate link, so if you do sign up and hop on a higher tier later, you’re helping keep Polyglossic going!]

Summer language learning - a book on the grass.

My Language Learning Life : July 2025 Update

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So the summer hols are here – and what better time to take stock of my own polyglot progress? July’s been solid – not life-changing, but the kind of steady language learning momentum that actually gets you places over time.

Here’s where things stand.

Greek: From Textbooks to TikTok

Greek continues to be my most active language learning project right now. I’m keeping up weekly iTalki sessions with my usual tutor, grinding through Τα λέμε Ελληνικά – a B1-B2 course that’s about as exciting as it sounds but gets the job done. Grammar drills aren’t everybody’s cup of tea (well – they are mine, actually), but they work.

The real fun’s been on social media. @greekoutwithmaria is gold – idiomatic, useful Greek with clear explanations. I’ve compiled a whole list of other useful Greek accounts here if you want more where that came from!

To not get lost in the scroll, I dip in occasionally and bookmark stuff as I go. Then, I make sure to have a weekly session where I actually do something with it – vocab decks, Anki cards, and the like. It’s a system that’s added some real conversational polish to my Greek.

German: Going Old School Again

I’ve been gravitating back to actual books to maintain my German lately. There’s something about physical pages that screens can’t replicate – maybe it’s the weight, maybe it’s not getting distracted by notifications every five minutes.

I threw myself at two very different reads this month. First up is Torsten Sträter’s Es ist nie zu spät, unpünktlich zu sein, which serves up observational comedy that’s heavy on dad jokes but light on mental effort. It makes perfect train reading when your brain’s already fried from the day. Then there’s Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, which I’m finally tackling after seeing it on every German language and literature syllabus for years. And it’s a thoroughly readable classic – there’s something very soothing about it as an adventure into the soul.

A little light Readly

Readly, the multi-magazine app, still gets plenty of action on long journeys. I’ve been reading Men’s Health Germany and Sweden’s Språktidningen (pop linguistics in Swedish – a real treat) regularly. Saying that, the platform recently axed most of their Norwegian titles, which is annoying thanks to shifting licensing deals.

As for target language reading of any kind the golden rule applies: read what you’d actually want to read, just in another language.

Life’s too short for boring books in any tongue.

Podcasts: When Your Day Job Meets Your Hobby

I’ve started listening to Der KI Podcast, which covers AI developments in chatty, accessible German. It’s the perfect overlap with both my work and PhD research, so it basically counts as multitasking disguised as language practice. That’s really the sweet spot we’re always looking for: finding content that ticks multiple boxes, rather than forcing language learning into spaces where it doesn’t naturally belong.

Side Quests: Persian, Albanian, and Library Rabbit Holes

Joy of joys – my university library recently added the entire Routledge Colloquial series digitally, which has proven dangerous territory for someone with my particular brand of linguistic OCD. My latest obsession has been Persian, which I’ve been exploring through both the recently updated Routledge title and an ancient Teach Yourself Persian volume that’s pure grammar-translation throwback. You can sense the layers of metaphorical dust on it, but I genuinely love the methodical approach of dissembling languages during the learning process to see how they tick.

Albanian also got a brief look-in after Dua Lipa’s Wembley extravaganza sent me down a cultural rabbit hole. Yes, continuing that trend of letting pop culture determine my dabbling directions. I don’t have any grand plans with it, just some structured curiosity that might lead somewhere (or probably not).

Trips: Lyon and Dublin in Linguistic Technicolor

I took two quick city breaks this month to Lyon and Dublin, which meant the usual soundtrack of overheard conversations and multilingual signage. Nothing was particularly structured – just casual linguistic tourism really. It was great to be the designated restaurant orderer in France, though – that feeling of achievement and usefulness we linguaphiles yearn for!

The Verdict

So that was the past couple of months: steady progress rather than dramatic breakthroughs. Greek keeps moving forward, German feels natural and flowing, podcasts are doing their job, and my side projects are staying appropriately peripheral (but very interesting).

It might not be Instagram-worthy content, but it’s sustainable, and that matters more in the long run than any flashy sprint.

How was your language learning month? Let us know in the comments!

The Greek flag flying in a sunny sky

Greek participles – meet the -μένος gang!

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There’s a class of words in Modern Greek that are derived from verbs but not used to form tenses – they’re purely adjectival. I’ve written about them in the past, in terms of how they contrast with another class of adjectives, and knowing a bit more about them can really help polish your fluency.

It’s worth revisiting these as they’re so widespread. In fact, the Duolingo Greek course has a whole unit on them, which is why they’re suddenly on my own radar again! I’m talking about passive past participles – they describe something that has been done to someone or something.

Meet the -μένος gang

You can usually spot them by their characteristic -μένος ending. In fact, you’ve probably been using a couple without even knowing it:

κουρασμένος (tired)

απασχολημένος (busy)

These words are passive as they describe a state of having had something happen to you – something has tired you out, for example (even the English is a past participle here). For busy, it’s closer to translate απασχολημένος  as ‘occupied’, which is what has been ‘done’ to busy people!

These passive past participles are formed from the verbal root. And in most cases, they’re completely transparent, containing all the elements of that root:

κουράζω (I tire) > κουρασμένος (tired) (ζ and σ are a common alternation in Greek roots)

απασχολώ (I occupy) > απασχολημένος (occupied, busy)

A disappearing act – Greek assimilation

Sometimes, however, the connection is not so obvious. There’s a group of Greek verbs that have a root with -β- and -φ- where that element disappears from the participle:

κόβω (I cut) κομμένος (cut)
κρύβω (I hide, tr.) κρυμμένος (hidden)
ράβω (I sew) ραμμένος (sewn)
βάφω (I paint) βαμμένος (painted)
γράφω (I write) γραμμένος (written)

What’s happened here is called assimilation – a case of one sound becoming more like another. Because the root consonant of these verbs is labial, ie., pronounced with the lips, it matches the place of articulation of the /m/ of the ending -μμένος. For ease of pronunciation, one becomes even more like the other – and it’s that /m/ that wins out here, passing its properties backwards (so this is regressive assimilation rather than progressive, where the properties of an earlier segment move to a later one).

There’s even a set of these participles that are formed additionally via reduplication – a doubling of syllables to express some category change (for instance, an imperfective / perfective distinction). Here are a couple:

δίνω (I give) δεδομένος (given)
πείθω (I convince) πεπεισμένος (convinced)

These are particularly exciting to scholars of Indo-European, as it’s a quite an ancient mechanism found in the proto-language, and not particularly productive in modern day Indo-European languages. When you see it fossilised in forms like this, historical linguists can get very excited.

Peeking under the bonnet of Greek grammar reveals just how deep some of these patterns run – and how much historical linguistics can supercharge your understanding and retention!

A stylised image of Lyon

Lyon, Briefly: A Language Lover’s City Break

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I spent a couple of days in Lyon with friends recently – and what a gem of a city it is for a short break. Pretty, walkable, and full of energy, it’s the perfect mini-escape just a hop over the water.

As the group’s only French speaker, it turned into a bit of a linguistic mission, too. French was actually the first foreign language I ever met – but somewhere along the way, I left it behind for other loves. Lately, though, it’s crept back into my life, especially for quick trips like this. France is just so temptingly close, and being able to handle day-to-day French opens so many doors (and menus!).

In Lyon, that turned out to be more than just handy – it was essential. English wasn’t the fallback, and rightly so. A bit of practical French went a long way in shops and restaurants. I even dared to shake off the phrasebook stiffness this time, swapping the trusty je voudrais for a breezier on va prendre. Oh, I was flying with gallic flare, well beyond my ken… Credit to ChatGPT here, actually – it’s brilliant for providing colloquial alternatives to given situations on demand.

As always, one of my favourite ways to learn is by looking up – and around. Street signs and storefronts are rich with real-world language, and Lyon didn’t disappoint. I came back with a camera roll bursting with quirky and useful French, like this little gem:

A cabaret bar in Lyon

Au pied dans l’plat – a fun-looking cabaret bar in Lyon

This bar’s name – Au pied dans l’plat – caught my eye straight away. A foot in the dish? Turns out it’s a cheeky twist on the idiom mettre les pieds dans le plat. This is the French equivalent of “putting your foot in it” – who knew ‘it’ was a dish? Perfect pun fodder for a cabaret joint, and a reminder that idioms don’t just survive in textbooks – they live and breathe on the high streets.

Lyon gave me a little French confidence boost – and a reminder that language learning’s at its best when it’s out in the wild, not just on the page. À la prochaine, belle France!

Hiking in the countryside

Hiking Tips for Language Learners: Stay Safe, Go Far, Learn More

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This post’s a little step off the usual path for Polyglossic, but only just. Walking and language learning go hand in hand, especially when you’re exploring a country where your target language is spoken. So much of language acquisition happens when your mind is open, your eyes are alert, and your feet are moving.

For me, some of the best moments with my languages haven’t come from a screen or a study book – they’ve arrived out in the wild. Sometimes it’s just about that space for cogitation and mulling over stuff you’ve read or heard in recent weeks. Whether I’m up in the Highlands, rambling a trail in Norway, climbing in Austria or sweating through a Greek coastal path, I’m always learning, or thinking – about words, about landscapes, and a bit about myself.

Still, a good hike is only enjoyable when you’re properly prepared – and I’ve had more than one trip nearly derailed by rookie mistakes. So here are my tried-and-tested hiking tips, with a wee nod to my fellow language lovers.

Smart Hiking Tips for Language Lovers on the Move

1. COMPEED BLISTER PLASTERS

Genuinely life-saving. These little miracles act like a second skin – perfect for rescuing rubbed heels or toes mid-walk. I’ve come close to turning back before applying one and enjoying their almost magical healing powers. These days, I often pop one on before any trouble starts, especially with new boots or a steep climb ahead.

2. Carry more water than you think you’ll need

I once started a walk with a single 1L bottle, thinking it would be plenty. Big mistake. Even in cooler weather, you lose a surprising amount through sweat, especially uphill. There is nothing worse than being miles from the end of a hike and worrying about how much water you have left.

I now carry two bottles minimum, plus an isotonic drink (make your own with fizzy isotonic tabs) if I’m walking for hours in the sun. Keep those salts in, gang.

3. Sunscreen and a hat – even when it’s cloudy

UV rays don’t care about clouds. I’ve returned from a grey, misty day on a Scottish ridge looking like a boiled ham. Don’t be fooled. A cap and high-factor sunscreen are musts. Apply generously, and reapply – especially if you’re sweating. Neck, ears, backs of knees: don’t forget the usual suspects.

4. Make space for language

Even though this post is mostly about hiking prep, a quick nudge for the polyglots: download a podcast in your target language, or look out for waymarkers, signs and posters in the local lingo. Snapping photos of unknown words on the trail and translating them later is one of my favourite lazy-vocab activities.

A roadsign in Gaelic and English spotted whilst hiking in the Highlands

A roadsign in Gaelic and English spotted whilst hiking in the Highlands

Language Learning While Walking: A Natural Pairing

There’s something meditative about walking. It frees the mind to notice – and languages thrive in that kind of space. You don’t have to turn every hike into a vocab test, but letting the target language hover around your walk – in sound, signage, or even internal monologue – makes the whole thing richer.

So yes, this is a post about hiking tips – but it’s also a gentle nod to how walking and language learning complement each other. Travel with intention. Pack wisely.

And keep one ear tuned to the words on the wind.