I don’t know if you clocked it as well, but my favourite blasts-from-the-past Teach Yourself have gone and given their flagship language books a bit of a refresh.

Teach Yourself is a language learning brand with a huge heritage. If you want to track how language tuition has changed (and stayed the same!), then vintage editions are a great place to start. For nigh on a century they’ve been the cornerstone of the self-teach market, appearing in 1938 and quickly establishing itself as the brand for curious minds – not least those interested in foreign languages.

Teach Yourself advert in The Bookseller, 1959

From quite traditional grammar-based handbooks, there was a noticeable turn towards a more communicative approach in the 80s, which kept them relevant right into the current era. That’s not to say there’s not life in those old versions – I personally love the chalk ‘n’ talk grammar translation method (although it has a time and a place!).

Some of my vintage Teach Yourselves!

In any case, they’ve seen fit to give their mainstream offering a revamp this year – and of course that means I’m going to have to get them to keep my collection complete. French, German, Italian and Spanish appear in smart, significant rewrites, all for release later this month. Not only that, but the Teach Yourself Beginners series for entry-level language has had a makeover, with titles ranging from Greek to Korean and Portuguese – and most of them are already available for purchase.

It’s a move that keeps the brand up-to-date, and still competitively priced, too – they compare very favourably with other popular course names. Well worth a look if you’re in the market for a new language – or just want to add them to your collection, like I do!