2009 has been a fantastic year for Radio Lingua and we’d like to thank all our listeners for your support and enthusiasm over the past twelve months. To celebrate the end of 2009 and a new year of language-learning just around the corner, we’re delighted to announce our Holidays sale and give you some exciting advance notice of our plans for 2010. Read on!

No festive period is complete without a sale, and we’re offering you 25% off all our courses right through until 31 December, midnight GMT. If you’ve been thinking about taking your language-learning more seriously next year, perhaps now is the time to jump on board and purchase one of our Season Passes. We’re delighted to be able to offer free language-learning materials to hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world, but you can take your learning to a new level with our premium materials which include lesson guides, extra listening materials and exericses for each of our courses.

To receive your 25% discount, simply use the coupon code holidays09 (lower case) at checkout when you’re buying one of our courses. If you’ve not purchased an item from us before, you can view our full range of products here, or visit the appropriate store front for Coffee Break French, Coffee Break Spanish, Show Time Spanish, One Minute Languages, or School Run French. When you complete the form, make sure you enter holidays09 in the coupon code area at the bottom of the signup page.

Please note that the 25% reduction will be applied at checkout. EU customers should be aware that the prices quoted on our signup pages do not include VAT. If you use the coupon code then the 25% discount will be applied and then 17.5% VAT will be added to the total cost. It’s worth also pointing out that as of 1st January 2010, the VAT charges will have to increase to 17.5% in line with the Inland Revenue arrangements in the UK.

Please remember to use the coupon code as you’re purchasing: no refunds will be given on any materials purchased at full price if the coupon codes have not been used.

Would you like to purchase a gift membership? If so, please contact us at support@radiolingua.com and we’ll get things set up for you. Let us know what product you wish to buy and the email address of the recipient. We’ll process your payment and send the gift membership invitation in time for Christmas. Please note that the deadline for any Christmas gifts is 17 December.

New for 2010: the Radio Lingua Club. We’ve been listening to comments from our existing premium customers and one of the most common requests is for more help and advice for learning languages. We’ve decided therefore to create a ‘club’ around this. Membership to the club will last 12 months and during this time members will receive the following benefits:

1. Weekly podcasts in a brand new “how to learn a language” series featuring tips, tricks and advice on learning language. We’ll also be including interviews with language learners from all walks of life who will share their learning tips. The course will feature tips for beginners and for experienced learners and we’re sure that everyone will be able to benefit from this course, regardless of the language they are learning.
2. Reduced prices on all our content. Members will have access to a special discount rate for any purchases made within the membership period. At certain times we’ll also offer special discounts on certain products.
3. Refer-a-friend refunds. Members of the Radio Lingua club will be able to introduce a friend to Radio Lingua courses at a discounted rate, and receive an affiliate payment. So if you’re a Coffee Break Spanish Season Pass holder and you introduce your friend to the show and they purchase the show, you’ll receive a special payment from us to say thanks.

The Radio Lingua Club will involve a monthly payment of just £4.00 GBP. Alternatively you can purchase a twelve-month subscription for £36. The club will launch on January 1st 2010 with our first weekly language-learning tips podcast. We’re offering a special early-bird purchase offer where you can get 25% off the twelve-month subscription: for just £27 you will get access to a full year’s worth of podcasts, you’ll access the reduced prices throughout 2010, and you will be able to use the refer-a-friend refund too.

Please note that the Radio Lingua Club is no longer available, as of July 2011.

If 2009 has been a big year for Radio Lingua, we’re really excited about what’s coming in 2010! Our Coffee Break French listeners will be aware that we’re moving into lessons 71-80 of Coffee Break French, and we’re often asked about “what happens when Coffee Break French finishes?” Well, we’re busy planning new content for intermediate learners at the moment, and we’re sure that everyone will enjoy what will come after our existing course content.

This year we introduced our first experimental video show – Walk, Talk and Learn French. We were overwhelmed at the response to Walk, Talk and Learn, but as a small company we’ve been limited in terms of the time required to produce more shows. Fans of the show will be delighted to know that we’ve filmed a second series and are working on the content at the moment, ready for launch early in 2010.

We’re a couple of days away from releasing the last ever episode of Show Time Spanish, which has developed into one of our most popular shows. As we’ve explained to listeners, Show Time took an enormous amount of work to produce each episode and we feel that we can’t continue the show in its current format. However, we are sure that Show Time Spanish listeners won’t be disappointed with what we have planned for release in the new year. We’re working on new content which will continue to feature native-speaker conversations and in-depth study of the language. We can’t say too much now, but we’ll be making some announcements early in the New Year.

If you’re interested in languages other than French and Spanish then we’re very pleased to announce that 2010 will bring more content for Italian and German learners and that we’ll continue to increase our range of One Minute Languages.

Last, but by no means least, since September we’ve been working in conjunction with schools in the UK through Radio Lingua Schools, and we’ve been involved in several projects involving languages and creative technologies. In 2010 we’re going to be looking more at the resources side of Radio Lingua Schools and have started work on a major new course for children, due to be launched in August 2010.

Of course, as we’ve said many times, we’re still a small company and we’re doing our best to continue to produce high quality, engaging materials. We hope that 2010 will bring further opportunities for new projects, collaboration and new ideas!

Of course we have lots of ideas as to our new developments, but we’re really interested to hear about your ideas. To this end, we’re asking for 10 minutes of your time and we hope that you’ll be willing to share some of your thoughts about language-learning and your next steps as a learner.

We’ve devised a survey and would be very grateful if you would tell us a little about your language-learning and your experience using Radio Lingua materials. You can give as much or as little detail as you wish, but obviously it’s extremely useful to us if you can provide as much information as possible. There are different sections of the survey, depending on which language(s) you learn with Radio Lingua, and on whether you listen to the free content or use our premium materials. You’ll be guided through the survey and we’ll try to explain why we’re asking what we’re asking.

If you complete the survey you’ll be invited to enter a prize draw – there’s an iPod Touch up for grabs along with five platinum season passes to a language course of your choice!

To start taking the survey now, click here.

All that remains for us to do is to wish each and every one of our listeners and friends a very happy holiday season and a peaceful and prosperous 2010.

In the final lesson of this season of TwitterLearn French, you’ll learn some phrases which will help you improve further in French. Listen here:

Download audio file (tlf-01-40.mp3)

Today’s words and phrases:

j’apprends le français – “I’m learning French”
pouvez-vous m’aider? - “can you help me?” (formal)
tu peux m’aider? - “can you help me?” (informal)
je voudrais améliorer mon français – “I’d like to improve my French”

If you would like to improve your French further, why not check out our other French courses. The perfect continuation of TwitterLearn French is our award-winning course Coffee Break French. This is made up of 80 lessons, each lasting 15-20 minutes in which Mark (the host of TwitterLearn French) teaches student Anna. Don’t forget to use the coupon code which was provided via @learnfrench if you would like to purchase the premium version of Coffee Break French!

When communicating with French speakers you may find that you don’t understand things. Listen to today’s show here:

Download audio file (tlf-01-39.mp3)

Today’s words and phrases:

je ne comprends pas – “I don’t understand”
pouvez-vous parler plus lentement, s’il vous plaît? - “can you speak more slowly, please?”

Remember that by following @learnfrench on Twitter, you can learn French in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.

You can now put your knowledge of telling the time in French to practical use. Listen to today’s show here:

Download audio file (tlf-01-38.mp3)

Today’s words and phrases:

la banque ouvre à quelle heure? – “at what time does the bank open?”
le train part à quelle heure? - “at what time does the train leave?”
nous arrivons à quelle heure? – “at what time do we arrive?”
à quelle heure - “at what time”
à sept heures - “at seven o’clock”
à huit heures moins vingt – “at twenty to eight”

Remember that by following @learnfrench on Twitter, you can learn French in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.

Today you’ll learn how to give more accurate times, eg. “it’s five past four”. Listen here:

Download audio file (tlf-01-37.mp3)

Today’s words and phrases:

il est quatre heures cinq – “it’s five past four”
il est quatre heures dix - “it’s ten past four”
il est quatre heures vingt – “it’s twenty past four”
il est quatre heures vingt-cinq - “it’s twenty-five past four”
il est cinq heures moins vingt-cinq - “it’s twenty-five to five”
il est cinq heures moins vingt - “it’s twenty to five”
il est cinq heures moins dix - “it’s ten to five”
il est cinq heures moins cinq - “it’s five to five”

Remember that by following @learnfrench on Twitter, you can learn French in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.

In the final week of this season of TwitterLearn French we’ll be completing our discussion of time and learning some useful phrases to help you move forward learning the language. Listen to today’s show here:

Download audio file (tlf-01-36.mp3)

Today’s words and phrases:

onze – “eleven”
douze - “twelve”
il est onze heures et demie – “it’s half past eleven”
midi - “midday / noon”
minuit - “midnight”
il est midi / minuit - “it’s midday / midnight”

Remember that by following @learnfrench on Twitter, you can learn French in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.

Today we’re continuing to learn about the time. Listen to today’s show here:

Download audio file (tlf-01-35.mp3)

Today’s words and phrases:

il est une heure – “it’s one o’clock”
il est une heure et demie - “it’s half past one”
il est sept heures et quart – “it’s quarter past seven”
il est huit heures moins le quart - “it’s quarter to eight” (7:45)

Remember that by following @learnfrench on Twitter, you can learn French in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.

If you’re waiting on the museum (or shops) to open, or if you’re trying to catch a train, it’s useful to know how to ask the time. Listen to today’s show here:

Download audio file (tlf-01-34.mp3)

Today’s words and phrases:

quelle heure est-il? – “what time is it?”
il est deux heures - “it’s two o’clock”
il est trois heures – “it’s three o’clock”
il est quatre heures - “it’s four o’clock”

Remember that by following @learnfrench on Twitter, you can learn French in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.

Going to the bank or changing money is always easier if you have the necessary language. Listen to today’s show here:

Download audio file (tlf-01-33.mp3)

Today’s words and phrases:

où est la banque? - “where is the bank?”
je voudrais changer de l’argent – “I would like to change some money”
il y a un distributeur de billets près d’ici? - “is there a cash dispenser / ATM near here?”

Remember that by following @learnfrench on Twitter, you can learn French in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.

In today’s show we’re buying tickets for the bus or train. Listen here:

Download audio file (tlf-01-32.mp3)

Today’s words and phrases:

je voudrais un aller simple – “I would like a single (one way) ticket”
je voudrais un aller-retour - “I would like a return (round trip) ticket”"

Remember that by following @learnfrench on Twitter, you can learn French in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.

This week on TwitterLearn we’ll be covering a number of situations which you may encounter while on holiday in a French-speaking part of the world. Today, we’ll be dealing with travel. Listen to today’s show here:

Download audio file (tlf-01-31.mp3)

Today’s words and phrases:

je veux aller à … (Lyon) – “I want to go to (Lyons)”
est-ce que ce bus va à la plage? - “does this bus go to the beach?”
est-ce que ce train va à Marseille? – “does this train go to Marseilles?”

Remember that by following @learnfrench on Twitter, you can learn French in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.

Today you’ll learn how to talk about what there is in the town. Listen to today’s show here:

Download audio file (tlf-01-30.mp3)

Today’s words and phrases:

il y a une banque près d’ici? – “is there a bank near here?”
il y a un supermarché près d’ici? - “is there a supermarket near here?”

Remember that by following @learnfrench on Twitter, you can learn French in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.