The tennis season is well underway with the French Open – les Championnats Internationaux de France de Tennis – currently taking place at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris. Since this is the only one of the four most prestigious tournaments in tennis which is held in a country where English is not the official language, we thought we’d take a
Canada has one province whose sole official language is French: Quebec. Although many Quebecers, or Québécois, are bilingual in English and French (or speak another language as their mother tongue), about 85% still speak French as their first language. While Quebec City (la Ville de Québec) is the province’s capital, Montreal (Montréal) is its largest city. Behind Paris, Kinshasa (Republic
Each year, the 17th May marks a very important date in the Norwegian calendar. With marvellous parades and celebrations, Norwegian Constitution Day, known as Nasjonaldagen (National Day), Grunnlovsdagen (Constitution Day) or simply Syttende Mai (17th May), is celebrated in good spirit, and in style. So, here at Coffee Break Languages we thought that there was no better time than today
Tell us who you are, where you live, your nationality and how long you’ve been learning a language with us. Hello I’m Yvonne, an American living in the beautiful state of Vermont. I started using Coffee Break Italian at the end of January 2018, prompted by an upcoming trip to Italy in May. I travelled to a small town where
We all know the feeling… Just when you think you’re starting to get the hang of Spanish, you discover that there are lots of different varieties spoken all around the world. Cue a brief sense of despair at the thought of having to learn every different form of Spanish, followed by the relief when you realise that this only makes
It has been said that to be fluent in a second language, one should start learning by the age of 10. What do you think? To us here at Coffee Break Languages this presents 2 questions: How do you define “fluent”? And, is all learning started after this age pointless? Clearly, the answer to the 2nd question is no. And
If you’ve done as the title says and got your ducks in a row, then you will be more than prepared for the rest of this article! The English language is filled with innumerable intriguing idioms. Sometimes the only way to properly describe the weather is to say that it’s raining cats and dogs, and sometimes the only way to punish
Working for a multinational software company in Colombia, Daniel is required to speak a number of languages on a regular basis. His language learning journey started at a young age: “When I was younger I went to a bilingual school here in Colombia and afterwards my father moved to Brazil so then I learned Portuguese over there, then I noticed that
Tell us who you are, where you live, your nationality and how long you’ve been learning a language with us. I’m a Medical Historian, I’m British and I live in Dorset, and I’ve been learning Spanish with Coffee Break for a year. I back up my Coffee Break lessons with a weekly Spanish class in Bournemouth. Which language or languages
Originally from Australia, Amanda now lives in New York where she moved to work as a lawyer. However, she is now focusing on pursuing a career as a writer. Having Lebanese parents, Amanda can speak Arabic and has also studied Japanese. Amanda started learning Italian for a partner. However, even after the end of that relationship, she continued studying, having fallen
Tell us who you are, where you live, your nationality and how long you’ve been learning a language with us. Hi, my name is Kerstin, I live in Hamburg, Germany, and I’m German. I’ve been learning Italian with you since sometime last summer … so about 9 months or so. Which language or languages are you learning with Coffee Break?
Meet Coffee Break French learner, Krissie, a 21 year old final year Biology student from London. Krissie recently spent some time working with the Radio Lingua team so we caught up with her to discuss her language-learning experience with Coffee Break. Krissie begins by telling us where her love for French began: “When I was little I really didn’t want
Tell us who you are, where you live, your nationality and how long you’ve been learning a language with us. I’m 25 and from the USA. I live in New York at the moment and I work in organic agriculture. I have been using Coffee Break Spanish since January. Which language or languages are you learning with Coffee Break? Spanish
Originally from Dumfries in the South West of Scotland, Asim, 36, has been living in London since 2003 working as a specialist pharmacist. He has been learning French for the past 2-3 years, for professional and personal reasons. With a large number of his patients coming from the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, Asim felt that learning French would be
Tell us who you are, where you live, your nationality and how long you’ve been learning a language with us. I am a 25 year old actress from England living in London and I’ve been learning with Coffee Break for about a month. I actually started the course last year but didn’t find the time to commit to it properly
This week, we’re chatting to Fabrice, a 54 year old Parisian. Having previously lived in London, he has now settled in America, where he has been living since 1998. As a keen traveller, Fabrice realises the importance of speaking a foreign language when attempting to discover another culture. Having tackled Spanish, Fabrice decided to challenge himself further by learning Chinese
Tell us who you are, where you live, your nationality and how long you’ve been learning a language with us. I am Barbara, I live in Idaho, USA. I started studying the free Coffee Break episodes in 2010 when I retired from my career as a speech-language pathologist. Going back to work a few years later put my lessons on
Stephen, a 68 year old retired fine arts teacher from California, has been long term member of the Coffee Break community. He recently told us all about his language learning journey, starting with where his love of French began: “I’m an amateur wine maker and I started out just being a wine lover and I like French-style wines. As I
Tell us who you are, where you live, your nationality and how long you’ve been learning a language with us. I’m John. I’m British and I live in Ashford in Kent, in easy reach of Channel crossings to France. I started on Coffee Break German some five years ago. Which language or languages are you learning with Coffee Break? French
Doreen, a 58 year old from Phoenix, Arizona, has been working as a nurse for almost 30 years. Being so close to the Mexican border, there is a high Hispanic population where she lives. Therefore, a lot of her patients are Spanish speaking, which means that she requires an interpreter to communicate with them.“It’s fine that I have to get
