By @BozenaPajak. French and Spanish are in tight competition: French is one of the top two languages in 58% of all countries, and Spanish — in 46% of the countries. But in terms of the overall number of users, Spanish wins: it is studied by 17% of all Duolingo users, compared to only 11% for French. French also has a bit of an unfair advantage in that it’s available on Duolingo from two more languages than Spanish is.
Are French and Spanish popular in different parts of the world? Figures 4 and 5 show the percentage of Duolingo users per country learning French and Spanish, respectively. For French, the darkest regions are in Africa: In Nigeria and Sierra Leone, French is studied by over half of Duolingo users. For Spanish, on the other hand, the darkest regions are in North America and the English-speaking countries in the Caribbean. In Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, about 60% of Duolingo users are learning Spanish. More...

By Jon Mills. The Cornish language “Kernewek” is one of the oldest tongues still spoken in Britain today. Like Welsh, Breton – its closest relatives – Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx Gaelic, Kernewek is a Celtic language. Yet it has not enjoyed the same protection that some of the former have. Now the British government is cutting the funding that supports the survival of this language. More...

By Wendy Ayres-Bennett. In a new report on the value of languages, my colleagues and I showcased how a new language policy instituted last year within the British Army, was triggered by a growing appreciation of the risks of language shortages for national security. More...

By Marcus Tomalin. The ongoing migration crisis is unparalleled in living memory, and it painfully illustrates how large-scale population displacements can rapidly create social situations in which linguistic differences become flashpoints. The inability of migrants to speak the first language of a country to which they have travelled can arouse suspicion and alienation. These differences create divisions that can only be bridged by translating from one language to another, and from one culture to another. More...

By Emily Harrison. Phonics is based on training children’s “segmental phonological awareness” (that is, raising their awareness of letters and sounds and teaching them segmenting and blending skills). But there is a second part to phonological awareness known as “suprasegmental phonology”. It refers to the rhythmic components of spoken language that accompany the segmental elements, such as stress placement, intonation or pitch, and timing. More...

Comment évaluer avec précision son niveau dans une langue étrangère ? C’est le défi de nombreux candidats au moment de compléter la rubrique « langues » de leur CV. Le Cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues étrangères (CECRL) propose un système pour autoévaluer facilement ses compétences linguistiques. Voir l'article...