Knowledge base

Learning languages can be challenging – especially when we’re ambitious about it and acquiring just the basic skills is not enough. Discovering dialects can be surprising; Norwegian is particularly sneaky with this, as it can sound entirely different depending on the region you are visiting. Hence, being familiar with one dialect does not guarantee effortless communication anywhere else in the country. And how are things with English? Fortunately it’s not so complicated!   In the case of English, we can distinguish two main, basic varieties: British and American. And even though the accents can be quite messy and the attempts to comprehend and communicate with a native Scottish person can be discouraging for beginners learning English, the basic rules of the language remain the same and the differences will not be noticeable until much later during our language learning journey. There are, however, instances when this difference is crucial, e.g., when rendering localisation or proofreading services. British English: what are its distinctive features? So what is the easiest way to recognise we’re handling a text written using British English? A quick glance at words such as colour, aesthetics, demeanour or paediatric will tell us all. Color, esthetics, demeanor and pediatric are their American equivalents, so it’s easy to notice that British English stays closer to tradition and the original spelling of words borrowed from other languages, such as French, German, or Latin.   The use of “s” instead of a voiced “z” in verbs such as specialise, utilise or apologise is another characteristic of British English. They might be pronounced the same way, but the spelling is rather sneaky. A similar pattern can be observed with more complex words, such as British draught – in the American variety they are significantly simplified, as on the other side of the pond we will see it spelled as draft.   For many the British pronunciation is synonymous with that of the Royal Family; it’s worth knowing that you are unlikely to hear…

The methods of learning a foreign language undergo dynamic changes and succumb to viral trends; over the years we would collect subscription-based foreign language materials at the newsagent’s, listen to cassettes and CDs, then we would compete with our friends on various apps. The popularity of online language courses and apps is still growing; today we will learn which methods of language learning available on the Internet are the best.   More and more of our daily errands are handled virtually – and in some cases it turned out to be a blessing. Language learning is no different; a wide range of courses, classes and conversations is now at our fingertips. Just open your laptop – that’s all it takes. Still, it’s not the only way to hone your skills; a daily habit of devoting a few minutes of social media for learning in an app helps you significantly broaden the lexicon in another language. The methods of learning English – and not only! Most often, we seek help while learning English, focusing particularly on expanding our vocabulary and exploring the ways to hold a smooth conversation. Currently we can choose from offers of language schools and teachers from all over the country. And while we might have struggled to find anything good in the tough times of the pandemic, the possibility to take part in language classes organised across the country or even abroad is a blessing. All you have to do is to join a meeting on one of the popular platforms!   We also tend to use streaming services on a daily basis – we can also mix business with pleasure here. Just sit down comfortably, tune in to your favourite show and turn it into another opportunity to learn languages. Here plug-ins for popular browsers come in handy, as they add subtitles in a selected language to our favourite shows available on the most popular streaming services. So if you ever felt guilty after chugging a…