Welcome to our first issue of the Language Exepress!
Книга о самом главном
BY ANASTASIA KOSTINA
EDITORIALS
LANGUAGE LEARNING AND MIGRATION: STORIES OF MY GRANDPARENTS
BY DR HELENA TAYLOR
MAY 2021
As a lecturer and researcher in French Studies, I sometimes reflect on what motivated me to turn my love of foreign languages and cultures into a teaching and research career; and I think about what makes their study important.
TRAVEL MAY BE TRICKY, BUT LANGUAGE CORRIDORS ARE STILL OPEN
BY PROF DANIELLE HIPKINS
MARCH 2021
I’m from Lancashire in the North West of England. In 1975, when I was 18 months old, my parents left me with my grandparents for just one week so they could go on a coach tour of Italy, their first visit there and an enormous treat. In the 18th and 19th centuries Italy was only a destination for well to-do British aristocrats, who went to complete their education in the arts and history on the Grand Tour.
LIVING AND LEARNING DURING THE PANDEMIC
BY PROF ADAM WATT
NOV 2020
As always, human beings have used language in playful, creative ways to respond to the crisis. Someone who ignores public health advice is a covidiot. The inevitable lure of abbreviations brings WFH (working from home) and when we are, this can mean we come to terms with the ‘new normal’ via the consumption of quarantinis during ‘Zoom drinks’.
A NEW WORLD, A NEW ME
BY DR YUE ZHUANG
FEB 2020
When studying languages, we often hear that language is a “tool of communication”. This simple definition threatens our desire to learn languages. As a tool, language skills may be replaced by machines, especially with ever more powerful computer technologies. That is why we have seen a drop in learning languages in schools and universities in this country.
LANGUAGES WILL GET YOU HIRED!
BY PROF ULRIKE ZITZLSPERGER
NOV 2019
What advice would I give my younger self? For one, to worry less about the future and to enjoy my studies a lot more. As a Humanities student I felt unsettled by all the well-meaning but probing questions by relatives (usually around Christmas time, but other holidays were also strong contenders). Was there anything I could do except for teaching, with my chosen course, after graduation?
THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSLATION
BY MICHELLE BULDOC, PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF TRANSLATION STUDIES
MAY 2019
As a translator and as director of the MA in Translation Studies, one of the most frequent questions I hear is about Artificial Intelligence and neural machine translation. “Aren’t you afraid that machines will replace translators?” someone, usually a prospective student, will ask. Or, from the person sitting next to me on a flight: “Isn’t machine translation a more efficient and cheaper way to get translations done?”
ON STUDYING FOREIGN LITERATURES AND CULTURES
BY PROF FIONA COX
MARCH 2019
I grappled for quite a long time with my ‘A’ level choices’. French was an easy decision – it had always been my favourite subject and France had always been one of my favourite places to be. Latin had maintained its place on my list for years and English was the most obvious choice for the third subject, as my favourite activity has always been reading.
'WRONG'
BY DR JUAN GARCIA-PRECEDO
JAN 2019
As a tutor, I usually reflect on my own attitude as a language learner when I was the age of my students. And I always reach the same conclusion. When I was doing my BA in English Studies back in my hometown, being fluent in English was a goal in the long run, but the most imminent one was to pass my language exams.
WHAT IT MEANS TO STUDY 'MODEN LANGUAGES'
BY PROF ADAM WATT
NOV 2018
One of the things I enjoy doing as Head of Modern Languages is giving talks at open days to prospective undergraduates and their parents. When I give these talks I face the challenge of trying to articulate what it means to study what we call ‘Modern Languages’. It’s a tall order...
MY LINGUISTIC STORY
BY DR TOM HINTON
MAY 2018
For me, languages have always been both a personal and a professional concern. My mother is French, my father is English; I had the privilege of growing up bilingual, and my choice to pursue a career in teaching and researching the French language and its culture was motivated in part by the desire to explore my own identity.
BORDER CROSSING
BY PROF SONIA CUNICO
FEB 2018
Languages are what we are. I was brought up enveloped in the languages which tell the stories of my family and my town, of old borders which moved after long fought battles, of generations of men who used to leave in the autumn to cross over into what used to be Austro-Hungarian empire to find work, returning in the spring with much needed money and at times also with new wives who spoke other languages.
WELCOME TO THE FIRST ISSUE
BY PROF SALLY FAULKNER
DEC 2017
Welcome to this launch issue of the Languages Exepress, the on-line magazine for all students with a passion for foreign languages and cultures! This is a great opportunity for all to share your experiences, joys and challenges in studying modern foreign languages with each other, and I look forward to getting an insight into how you are faring on your journeys.