WALES £33m bursaries for graduate study

A programme to provide more than 400 PhD and masters university places in Wales is being officially launched.

The £33m Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (Kess) programme is being led by Bangor University.

BBC website

Theatre performances available in eight languages

A new device which enables theatre goers to read live captions of a performance in eight different languages has launched.

AirScript's developers, Cambridge Consultants, hope the handsets will attract more tourists to theatres.

BBC website

Teach history and geography in French to revive languages in schools

Pupils should learn subjects like history and geography in French to stem the decline of modern foreign languages, school leaders have said.

The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) said pupils learned languages best in a bi-lingual setting.

BBC website

Latin now taught at more than 60 state primary schools

Canis studia domestici devoravit. Dog-based excuses for the non-delivery of homework are to become more erudite in state primary schools as Latin makes a comeback.


More than 60 state primaries will teach the classical language as part of a project aimed at making languages compulsory for all children from the age of seven. Those behind it say it is the best way of introducing children to language learning, particularly because it is the root of the five Romance languages (French, Italian, Spanish, Portugese and Romanian).

The Independent

Men and Women Differ in How They Decide to Study Abroad, Study Finds

Women appear to be much more likely than men to choose to study abroad because of significant gender-based differences in how students are influenced by their backgrounds, academic environments, and social interactions, according to research results being presented here this week as part of the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

Chronicle of Higher Education

Babies 'cry in mother's tongue'

Babies' cries imitate their mother tongue as early as three days old

German researchers say babies begin to pick up the nuances of their parents' accents while still in the womb.

The researchers studied the cries of 60 healthy babies born to families speaking French and German.

BBC website

Smart spectacles aid translation

Spectacles that can provide subtitles have been created by hi-tech firm NEC.

Resembling glasses but lacking lenses, the headset uses a tiny projector to display images on a user's retina.

NEC said it planned a version that used real-time translation to provide subtitles for a conversation between people lacking a common language.

BBC website

JISC purchases Foreign Broadcast Information Service (free access)

The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report has been purchased by JISC Collections and is available free of charge to UK Higher and Further Education institutions and Research Councils.

Covering the period 1974–1996 in the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Eastern Europe, the JISC selection of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports includes a wealth of transcripts of broadcasts and news from around the world all translated into the English language.

The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS)

JISC purchases Foreign Broadcast Information Service (free access)

The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report has been purchased by JISC Collections and is available free of charge to UK Higher and Further Education institutions and Research Councils.

Covering the period 1974–1996 in the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Eastern Europe, the JISC selection of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports includes a wealth of transcripts of broadcasts and news from around the world all translated into the English language.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service

Dictionary lists English language expressions dying out

A new survey carried out for Collins Dictionaries lists regional expressions in English that are dying out.

BBC website