Croatian teenager wakes from coma speaking fluent German

A 13-year-old Croatian girl who fell into a coma woke up speaking fluent German

Since waking up from her 24 hour coma however, she has been unable to speak Croatian, but is able to communicate perfectly in German.

The Telegraph

IRELAND: State officials 'threaten survival of Irish language'

The survival of Irish as a language is under serious threat because more and more state officials cannot speak it and use English instead.

Sean O Cuirreain, An Coimisineir Teanga, yesterday said that, on a national level, the native language was secure and protected by state laws.

But the language commissioner added: "The future of Irish as a living community language, even in the strongest Gaeltacht areas, is currently at its most vulnerable level.

Irish Independent

An assault is under way against the arts

"Why is there such a huge funding bias towards science when the chief growth in graduate jobs has been elsewhere?" asks Simon Jenkins

The Guardian

Primary school language lessons depend on 'brave amateurs'

The programme to introduce languages into primary schools has resulted in "amateurish" teaching with scant resources and potentially bad pronunciation, teachers will tell the ATL annual conference next week.

Helen Brook, who studied French at school, will describe teaching Spanish at her Cambridgeshire primary as "terrifying" and potentially insulting to properly trained languages teachers.

TES

Feature on SOAS in Independent

Soas is, however, the kind of place where you expect aggro.

Specialising as it does in the culture, languages and politics of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, it tends to reproduce the political divisions of those parts of the world on campus. Webley denies, however, that it's a battleground. "What's important is that this is a university," he says. "We have a Centre for Jewish Studies, a Centre for Islamic Studies, a very strong Palestinian society. People are passionate. One of its distinctive features is that people's preconceptions are challenged. Students come from such a variety of different backgrounds that it makes them reflect on their own views. Many of them want to change the world but many are changed by their experience here. They come and are transformed."

The Independent

Baroness Ashton: "I will learn better French".

BRUSSELS — Lady Catherine Ashton, under fire for being unqualified for her job as Europe's foreign minister, has upset the French with her flawed command of what was once the language of international diplomacy. Her diplomatic response: I will learn better French.

Associated Press

Will Self talks about learning French

Will Self decided to learn French properly when he realised he had been fooling himself for years

The Guardian