Seven-year-olds learning Chinese
An independent girls' school introduces Mandarin Chinese lessons for all seven to nine-year-olds. (BBC News, May 23rd, 2006)
University axes language degrees
Twenty jobs are to go at Anglia Ruskin University based at Cambridge and Chelmsford. (BBC News, May 22nd, 2006)
Hearing tests 'key for language'
Detecting hearing impairment in babies early can improve their language ability later, a study says. (BBC News, May 20th, 2006)
US Senate in wrangle over English
The US Senate votes in favour of making English the national language as the immigration debate rages on. (BBC News, May 19th, 2006)
'Big brother' informs baby talk
A newborn baby is being filmed for the next three years to understand how he learns to talk. (BBC News, May 17th, 2006)
Cleaners brush up language skills
Gloucester's street cleaners learn greetings in Japanese and sign language to make visitors feel more welcome. (BBC News, May 16th, 2006)
School 'snobbery' over languages
Students training to teach non-European languages say their subjects must be given greater status in schools. (BBC News, May 16th, 2006)
A Point of View
The British have never had much of a taste for learning foreign languages and as English becomes Europe's lingua franca, that stubbornness is starting to pay off. (BBC News, May 5th, 2006)
British study site is deaf first
The first study website in British Sign Language goes live in Bristol. (BBC News, May 5th, 2006)
Now you're speaking my language
A businessman in China plans to deliver language learning to millions through podcasts, cutting out teachers and classrooms. (The Guardian, May 4th, 2006)
Foreign Language Syndrome occurs when people with brain injuries lose the ability to talk in their native accent. After a stroke, George Reynolds developed an Italian accent.
