Spring is here.  

How do I know?

Because the cherry blossoms are blooming, the nights are getting lighter, and my bedroom wall has its first mosquito splatters of the season.

It’s not all gelato and vino living in Italy

The best way to learn a language is to go to the country.

How many times have you heard that?

There are lots of smart reasons to think this. When you try learning a language in your hometown, lots of

Intermediate level.

AKA the brick wall of language learning: if you bang your head against it for long enough, you'll start to break it down - but it hurts.

As a beginner, if you only know 10 words, learning 10

Last year, I was toying around with the idea of learning German but not doing much about it.

Then one afternoon, after being sucked into a YouTube rabbit hole, I came across a video of this really enthusiastic dude who had

Have you ever been so busy you didn't have time to wash your socks?

That's what last month was like for me.

The start of term and some exciting new projects at joy of languages (more on this

So you want to learn Chinese, but it sounds too much like hard work.

I know the feeling.

I'm currently learning Mandarin Chinese, but I'm too lazy to study. In fact, if Garfield and Homer Simpson had a love

What does the future, better version of you look like?

Mine’s fluent in lots of languages, wears matching socks and doesn’t eat nutella straight from the jar.

In January, lots of us chase after that better version of ourselves, whether it be

You know those great life ideas you always talk about (often after a few drinks) but never actually get round to doing?

Me and my Italian other half, Matteo have always talked about making a podcast to help people learn

Do you find language learning boring?

Not long ago, my answer to this question would have been a resolute no. I'd always enjoyed learning languages because it never felt like work.

I used to ditch textbooks as soon as

Are you one of those people who did Spanish in school but barely learned how to say ¿Dónde está el baño? (my hand's up).

If so, you'll know that the way we learn languages at school doesn't

The longest I've ever stayed awake is 52 hours.

It was 2010 and I was writing my university dissertation at the very last minute. I sat in the 24 hour library for 2 and a half days, fuelling myself with

Fear. Stress. Boredom. Language learning can stir up a host of negative emotions.

One minute you're yawning over a grammar book and the next you're cowering under the table for fear of sounding like a cross between a

Goals are good. We know that.

They turn dreams into reality and all that jazz. But working on goals involves a constant battle against the lazy part of our brains that says "uh... I'm sure it'll just, you

One of the best things about working on the joy of languages blog is that our readers are always sharing smart ideas about how to learn a language. This week's post is inspired by Anne, Ken and Vanessa, who suggested keeping

Milan gets unbelievably sweaty in August.

That kind of hot that makes you want to shave your head, tear off your own skin and lie face down on a marble floor all day. So I decided to ditch the heat and mosquitos

A bad memory is one of the top excuses people give for not learning another language.

We see pages of unfamiliar words, or hear streams of sounds we can't decipher and think "I'll never be able to cram enough words into my

You know that feeling when you meet a native speaker and all those words and sentences you thought you knew suddenly disappear in a puff of smoke?

Even if you manage to give it a go and throw some words

I’m a lazy language learner.

Not in a “I’ll do it tomorrow” kind of way, but in a “I don’t feel like reading a textbook so I’m going to sit on the sofa and watch French TV and not even

Every year, I’m surprised by how quickly the warm weather comes around in Milan. Just two weeks ago everyone was wrapped up in scarves and gloves, but yesterday we reached a whopping 21°C (69.8°F).

This is the time of

From crash diets to language hacking, the world is becoming obsessed with quick fixes.

The idea of learning a language in next to no time is certainly appealing. Recently, I did a language challenge to learn as much German as