Linguistics experts at Glasgow University and Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University believe that a natural change is happening in the Scottish accent. It seems that the distinctive Scottish rolled ‘R’ is slowly disappearing as young people soften the letter so much that it has become almost inaudible. The rhotic or tremulant consonants have always been a distinctive part of the Scottish accent but are they going to vanish for good? Continue reading
Humour is part of everyday life, especially in the UK, and just because you are learning a new language doesn’t mean you can’t continue to enjoy a giggle or even a guffaw. It just takes a tad more care. Jokes often have a linguistic component and many jokes are funny because of a clever play on words – this is where joshing in a different language can cause EFL learners to get unstuck!
It can take quite an advanced knowledge of a language to create a good, witty, linguistically complex joke. But it is still possible to enjoy humour in a foreign language with only a basic grasp of the grammar and vocabulary. Continue reading