"The decision to learn a foreign language is to me an act of friendship. It is indeed a holding out of the hand. It’s not just a route to negotiation. It’s also to get to know you better, to draw closer to you and your culture, your social manners and your way of thinking... 1/2

We're hiring! Come and join our international team of 12 researchers as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stirling working on the AHRC project 'Transforming Cultures of Language-learning', 80% for 28 months. Our aim: to identify the factors that support healthy cultures of language-learning... 1/2

Hello and welcome to Francophone Friday, where we come together to highlight research being done in or about the Francophone world! 1/10

And since we are talking all things Postgraduate, the deadline to submit a proposal for the Postgraduate Study Day we organise with SSFH has been extended to the 1st of March. More details here: www.asmcf.org/events/postg...

The Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators is now OPEN! 🎉 Over the next few weeks, secondary school students aged 11-18 will be translating short competition texts from six languages. 📚 🔗 For more information, visit: www.queens.ox.ac.uk/research-at-... #AntheaBellPrize #CreativeTranslation

We look forward to receiving your proposals for this conference and to seeing colleagues in London in September!

We are delighted to share details of the 16th Douglas Johnson Memorial Lecture, organised by @frenchhistory.bsky.social & @asmcf.bsky.social to be held on Monday 12th January 2026, at the Institut Français, London.

Pause your doomscrolling and listen to this story.

We had such a great response to our History teachers webinar on teaching 'Migration and Empire' that we're offering another one! Come and find out about brand new resources co-created by teachers and academics: 4pm, Monday 29 Sept. Register here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decolonisi...

BA report shows that worst cold spots in SHAPE are in Modern Foreign Languages: French & German single honours degrees are declining sharply, with cold spots in all 4 UK nations. Progress in expanding provision of non-European languages is being reversed. www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications...

This is a positive sign that we may be moving back into Erasmus. The replacement Turing scheme has not been great (see posts above) on.ft.com/45RFfyV

Love this attempt to articulate the magic created by language in the intercultural encounter www.thetimes.com/article/ecfe...

History teachers in Scotland: teaching 'Migration and Empire' this year? Want to know how to teach about 'the impact of Scots'? Come and find out about brand new resources created by academics and teachers at this online session: 4pm, 10 Sept. Register here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decolonisi...

When I lived in Russia, many years ago, the only being to whom I regularly spoke in English was the cat in the lobby. I discovered (by hearing myself imitated) that my professor's two very young kids thought I spoke Cat and so tried to communicate with her the same way ("kom hiyah, ki ti!").

I agree with every word. H/T to @gsoh31.bsky.social 👇👇👇

"It would be a catastrophically unwise decision for humanity to abandon a key step in training young brains simply because they can now clack a few keys and produce something that sounds intelligent even as they never become intelligent" - @brianklaas.bsky.social www.forkingpaths.co/p/the-death-...

'... AI tools like LLMs will [likely] create some unequal stratification in which those people who already have advanced critical thinking skills can unleash even greater potential in collaboration with AI tools, while others will simply never develop those skills because they use AI as a crutch.'

Delighted to be part of the deep (yet concise!) thinking on languages taking place in this @lspjournal.bsky.social Opinion series.

Love working on our campus! @litandlangstirling.bsky.social

Thanks to @sahavoice.bsky.social for organising this much-needed event! Great to see the importance of Languages being highlighted.

‼️Issue 38 of the Scottish Languages Review, our online journal for language practitioners, is now LIVE ‼️ A central theme of this issue is #IDL, with articles also on #Latin as L3 and strategies for #CommunityLanguages. Free to download ➡️ loom.ly/dO81dzk

📣Primary teachers & primary student teachers 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 👋Join @karen-scilt.bsky.social @suzannescilt.bsky.social & me in person & outdoors 🌻💨🍃🌤️at all 3️⃣ in person, interactive workshops 🎯Developing outdoor IDL contexts for targeted, incidental & practising language use outdoors from & with each other

"We have to help students see that experiences matter and that to make their way through life as active agents, rather than passive doers of school assignments"

A great read to learn more about Wendy and Charles' fantastic work on language, policy, and education at Murray Edwards College 💬 @wendya-b.bsky.social @cforsdick.bsky.social @mmll-cambridge.bsky.social

What happens when you mix contrasting worldviews and pedagogies in one university classroom? Marie N Bernal explains how to balance students’ differing expectations – and your own – to prepare them for a globalised world: www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/impor... #highered #edusky

This right here. Teachers have to know what the work is. Students have to know what the work is and right now, far too many of them think it's jumping through a hoop to get a grade. Learning should change you.

This is high art

'Value linguistic diversity and forget “one nation, one language”' 👇

The MHRA has transitioned from Twitter/X and will now use Bluesky to communicate our work. We are excited to contribute to establishing Bluesky as a dynamic, inclusive, and engaging platform for academic exchange and collaboration. To celebrate this new chapter, we are hosting a book giveaway! 👇

It's our final Language Ambassador session of 2024-25! Sign up your class and join us online on 25 March to hear from our student Language Ambassadors about their experiences of learning languages and discovering new cultures: loom.ly/UgZjA0k

I hope the information about the ongoing US case is correct. In the meantime, the Authors' Guild has put together a letter template for informing Meta that we have not given permission for our work to be used in this way: actionnetwork.org/letters/auth...

Fellow authors! The @societyofauthors.bsky.social has issued a statement about Meta’s theft of copyrighted books to train its AI. societyofauthors.org/2025/03/21/t...

I wrote about the modern intellectual poison of “knowningness,” in which people who don’t know something are a) convinced they do know; and b) are utterly incurious about seeking information that may correct their view. www.forkingpaths.co/p/knowingnes...

Instinctively we - I - incline towards hope. Phillips O'brien makes a powerful case against.

Calling Scottish teachers looking to enhance their delivery of French: Institut français d’Ecosse offers French film screenings with English subtitles, on demand, for your pupils to enjoy. They can even pair it with a French-language workshop. What's not to like? www.ifecosse.org.uk/education/sc...

Our colleagues in Cardiff are circulating an open letter to oppose the decision to close the programmes of Modern Languages and Translation Studies programmes at Cardiff University: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

For Scottish primary teachers looking for new French resources: the Institut français is offering fantastic free monthly online sessions. Next one: 4-5.30pm, 20 March on the topic of 'Easter'. For details and to register, visit www.ifecosse.org.uk/education/fr...

Delighted to have completed this British Academy-funded interdisciplinary project that looks to address the gender gap in French and Italian language-learning through football @scilt.bsky.social frenchatstirling.wordpress.com/2025/03/12/l...

Important piece in Times Higher Ed today: www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/mode...

This is very moving

'The Cost Allocation Death Spiral and the University' Uncomfortably relevant. www.linkedin.com/pulse/cost-a...

Come and study at Stirling! 6 fully-funded PhD studentships attached to our new Leverhulme Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory. Deadline 18 April, details here placememory.net/apply-now-fo...

And in that context, the atrophying of foreign language teaching (including Latin) - with impact of what can be taught in schools - is a particular scandal.

Cardiff will be only UK capital city not teaching foreign language degrees if cuts go ahead #Languages #Cardiff #CardiffUniversity thetab.com/2025/02/21/c...