The Best Purchase of my Year Abroad

My name is Eleanor Smith, and I’m the Creative designer for the Linguist Magazine 2020/21. I’m a fourth year French and German student, and I had the pleasure of working in Germany as an English Language Assistant on my Year Abroad. When people find out you’re going to live abroad, you’re naturally met with a…

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The Hotel on Wheels – The Night Train Experience

I’m Harvey, I’m a Final Year German student, and I’m also the Publicity Officer and German Editor! This time last year, I was en route to the wonderful little town of Tübingen, around 40 minutes away from Stuttgart, to start my year abroad. I decided to take the easy option and fly out in September,…

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Dealing with the crisis as a culture vulture

Megan Nicholls I guess you probably don’t want to read another article about Coronavirus, death rates, lockdown restrictions or upcoming uncertainty. We all know these are “unprecedented times” and there is not much we can do apart from stay at home and support key workers. So, if you have a spare moment in between home…

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Per Ardua Ad Alta – Through Difficulties to Glory

By Cornelia Sennewald (Originally published in Culture, Issue 17 May 2016) Before I came to Birmingham, I was not the person I am now. I had started studying English and Art at the University of Cologne in order to become a teacher. In September 2015, I was granted the opportunity to continue my studies at…

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Appy Travels: How Apps Can Help You on Your Holidays

By Lily King When most people think about the apps they will use on holiday, the first thing that springs to mind is Instagram or Facebook to share their holiday snaps. But this only scratches the surface of how you can use apps to make the most of your holiday. Find food blogs It can…

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Welcome to The Linguist Blog

Welcome to The Linguist Blog! A place for contributors to write about all things language and culture, without the pressure of print. Whether you’re on your year abroad and wanting to document your travels, or you’re an avid photographer wanting to share pictures from your latest holiday, we want to hear from you! We’re accepting…

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Three top tips for your year abroad in Paris

by Tiana Phillips I’m sure most students planning a year abroad will be familiar with the slightly daunting feeling of uncertainty leading up to their departure. For me, it’s almost a year on from those initial few months of stress and paperwork, and now I’m a mere three weeks away from the end of my…

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Empowering women through skateboarding

Whilst we are all too familiar with the toilet paper shortage of early lockdown last year, most of us are unaware of a more interesting one – a worldwide shortage of skateboards. One of the few sectors to avoid the economic slump which has hit many industries, shops have seen an unprecedented surge in demand…

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Una relació sobtada

Fa quatre mesos que visc en un poble petit de Catalunya. Quan jo vaig arribar, no sabia parlar gens el català, no sabia quasi res de la llengua. Durant la meva primera setmana aquí ho trobava molt difícil d’entendre. Però, després de passar molt de temps rodejada per catalanoparlants, vaig començar a acostumar-m’hi: la pronunciació,…

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A carne, a soja, e nosso impacto ecológico nos biomas brasileiros

O que vem à mente quando você entende a palavra ‘soja’? A soja faz-lhe pensar nos veganos, nas pessoas com intolerância à lactose, ou a uma nova moda ou tendência? De facto, a grande maioria da soja que os agricultores cultivam está alimentando a pecuária, especialmente as galinhas e os porcos, porque é uma das…

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Come mi sto preparando per il mio anno all’estero in Italia

Molti studenti del secondo anno all’università di Birmingham hanno già confermato gli stage di studio e di lavoro che inizieranno quest’autunno. Tuttavia, oltre alla situazione precaria del Coronavirus, adesso ci troviamo a vivere in un’epoca post-Brexit, che rende ancora più difficile viaggiare in Europa. Ho in progetto di studiare all’università di Padova nell’autunno, e di…

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Sprachvertiefung muss nicht anstrengend sein!

Man kann mit Sicherheit sagen, dass ein Sprachstudium während einer globalen Pandemie nicht das Einfachste ist… Egal, ob man wie ich ein Auslandsjahr absolvieren soll oder einfach nur die persönlichen Vorlesungen an der Universität vermisst, es ist für Sprachstudenten leicht, das Gefühl zu haben, dass sie gerade wenig Fortschritte in ihrem Studium machen. Für uns…

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Lupin: pourquoi si populaire?

La série française complètement inattendue aux États-Unis, vient d’entrer le ‘top 10’ de Netflix dans le monde entier, et en janvier, durant son premier mois, elle dépasse Bridgerton et The Queen’s Gambit : 70 millions personnes l’ont visionné. Mais pourquoi est-elle si populaire, même avec les spectateurs anglophones ? Premièrement, la série est intelligente. Elle raconte l’histoire d’Assane…

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Le clandestin monastère bouddhiste d’Occitanie

Situé parmi les belles montagnes du sud de la France est le magnifique monastère bouddhiste de Lérab Ling. Ce grand monastère a été fondé par un maître bouddhiste tibétain et l’auteur renommé, Sogyal Rinpoché, et visité par le dalaï-lama. Lérab Ling a été construit afin de créer une retraite pour les gens qui ont le…

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How to travel from home; A Summer in quarantine

On March 16th 2020, Universities and schools across the UK announced that they were shutting down for quarantine. By the 21st of the same month, almost all students had returned to their family homes, many of us with plans to work, study or travel abroad suddenly cancelled. The six months at home stretched out like…

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How the UN inspired change in Dutch Festivities

The Dutch festival of Sinterklaas is my favourite festive occasion of the year, but in recent years Sinterklaas has received a lot of international criticism for the use of blackfaced characters called ´Zwarte Pieten,’ ´Black Petes´. I will explain how Sinterklaas is celebrated, what the debate surrounding the Zwarte Pieten entails, and what the Netherlands…

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