Expats are often shaky in their mother tongue. But fear not: the fight in the brain known as language attrition can be stopped 

 Monika Schmid is a professor in linguistics at the University of Essex

When a former PhD candidate recently asked me to write a reference for her, I found myself facing an unexpected dilemma. She is a wonderful person and a brilliant scientist whom any employer should consider themselves lucky to recruit, and I’m delighted to provide a reference saying just that.

My college admissions essay said it all — if only I had stopped and listened to myself at the time. I was more concerned with finding a hook that would set me apart from the tens of thousands of other applicants, who were, of course, trying to do the same thing.

Numbers learning a modern language have plummeted in the past decade. The situation needs to be urgently reversed to boost links with Europe

It was inspirational to read John le Carré’s timely piece on “Why we should learn German” (News). Through his personal narrative about learning German, he encapsulates so eloquently all the key motivations for learning languages: access to other cultures; curiosity about the structure of language; the ability to engage in meaningful dialogue with crucial political and trading partners.

Why do we persist in thinking that standard English is right, when it is spoken by only 15% of the British population? Linguistics-loving Harry Ritchie blames Noam Chomsky.

As part of a groundbreaking new study the ginger ape was able to learn new sounds and control the action of his voice in the way humans do