My OpenLearn Profile
- Personalise your OpenLearn profile
- Save your favourite content
- Get recognition for your learning
Languages
Wherever you are, making yourself understood is the key to success.
Most popular in Languages
Languages
Beginners’ French: food and drink
Improve your language skills by learning to communicate more easily and effectively in French. In this free course, Beginners' French: Food and drink, you will also gain an insight into French societies and cultures through focusing on food and drink. You will listen to French speakers in a variety of situations, and you will be provided with some skills for coping with reading texts.
Languages
The History of English in Ten Minutes
Where did the phrase ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’ come from? And when did scientists finally get round to naming sexual body parts? Voiced by Clive Anderson, this entertaining romp through 'The History of English' squeezes 1600 years of history into 10 one-minute bites, uncovering the sources of English words and phrases from Shakespeare and the King James Bible to America and the Internet. Bursting with fascinating facts, the series looks at how English grew from a small tongue into a major global language before reflecting on the future of English in the 21st century.
free course icon
Level 1 icon
Languages
Beginners' Chinese
Learn about Mandarin Chinese as a tool for communication and gain insights into Chinese society and culture. This free course, Beginners’ Chinese, provides a brief introduction to the Chinese language, its scripts and sounds, and how words are formed. You will hear short conversations where people greet each other, introduce themselves, describe where they come from and what they do for a living. You’ll hear them talk about their daily activities and order food and drinks in a restaurant. This OpenLearn course will be easily accessible for those with some basic knowledge of Chinese.
Latest in Languages
Languages
Beginners’ Italian: food and drink
This free course, Beginners' Italian: food and drink, focuses on buying drinks and snacks in an Italian café, as well as on greeting and introducing yourself in Italian. It does not require any previous knowledge of Italian.
Languages
Harry Potter and the Translator’s Challenge
How did translators go about converting the anagram 'Tom Marvolo Riddle'? Fernando Rosell-Aguilar explores the tricky business of translating J.K. Rowling's fun and creative words into 80 other languages.
Languages
Do enforced language tests help migrants integrate more smoothly?
An Australian perspective on why making English skills a key part of Citizenship may do less for social cohesion than supporters of the idea believe.
Languages
Do as Dumbledore does: the benefits of private speech
In one of the Harry Potter films, Dumbledore claims he finds talking aloud to himself very useful - is this true? Dr. Carlos Montoro explores the research behind self-addressed talk.
©2017. All rights reserved. The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302). The Open University is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in relation to its secondary activity of credit broking.
©2017. All rights reserved. The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302). The Open University is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in relation to its secondary activity of credit broking.