I have a passion for language and, as it is European Language Day today, I felt compelled to share a little of this with the world. After reading this today, I really hope languages become compulsory again in UK education. It would be a shame to dismiss this vital learning skill, especially with spelling and grammar taking such a severe blow to the head recently.

The ability to differentiate tenses, conjunctions, participles, cases and so much more is strongly reinforced when you learn another language. I’m pretty sure I didn’t learn the ins and outs of grammar in English lessons! I took German at GCSE, at A-Level and then as a minor part of my degree next to my Marketing major. I truly feel this has helped my career in writing and I also think that learning a language taps into another part of the brain that may aid creativity.

Perhaps another of Berkeley’s writing strengths comes from our abilities in the language department. Across the agency, we have a fantastic spread of French and German speakers with Spanish coming in third. Without the help of the internet, fellow Berkeley-ites also used their initiative to deliver some useful European language phrases for your reading pleasure:

Greek: Merri-kes beer-as sa-para-ke-lo = A round of beers please

Spanish: Donde esta los aseos mi amigo? = Where are the toilets my friend?

Croatian: Govor-ite Li Eng-leski? = Do you speak English?

Swedish: Trevligt att träffas! = Pleased to meet you

French: Je suis ici aux affaires = I’m here on business

German: Um wieviel Uhr wird Mittagessen gedient? = What time is lunch?

Celtic: Slaintè (pronounced ‘slancha’) = Cheers!

Icelandic: Takk = Thank you

Stephanie Marshall