Chartered Institute
of Linguists
NEWS & VOICES
By Dom Hebblethwaite, CIOL Head of Membership
Our latest CIOL poll asked members a simple but provocative question: are we in a...
Recognising English Skills for Arabic-Speaking Professionals
English is the language of international business, diplomacy, and global collaboration. For many Arabic-speaking professionals, English may not be a first language, but it is a working language used daily in meetings, presentations, negotiations, emails, and international projects.
Until recently,...
By Dr Eyhab Abdulrazak Bader Eddin
Christmas occupies a distinctive place in the English language, not merely as a religious festival or a cultural event, but as a rich linguistic domain in which history, belief, social practice and literary imagination converge. The vocabulary, metaphors and narrative patterns associated with Christmas reflect centuries of...
A year on from last year's very successful Duolingo Westminster challenge, parliamentarians are once again being invited to learn, practice and live the benefits of day-to-day language learning.
The Duolingo Language Challenge is back for 2026
And this time, it's bigger and better!
More than 200 Parliamentarians took part in the...
@Home Accommodations Services, a UK-based company, recently posted a job ad with CIOL for an English-Brazilian Portuguese language professional for translation and interpreting services. The company is dedicated to providing high-quality support to clients navigating accommodation needs, visa requirements, and cultural adaptation.
Applications are now closed,...
By Dr Joseph Ford
The decline of languages education in England is a familiar and depressing story. Take-up of French at GCSE is down from 25% in 2009-10 to 18% in 2024-25. German has halved in the same period from 10% to 5%.
There is also a significant gap in take-up at GCSE by disadvantaged pupils (34%) compared with those from more...
I’m writing this article on National Linguistics Day (26th November 2026) and wondering how many people will learn something about human communication as a result of it today. It is the brainchild of Rebecca Mitchell and you can see how to join in with plans for future years at this link: https://www.linguisticshq.co.uk/national-linguistics-day.
Up...
By Dr Eyhab Abdulrazak Bader Eddin
Clear yet majestic
The King James Bible of 1611 has profoundly influenced modern English. Commissioned by King James I of England, this translation of the Bible was meant to speak to people in clear yet majestic language.
It quickly became the definitive English Bible for centuries, and along the way it introduced...