It’s time to challenge the notion that there is only one way to speak English (Harry Ritchie, The Guardian)

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.

An old fashioned black and white scene of robed and mortar-board wearing teacher and schoolboy in shorts and cap in a classroom. Photograph: Hulton Getty.

Did you see that great documentary on linguistics the other night? What about that terrific series on Radio 4 about the Indo-European language family tree? Or that news report on language extinction? It is strange that none of those programmes happened, or has ever happened: it’s not as if language is an arcane subject. Just as puzzling is the conspicuous lack of a properly informed book about language – either our own or language in general.

How to survive the worst moments of learning a language (Erica Buist, The Guardian)

From talking on the phone for the first time to using local slang and being faced with a wall of laughter, Erica Buist on how to get over some of the most painful language mistakes.

At some point while learning a language it will seem as ludicrously impossible a task as climbing Everest in stilettos. Photograph: Alamy.

Learning a language makes an appearance on a lot of bucket lists. People picture themselves strolling through a market in a foreign land, conversing easily with locals – and you always look tanned in the daydream, too. But on the way to becoming the fluent and unaccountably sexier new you, there are a few emotional troughs you have to get through.