What’s the best way to learn vocabulary?

The British Council recently uploaded a series of YouTube videos as part of its language learning campaign.

One of them – see below – takes aim at vocabulary and provides some practical advice on how to increase the number of foreign words you know, clearly a vital step down the path of learning any new language.

As the videos’ star, Alex Rawlings, puts it: “Learning new languages is about learning new words.”

The first 1,000 words are the hardest?

In the flurry of New Year-themed campaigns – drink less, exercise more, be a better person, etc – there was one that particularly caught my eye this year.

International education and cultural charity the British Council put its weight behind a language-learning drive, calling on Brits (notoriously resistant to anything other than the ‘talk slowly and loudly in English’ method of communicating when abroad) to include learning a foreign language in their 2016 resolutions.

There’s no specific Bengali angle of course, but the campaign’ broader message and tips should resonate whatever language you’re studying.