Throughout the world the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) is being felt and here at Radio Lingua we are aware that schools are closing. In an attempt to help parents, carers, teachers and learners to minimise disruption, we have gathered a collection of our free resources for primary and secondary on this page. We are providing links on this page to the first ten videos in the High Five French and High Five Spanish resources for primary.
Please note that all current subscriptions to High Five French and/or Spanish on the RLN Education website will be automatically extended by three months.
Primary French
In the High Five French video series, join learner Emma as she learns French with her friend Mathilde. Access the videos for lessons 1-10 below. Click “Full Screen” to play the video full screen and download the transcripts to access further information about each lesson.
Primary Spanish
In the High Five Spanish video series, join learner Sophie as she learns Spanish with her friends Marina and Miguel. Access the videos for lessons 1-10 below. Click “Full Screen” to play the video full screen and download the transcripts to access further information about each lesson.
Other Languages
We offer short courses in over 30 languages in the One Minute Languages series on our YouTube Channel. Each course features ten “one minute lessons” and teaches topics such as numbers, introducing yourself, saying that you speak a little of the language, and much more. Use the links below to access the playlists on YouTube. Please be aware that some of these videos may contain ads.
One Minute Arabic
Arabic is spoken by over 300 million people and is the official language in 26 countries. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Catalan
Catalan is a Romance language spoken in the north east of Spain and the south of France. It's also the official language of Andorra. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Czech
Czech is a member of the Slavonic family of languages, along with Slovak, Polish and Russian. There are over 10 million speakers who mostly live in the Czech Republic.Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Danish
Danish is spoken by 6 million people mainly in Denmark. It's one of the official languages of the European Union. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Dutch
Dutch is spoken by 24 million people in the Netherlands, Belgium and also Suriname in South America. It is related to German and English. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Finnish
There are around 5.4 million speakers of Finnish. It's mainly spoken in Finland but there are also Finnish speakers in Russia, Norway and Sweden. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Flemish
Flemish is the variety of Dutch spoken in Belgium. There are approximately 6.5 million speakers. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute French
There are around 270 million speakers of French and it's the official language of 29 countries around the world. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic is spoken in many parts of Scotland and is related to Irish Gaelic, Welsh and Breton. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Galician
Galician or "Gallego" is spoken by over 2 million people in the region of Galicia in northern Spain. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute German
German is spoken in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and there are around 90 million native speakers. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Greek
The 13.4 million speakers of Greek live mainly in Greece and Cyprus. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Hungarian
Hungarian is spoken in Hungary and has around 13 million native speakers. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Icelandic
There are over 300,00 speakers of Icelandic, mostly living in Iceland. It's related to Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Irish
Irish Gaelic is closely related to Scottish Gaelic and is spoken in Ireland. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Italian
There are around 85 million speakers of Italian and it's an official language in Italy, San Marino, the Vatican City and Switzerland. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Japanese
There are around 125 million speakers of Japanese and it uses three different writing systems. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Latvian
Latvian is spoken by 1.75 million speakers in Latvia, a country in the northeast of Europe. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Mandarin
There are over 920 million speakers of Mandarin Chinese. It's spoken throughout China. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Norwegian
There are over 5 million speakers of Norwegian. It's the official language of Norway. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Polish
Polish is the official language of Poland and has around 50 million speakers. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Portuguese
There are over 230 million speakers of Portuguese and it's the official langauge of 9 countries including Portugal and Brazil. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Russian
Russian is a Slavic language and is the official language of 11 states. It's written in the Cyrillic alphabet. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Slovak
Closely related to Czech, Slovak is spoken by 5 million people in Slovakia. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Spanish
With over 480 million native speakers, Spanish is the second-most spoken language in the world. It's the official language of 20 countries. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Swedish
There are 10 million speakers of Swedish in Sweden and Finland. Swedish is closely related to Norweigan and Danish. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Turkish
There around 88 million speakers of Turkish and it's the official language of Turkey, Northern Cyprus and Cyprus. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Ukrainian
Like Russian, Ukrainian uses the Cyrillic alphabet. It's spoken in Ukraine by around 35 million people. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
One Minute Zulu
Zulu is one of 11 official languages in South Africa and is spoken by 12 million people. Click the image to access the playlist on YouTube.
Resources for Secondary / High School
Our Coffee Break Languages resources are suitable for older learners, e.g. secondary school students. We have hundreds of podcast episodes and videos on our YouTube channel.
Podcast Episodes
The podcast episodes are “lessons” which are presented by a teacher / native speaker and feature a learner, so listeners can learn alongside the learner in the recordings and will often have similar questions and make similar mistakes. The podcasts are organised in “seasons” of 40 lessons, starting at an absolute beginner level (French, German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin and Swedish), moving to an intermediate level (French, German, Spanish, Italian) and an advanced level (French and Spanish).
If you’re already familiar with podcasts and are looking for the podcast feeds for each language, use the links below. You may have to scroll back in the episode / series list to find the earlier (easy) episodes.
Further details
French
Spanish
German
Italian
Mandarin
Swedish
French
Beginners should start with Coffee Break French Season 1. This covers basic communication and each episode introduces the language in a manageable way. In Season 1 you’ll learn to use French confidently when travelling, ordering food and drinks, making friends and shopping in a French-speaking country. Click here to access Season 1.
If you’ve been learning French for some time but you feel you need some help understanding the grammar, start with Season 2. You’ll learn to use French to “say what you want to say” and become more confident. Click here to access Season 2.
If you’ve been studying French for a number of years and are looking for materials to help you practise your listening skills and build your own knowledge of the language and grammar, start with Season 3. Click here to access Season 3.
If you’re already an advanced student of French, then Season 4 will be an excellent way to challenge yourself with advanced listening materials and grammar practice. Click here to access Season 4.
Just looking for some listening practice? Try out our Coffee Break French Magazine which introduces cultural topics through texts and our presenters are on hand to explain all the words and phrases in the text. Click here to access the Coffee Break French Magazine.
Spanish
Beginners should start with Coffee Break Spanish Season 1. This covers basic communication and each episode introduces the language in a manageable way. In Season 1 you’ll learn to use Spanish confidently when travelling, ordering food and drinks, making friends and shopping in a Spanish-speaking country. Click here to access Season 1.
If you’ve been learning Spanish for some time but you feel you need some help understanding the grammar, start with Season 2. You’ll learn to use Spanish to “say what you want to say” and become more confident. Click here to access Season 2.
If you’ve been studying Spanish for a number of years and are looking for materials to help you practise your listening skills and build your own knowledge of the language and grammar, start with Season 3. Click here to access Season 3.
If you’re already an advanced student of Spanish, then Season 4 will be an excellent way to challenge yourself with advanced listening materials and grammar practice. Click here to access Season 4.
Just looking for some listening practice? Try out our Coffee Break Spanish Magazine which introduces cultural topics through texts and our presenters are on hand to explain all the words and phrases in the text. Click here to access the Coffee Break Spanish Magazine.
German
Beginners should start with Coffee Break German Season 1. This covers basic communication and each episode introduces the language in a manageable way. In Season 1 you’ll learn to use German confidently when travelling, ordering food and drinks, making friends and shopping in a German-speaking country. Click here to access Season 1.
If you’ve been learning German for some time but you feel you need some help understanding the grammar, start with Season 2. You’ll learn to use German to “say what you want to say” and become more confident. Click here to access Season 2.
Just looking for some listening practice? Try out our Coffee Break German Magazine which introduces cultural topics through texts and our presenters are on hand to explain all the words and phrases in the text. Click here to access the Coffee Break German Magazine.
Italian
Beginners should start with Coffee Break Italian Season 1. This covers basic communication and each episode introduces the language in a manageable way. In Season 1 you’ll learn to use Italian confidently when travelling, ordering food and drinks, making friends and shopping in an Italian-speaking area. Click here to access Season 1.
If you’ve been learning Italian for some time but you feel you need some help understanding the grammar, start with Season 2. You’ll learn to use Italian to “say what you want to say” and become more confident. Click here to access Season 2.
Just looking for some listening practice? Try out our Coffee Break Italian Magazine which introduces cultural topics through texts and our presenters are on hand to explain all the words and phrases in the text. Click here to access the Coffee Break Italian Magazine.
Mandarin
Beginners should start with Coffee Break Chinese Season 1. This covers basic communication and each episode introduces the language in a manageable way. In Season 1 you’ll learn to use Mandarin confidently when travelling, ordering food and drinks, making friends and shopping in a Mandarin-speaking area. Click here to access Season 1.
Swedish
We are currently publishing our Coffee Break Swedish course every second Monday, with new content being added all the time. If you’d like to learn some Swedish, you can follow the podcast episodes and learn to use Swedish in a variety of situations. Click here to access Season 1.
YouTube Video lessons
We have a huge amount of content for beginners and intermediate learners on our YouTube channel. Check out some of the videos below. Please be aware that some of these videos may contain ads.
Coffee Break French To Go
Short interviews, filmed on the streets of France. Perfect for some quick review and vocabulary building. Click here for the playlist.
Coffee Break Spanish To Go
If you’re learning Spanish, we’ve filmed Spanish interviews on the streets of Málaga and Salamanca. Click here for the playlist.
Coffee Break Italian To Go
The To Go series is also available in Italian, so join Francesca in Italy for our interviews filmed on location. Click here for the playlist.
Coffee Break German To Go
If you’re learning German, use our Coffee Break German To Go videos in which Julia interviews native German speakers. Click here for the playlist.
Walk, Talk and Learn
One of the best ways to learn grammar is by seeing it in context. In the Walk, Talk and Learn series, Mark and Pierre-Benoît talk about language they see around them. Click here for the playlist.
Coffee Break Travels
Join our hosts in their home towns, available in French, German and Italian. Click here for the playlist.
Follow us on Social Media!
Don’t forget that learning a language is about keeping up with the language in regular, short bursts, and one of the best ways to do that is by following us on Social Media. We have a Facebook page for each of Coffee Break language where we post regular language challenges and cultural information; we post mini lessons regularly on Twitter, and follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram for regular updates and language content for learners.
Facebook links
Use the links below to find each of our languages on Facebook.
Twitter links
Use the links below to find each of our languages on Twitter.
