Facebook-f Instagram Youtube Twitter Linkedin

Meet Parul, Coffee Break German learner

by

Tell us who you are, where you live, your nationality and how long you’ve been learning a language with us.

I am a creative Indian working in a global environment. Though, like all Indians I’m already a multilingual, to learn a foreign language was a long-standing dream. Four years ago when my profession offered me the opportunity I jumped to it but needed extra support. Coffee Break German filled that gap and is now a major part of my daily routine.

What experience have you had speaking and learning other languages?

At home we speak mostly Hindi and English which is a common scenario in India. I took up Portuguese about 7 years ago while travelling to Brazil but soon got out of touch. I am interested in Spanish and French too but German is my current focus.

What are your favourite memories of learning a language?

To speed up my learning I listen to the Coffee Break German podcasts while driving in the mornings. Once, after listening to Coffee Break German, I used some new vocabulary in an official meeting and it surprised the entire audience, including management. With the limelight I did feel very conscious but I could get the audience to listen to me with more interest.

Where would your ideal coffee break be, and with whom?

I would like to share a coffee with Hans Zimmer after one his concerts in Austria.

What’s the best language-learning tip you have found works for you?

I have printed conjugation words in front on my work station. Also the sentence Übung macht den Meister … from CBG motivates me a lot.

Quick-fire Round

• Favourite language: German
• Favourite word or phrase in the language: Lebe deine Träume!
• Favourite TV show, book or singer in the language: Lola rennt, Rocca
• Favourite destination to practise your language: Germany

Please finish off with a message to your fellow members of the Coffee Break community and the Coffee Break Team.

I have heard many other podcasts but CBG really stuck with me and I have recommended it to fellow team members also. I truly am grateful to CBG for making language learning so much fun. Vielen Dank und weiterhin gute Arbeit!

CBS Mag 3.08 | El Carnaval de Santa Cruz

by

Mark, Fernanda and Anabel are back for another episode of the Coffee Break Spanish Magazine. This week we’re heading to Tenerife for El Carnaval de Santa Cruz! Listener Iris has a question about the use of the words época and tiempo when talking about time, and Anabel shares a couple of interesting expressions.

 

Meet Keith, Coffee Break French learner

by

Tell us who you are, where you live, your nationality and how long you’ve been learning a language with us.

Hi, my name is Keith and I live with Julie in Hertfordshire. I am English and have been learning with Coffee Break French for just over a year.

What experience have you had speaking and learning other languages?

No formal language tuition since school days – and they are long past! That said I did go on a language course whilst a serving soldier, many years ago. This was to learn the rudiments of the Malay language and it proved to be very useful – I can still remember bits and pieces!

What are your favourite memories of learning a language?

The challenge for Julie (who studies with me) and I, is in ‘having a go’ – too often the Brits seem to sit back and expect to be understood. A real joy comes from being recognised as trying hard to speak the language, even in a pretty limited way – you gain a lot of credit by just having a go.

Where would your ideal coffee break be, and with whom?

Just chatting to the locals at any cafe in France (preferably in the summer in the South of France – otherwise anywhere will do!)

What’s the best language-learning tip you have found works for you?

The old adage “if it’s not written down, it doesn’t exist” could apply in this case. What works for me is to make notes, read them and then read them again. Add new notes and vocabulary to the list but keep reading, re-reading and reviewing them all from page one.

Quick-fire Round

• Your favourite language: French
• Your favourite word or phrase in the language: Bonjour tout le monde, je peux parler un peu de français
• Your favourite destination to practise your language: Nice or Bordeaux

Please finish off with a message to your fellow members of the Coffee Break community and the Coffee Break Team.

Hi Coffee Breakers, I hope you are enjoying the Coffee Break experience as much as I am. I have been impressed from day one with a) the amount and quality of material available, b) the enthusiasm of the CB Team, and c) the level of enterprise which keeps it all not only together but going forward and evolving all the time.

Free Language Resources for Learning at Home

by

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 a single page which can be easily shared.

This page lists resources for primary schools teaching French and Spanish and we are making available our High Five French and High Five Spanish courses free of charge for the next three months.

We’ve also providing links to our One Minute Languages resources, and for secondary we’ve listed all our podcasts and YouTube videos which may be useful for learners to work independently.

To access these resources, please visit radiolingua.com/learnathome.

Meet the Team: Ava

by
Hello! I’m Ava and I’m a Production Quality Associate here at Coffee Break. I started as an intern in 2018, while I was studying French and Music at university in Glasgow, and have enjoyed being involved in many exciting Coffee Break projects since then.

What is your role in Coffee Break?

My role involves a whole variety of aspects of content production. I enjoy working with lots of members of the team to create content across the languages – whether that’s filming videos for the Coffee Break Club, coordinating the writing of content for books, or writing lesson notes for some of our French courses. One of my favourite parts of the job is getting to use my existing language skills and also develop new ones, including recording episodes for our advanced French and Spanish courses and learning with Rafael in Coffee Break Portuguese.

What experience have you had speaking and learning other languages?

My first experience of learning another language was in primary school, when I learnt a little bit of Scottish Gaelic, and my interest in languages really grew when I started learning French and Spanish at high school. This led me to decide to study French at university, where I also had the chance to learn some Italian and Mandarin. I’ve also been lucky enough to practise my languages abroad, including spending a summer working as an au-pair in Paris. Since kids love teaching you something they’re better at than you, my French improved a huge amount during this time, and it turns out that playing a lot of Monopoly is a great way to practise numbers! Also, as part of my degree, I spent a year studying at a French-speaking university in Montréal, Québec. This was fascinating for me – learning about a culture and a dialect of French that was entirely new to me, even if québécois French did take some getting used to! I always enjoy expanding my knowledge of the languages I’ve studied so far, as well as learning new ones, having more recently started learning some German, Portuguese and revisiting Gaelic.

What are your favourite memories of working with Coffee Break?

I have a lot of great memories so far of working with Coffee Break. One of these has to be when we announced the launch of our 50 Coffee Breaks book series in January 2022. This project was a real team effort and I’d really enjoyed working with lots of members of the team to bring these books together. We were very excited to step into the world of books and it was lovely to see the Coffee Break community excited about them too. I have many other good memories too, a lot of which simply revolve around daily life with the team. It’s a very inspiring place to work, as every single person has so much enthusiasm for languages and for learning in general. Every day at work I learn something new from someone on the team – whether it’s about some very nuanced aspects of French from working with Pierre-Benoît and Max on some of our French content, or one of the many occasions when another member of the team has made me think about a certain aspect of English in a whole new way, that I’d never considered as a native speaker.

Where would your ideal coffee break be and with whom?

My ideal coffee break would be a flask of tea at the top of a mountain (probably somewhere in the Alps, the Canadian Rockies or up one of Scotland’s Munros) with as many of my friends and family as would be up for the climb.

What’s your best language learning tip?

Think about every moment in your day when you hear, read, speak or write in your native language and try to do as many of those things as possible in the language you’re learning. This may mean changing the language settings on your phone, watching Netflix with subtitles in the language you’re learning or listening to music, writing your to-do list or speaking to your pet in that language. Also, depending on your reason for learning, try not to get too hung up on the idea of being “fluent”. Often, you really don’t have to know much of a language to get so much enjoyment out of it and for it to be enough to communicate and connect with others.

Quick-fire round

  • Favourite language: French
  • Favourite word/phrase in French: There are so many good ones to choose from! One of my favourite words is le caoutchouc, which is the word for rubber material – a little random, but I just like the way it’s pronounced and spelt! Favourite phrase: qu’est-ce que c’est que ça ? I love this example of just how roundabout questions can be in French (word for word, it means “what is this that this is that this?”). And some favourite québécois words and phrases: chum, which means “boyfriend” or sometimes “friend”, and is pronounced just like the English word “chum”; pantoute, meaning “not at all” (like pas du tout); and c’est correct (usually pronounced correc’ in this context), which is used a lot in Québec to say “that’s ok” or “that’s all good”.
  • Favourite film: Café de Flore or La vita è bella
  • Favourite destination: A small lake called Gamskarsee, which is near a village called Ehrwald in Tyrol, Austria. I’d love to learn some more German and practise it in this area.

Do you have a message for the Coffee Break Community?

As someone who loves both climbing mountains and learning languages, I’ve learnt that anything that takes time and is difficult at moments is always worth it in the end. However, language learning definitely doesn’t have a clear summit! We can all still find out new things about the languages we’re learning every day.

CBS Mag 3.07 | El encuentro de dos mundos

by

It’s time for another episode of the Coffee Break Spanish Magazine! In this lesson, we’re discussing a very important day for the Hispanic world, El Día de la Hispanidad. Our listener Namrata would like to know more about the use of the past participle in Spanish and Sofía challenges Mark with a tongue twister!

Meet Robert, Coffee Break Spanish learner

by

Tell us who you are, where you live, your nationality and how long you’ve been learning a language with us.

My name is Robert. I live in New Zealand. I am a kiwi. I purchased Coffee Break Spanish some time ago. It is only recently after listening to Coffee Break Co-pilot that I came to really realise how much a good podcast can help you learn another language when you use them correctly.

What experience have you had speaking and learning other languages?

I have never studied language in a language school. I have used online courses and tutors through online services such as Italki and Verbling.

What are your favourite memories of learning a language?

My favourite memory of learning a language with Coffee Break Spanish is learning how to speak correctly in Spanish.

Where would your ideal coffee break be, and with whom?

My ideal coffee break would be with a friend drinking a coffee in a cafe in Colombia.

What’s the best language-learning tip you have found works for you?

Watching the video first, then listening to the audio followed by making your notes using the helpsheet and finally listening to the bonus audio. I have been able to work this into my daily routine and create a constant no stress learning routine.

Quick-fire round

• Favourite language: Spanish
• Favourite word or phrase in the language: Bacano
• Favourite film, TV show, book or singer in the language: My favourite film in Spanish is Avatar.
• Favourite destination to practise your language: My favourite destination to practise Spanish would be Colombia.

Please finish off with a message to your fellow members of the Coffee Break community and the Coffee Break Team.

Coffee Break podcasts are an excellent resource to help you achieve fluency in your chosen target language.

Pre-estreno de Coffee Break English

by

¿Quieres aprender inglés, pero no sabes por dónde comenzar? ¿No tienes mucho tiempo para aprender inglés? ¡Ahora puedes aprender inglés con Coffee Break English! Con nuestros podcasts y cursos en línea, ¡Estarás hablando inglés en un dos por tres! Acompaña a nuestro maestro Mark y a la estudiante María y aprende inglés con nuestras lecciones de 15 minutos. ¡Perfectas para tu Coffee Break!

Meet Tony, Coffee Break French learner

by

Keen cyclists, Tony and his wife, live on the west coast of Canada and over recent years have cycled a great deal in Canada, the UK and Ireland. They started learning French after planning a 3-week cycling trip to Normandy and have been listening to Coffee Break French on a regular basis ever since their French tutor introduced them to the podcasts. Tony tells us all about his language-learning journey with Coffee Break so far.

One of the first things Tony tells us is how much he and his wife have been enjoying developing their language skills with Coffee Break French: “They (the lessons) have been absolutely fantastic. I would listen to them while running and was able to get through four seasons … subsequently, we purchased Season 3, and plan to buy Season 4.”

Tony often listens to the lessons while running: “Mark became a virtual running buddy – though he never got tired or out of breath!” One of the main things Tony loves about Coffee Break French is the style of the lessons: “Mark is such a great teacher. Clearly he loves what he does, and this really comes across. He has a friendly, approachable style, and can put himself in the shoes of the learner, so he explains everything so well.” Tony also appreciates the fact that the lessons progress at a steady pace, enabling language skills to develop naturally: “The gentle progression from absolute basics through to some quite complicated material seems almost effortless. The methodology is excellent too, with different approaches being chosen for the different levels.”

Both Tony and his wife enjoyed the lessons so much that they decided to sign up for the premium version: “My wife and I found that the Coffee Break French series were an excellent complement to the lessons with the tutor. And really, the emphasis switched so that the tutor supported the CBF courses, rather than the other way around.”

Having returned from their trip to Normandy, Tony was pleased to inform us that their ability to speak and understand French made all the difference. Despite the fact that many people spoke English, there were instances where some knowledge of French came in useful. “There were lots of times when we had to depend on French. We found everyone, without exception, to be friendly and very patient with us.”

Reflecting on their trip, Tony now realises that he had always been wary of going to France due to the fact that he couldn’t speak the language. Thankfully, now, thanks to the confidence he has gained through language learning, he has been able to discover a beautiful part of France. Even though they made mistakes, they still managed to get their point across and even have a few laughs along the way! “In hindsight, I realise that I had had a fear of going to France in the past because I didn’t know the language. That fear disappeared pretty much as soon as we arrived, and we came to enjoy talking to people. Even though we were slow and made many mistakes, we could still have full conversations. And we had many laughs too, especially with people who spoke little or no English.”

Tony leaves us with some final thoughts on his experience with Coffee Break French so far:

“CBF transformed a subject I feared into something that’s fun, rewarding and useful. We’re really keen to continue learning.  In particular, I want to recognise Mark’s graciousness in providing so much material without charge. I realise, of course, that he hopes people will be led to purchase the premium courses, but even so, he’s done a selfless public service by producing so many free podcasts.”

CBSw 1.03 | Var kommer du ifrån? – Where do you come from?

by

In this episode of Coffee Break Swedish you’ll be learning how to talk about where you’re from. We’ll cover countries and nationalities, and you’ll be able to answer the question var kommer du ifrån? We’ll also hear from our Cultural Correspondent Emma who’ll tell us more about the Swedish language and where it’s spoken.

Introducing La Vérité éclate toujours – Coffee Break French Advanced

by

We’re getting to ready to launch our new advanced course for French learners. It’s called La Vérité éclate toujours and it’s an audio drama which we think you’re going to love. However, this podcast will not be available on the normal Coffee Break French feed. Instead you need to subscribe to a new feed specifically for this new show. If you’re using Apple Podcasts, click here. Alternatively, just search for “Coffee Break French” on your favourite podcast app and you’ll find the new feed for La Vérité éclate toujours there.

Meet the team: Monica

by
Hello! My name’s Monica and I’m Radio Lingua’s Content Production Assistant. I first started working with Radio Lingua when I was younger on a project called High Five French and, in the past two years, I’ve started working on producing content for a variety of new courses and projects.

What is your role in Coffee Break?

As a Content Production Assistant, my job is very varied and always interesting! Some tasks my job involves include: researching for and writing blog articles, creating graphics to either go with blog articles or be posted on social media, working through the editing process of making video courses, and even travelling to places such as France and Italy to help film footage for new courses.

What experience have you had speaking and learning other languages?

A lot of my experience learning languages has come from Radio Lingua! As I briefly mentioned before, I was part of the High Five French course about 7 years ago now. This really inspired me to keep learning French throughout school and gave me a greater appreciation for language learning in general. My more recent work has involved editing videos which are in other languages such as Italian, German, and Chinese – through this I’ve been able to pick up some words here and there! I am now at university and have taken Spanish as one of my classes as I’d really like to continue learning languages.

What are your favourite memories of working with Coffee Break?

I have lots of amazing memories with Coffee Break, but if I had to pick favourites they would probably be filming High Five French and CBF To Go in France, and filming CBI To Go in Italy – it’s always such a great experience getting to travel for work!

Monica working with Francesca while filming in Milan

Where would your ideal coffee break be and with whom?

Ooh that’s a difficult one, but I think my ideal coffee break would probably be on a sunny day in the beautiful Tuileries Garden in Paris!

Quick-fire round

• Favourite language: French
• Favourite word/phrase in French: “Bonjour et bienvenue à High Five French”
• Favourite French film:  Les Intouchables
• Favourite destination: Paris

“Le temps libre” – Talking about free time in French – Coffee Break French To Go Episode 10

by

What do you like doing in your free time? In this episode of Coffee Break French To Go, Pierre-Benoît asks the question, qu’est-ce que tu fais pendant ton temps libre ? (informal) or qu’est-ce que vous faites pendant votre temps libre ? (formal). You can use the answers of our interviewees to help you learn how to talk about what you do in your free time in French.

In the first part of the video, watch the interviews without subtitles and try to understand. In the second part of the video, we’ve provided subtitles in French at the top of the screen. You can choose to turn on subtitles in English using the Subtitles/CC button.

In this first series of Coffee Break French To Go, Pierre-Benoît is in the town of Pornic, in the west of France, and in each episode she’ll ask passers-by one question. Of course, that one question will result in many answers, and it’s through these answers that you can practise your French and build your vocabulary.

Coffee Break French To Go will be published every two weeks here on YouTube, and each Season will be filmed in a different part of the French-speaking world.

If you’d prefer not to wait for all 10 lessons of Season 1 to be published, you can access downloadable versions of the videos along with audio versions and lesson notes / transcripts in the Coffee Break Academy.

Coffee Break French To Go is based on the popular podcast series and online course Coffee Break French. For access to the free podcasts, please click here.

To purchase our full online courses on the Coffee Break Academy, click here.

Cosa fai nel tempo libero? – “What do you do in your free time? – Coffee Break Italian Episode 10

by

What do you like doing in your free time? In this episode of Coffee Break Italian To Go, Francesca asks the question, cosa fai nel tempo libero? (informal) or cosa fa nel tempo libero? (formal). You can use the answers of our interviewees to help you learn how to talk about what you do in your free time in Italian.

In the first part of the video, watch the interviews without subtitles and try to understand. In the second part of the video, we’ve provided subtitles in Italian at the top of the screen. You can choose to turn on subtitles in English using the Subtitles/CC button.

In this first series of Coffee Break Italian To Go, Francesca is in the town of Milan, in the north of Italy, and in each episode she’ll ask passers-by one question. Of course, that one question will result in many answers, and it’s through these answers that you can practise your Italian and build your vocabulary.

Coffee Break Italian To Go will be published every two weeks here on YouTube, and each Season will be filmed in a different part of the Italian-speaking world.

If you’d prefer not to wait for all 10 lessons of Season 1 to be published, you can access downloadable versions of the videos along with audio versions and lesson notes / transcripts in the Coffee Break Academy.

Coffee Break Italian To Go is based on the popular podcast series and online course Coffee Break Italian. For access to the free podcasts, please click here.

To purchase our full online courses on the Coffee Break Academy, click here.

Coffee Break Travels: in Piemonte with Francesca

by

In this Coffee Break Italian special, join Francesca and Mark as they travel to Francesca’s village of Pettinengo in the Piemonte hills. The video features segments in Italian and English, and we’ve provided subtitles in both Italian and English for you. You’ll meet Francesca’s family – and her dog – and get to know the village where she grew up, and the town of Biella where she attended secondary school. We hope you enjoy watching the video!

The Coffee Break Italian podcasts can be found here.

 

The Coffee Break Catch-Up – February 2020

by

Join Coffee Break founder and CEO Mark Pentleton for this month’s Coffee Break Catch-Up in which we update you on all things Coffee Break, from our latest podcast episodes and videos to what’s been happening on our social profiles. Coming up in this edition:

  • the latest episodes of our Coffee Break German and Spanish Magazines;
  • the first lessons of our Coffee Break Swedish course;
  • announcements about our forthcoming Coffee Break English for Spanish speakers and La Vérité Éclate Toujours, our advanced French course;
  • a sneak preview of our latest Italian video in which we join Francesca in her village in Piemonte;
  • cultural updates from around the world.

If you’d like to access all the links for this episode and practise your reading skills in the language you’re learning, click here to sign up for our weekly language and culture newsletter.

Logos_RLN_2012

Coffee Break Languages is a product of Radio Lingua Ltd.

Twitter Facebook-f Youtube Instagram Linkedin

Get Started

Languages

Our Sites

Help

© Radio Lingua Ltd 2008-2025 All rights reserved