Chartered Institute
of Linguists
NEWS & VOICES
John Worne CIOL CEO writes:
A new report from the Higher Education Policy Institute, ‘A Languages Crisis: Arresting decline’ by Megan Bowler (HEPI Report 192) and sponsored by Duolingo, shows a big drop in formal language learning in the UK.
Key Stats
The report sets out the current state of language learning in UK’s schools and universities...
When in Rome...
Why phrases tell us as much about our shared human experiences as they do about our differences. By Antonio Muñoz Barragán
Idioms, proverbs and other phrases
Phraseology, which includes idioms, proverbs and other types of set phrases, is known to pose a challenge to translators due to the specific properties these structures convey. But...
By Tom Crook, CIOL Qualifications Client Services Officer.
The Chartered Institute of Linguists is a not-for-profit organisation and has always had a public purpose to enhance the recognition and promote the value of languages and language skills in the public interest, and we work to do so by encouraging the effective study and practice of languages.
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Ross McCalden receiving his award from CIOL Royal Patron HRH Prince Michael of Kent
Congratulations to Ross McCalden, 2025 winner of the Best Candidate Award for CIOL's Master's level qualification, the Diploma in Translation - the long-established translation qualification, which sets the ‘gold standard’ for professional translators worldwide.
The DipTrans...
We have received further reports from several members, who have been contacted by various email addresses claiming to offer "member lists" or "registrant data" from CIOL's Find a Linguist Directory, and now "Registrants/Attendees list from CIOL Conference Season 2025" for sale.
Thank you to those members for bringing this incident to our attention. We...
Lt Col John Cross (rtd) lives in Nepal and is in his fifth decade of CIOL membership.
He speaks a great many languages – including some very rare ones as you will read below – and has had several books published drawing from his 99 year life with languages, published by Pen & Sword Books https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/J-P-Cross/a/870.
In a significant...
Plague in the house of Sir Jordan Fitz-Eisulf Part 3, Stained glass window Photo © Julian P Guffogg
Dr Eyhab Bader Eddin brings to life the fascinating story of how the English language rose to power from the ashes of the Black Death
From calamity to catalyst
In the centuries following the Norman Conquest of 1066, the English language...
Could linguists become influencers like people in other fields? Jonathan Downie tries to widen his social media reach
While YouTube has made stars of engineers, scientists, artists, food experts, and even people who video themselves unboxing things, language professionals have not done so well. Sure, there are channels on language learning, some on linguistics...
By Dom Hebblethwaite
CIOL roundtable on freelance careers in a changing professionThe Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) recently hosted an online roundtable addressing key questions about freelance careers in the language services industry. The event drew significant interest with over 850 registrations and 367 live attendees, reflecting the importance and widespread...
We all have daily habits so natural that they slip under our radar. Breathing, eating, sleeping — these are the first three essentials we rarely think about. But there’s a fourth, just as vital, that often goes unnoticed: language. The words we speak, the stories we tell, the way we make sense of the world — language is the silent engine driving much of what we do....