https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Europe in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed Faced with a generation of young Spanish men who believe less and less in equality, the Spanish government has launched a campaign to try and reclaim what it means to 'have balls'. https://www.thelocal.com/20250905/spains-government-looks-to-reshape-what-it-means-to-have-balls Fri, 05 Sep 2025 12:06:56 +0200 spains-government-looks-to-reshape-what-it-means-to-have-balls The Spanish word with the most derivative meanings is apparently 'cojones', slang for testicles. Here are 22 hilarious examples reflecting how versatile it is in colloquial speech in Spain. https://www.thelocal.com/20241012/why-cojones-testicles-is-the-most-versatile-word-in-spanish Sat, 12 Oct 2024 18:48:27 +0200 why-cojones-testicles-is-the-most-versatile-word-in-spanish Spaniards rarely watch anything foreign in its original language, and the country's cultural obsession with dubbing almost every single non-Spanish language film and TV series has roots in history and business. https://www.thelocal.com/20230829/why-does-spain-dub-every-foreign-film-and-tv-series Tue, 29 Aug 2023 12:00:59 +0200 why-does-spain-dub-every-foreign-film-and-tv-series Spain is the EU country with the second lowest level of English proficiency in the EU, according to a 2023 study. We asked readers why, in their opinion, the country appears to be struggling to get better at 'inglés'. https://www.thelocal.com/20191120/why-are-spanish-so-bad-at-speaking-english-study-readers-views Wed, 20 Nov 2019 10:11:45 +0100 why-are-spanish-so-bad-at-speaking-english-study-readers-views How is it possible that there can be such a difference between two neighbouring countries so culturally similar, with related Romance languages and tourism-based economies? https://www.thelocal.com/20231102/why-do-portuguese-people-speak-much-better-english-than-spaniards Thu, 02 Nov 2023 12:00:14 +0100 why-do-portuguese-people-speak-much-better-english-than-spaniards The French have something of a reputation as complainers - but really they are very positive, if the number of phrases for something being 'good' is anything to go by. https://www.thelocal.com/20200215/bon-bon-why-everything-is-good-when-youre-speaking-french Sat, 15 Feb 2020 16:00:00 +0100 bon-bon-why-everything-is-good-when-youre-speaking-french There's something heroic about the way Danes and Swedes insist on trying to communicate with one another using their own languages, but more often than not end up nodding, smiling, and only pretending to understand. Why not give up and just speak English? https://www.thelocal.com/20210429/why-do-swedes-and-danes-insist-on-pretending-they-speak-the-same-language Thu, 29 Apr 2021 11:20:29 +0200 why-do-swedes-and-danes-insist-on-pretending-they-speak-the-same-language Sweden's forest language Elfdalian is at risk of dying out, and this week a politician took the question of its survival to parliament. https://www.thelocal.com/20210423/why-a-swedish-politician-is-demanding-the-right-to-speak-an-ancient-forest-language-in-parliament Fri, 23 Apr 2021 15:51:06 +0200 why-a-swedish-politician-is-demanding-the-right-to-speak-an-ancient-forest-language-in-parliament Sweden is not the only country where Swedish is spoken as a first language. Here are some words that are unique to the Swedish that's spoken in Finland. https://www.thelocal.com/20210409/kiva-7-finland-swedish-words-you-need-to-know Fri, 09 Apr 2021 10:43:44 +0200 kiva-7-finland-swedish-words-you-need-to-know Will the English language suffer a blow to its global dominance once Britain exits the EU? This article from The Conversation examines what the future holds for the language of Shakespeare after Brexit. https://www.thelocal.com/20190709/analysis-how-the-english-language-will-change-after-brexit Tue, 09 Jul 2019 16:43:28 +0200 analysis-how-the-english-language-will-change-after-brexit It's no secret that English speakers struggle to learn foreign languages but there are good reasons to explain their woes that can't just be put down to the fact that all young Europeans speak English. Linguistics expert Michelle Sheehan looks at five of them in this article from The Conversation. https://www.thelocal.com/20190703/five-reasons-english-speakers-struggle-to-learn-foreign-languages Wed, 03 Jul 2019 13:03:37 +0200 five-reasons-english-speakers-struggle-to-learn-foreign-languages