Languages

Language learning is something your students can relate to directly, so this topic tends to generate authentic conversation. Questions cover everything from learning strategies to cultural connections with different languages.

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Beginner (A1-A2)

1. How many languages can you speak? How did you learn them?
2. Does one of your family members or friends speak a lot of languages? How did they learn them?
3. How many languages can you say “hello” in? Can you say some of them?
4. What are some words from other languages that people use in your country? (For example: pizza, karate, café)
5. Do you watch any TV shows or movies in another language? What do you watch?
6. What’s a word in English that’s hard to say? Can you say it now?
7. Do you know any words in sign language? What can you say?
8. What language do you dream in? Is it always the same language?
9. How many languages can you count to ten in?
10. Do you ever listen to songs in a language you don’t understand? What do you like about them?
11. What language do you think looks the most beautiful when it is written down? Why?
12. What is your favorite English word? What do you like about it?

Elementary (A2)

1. What is the angriest sounding language? Why does it sound that way to you?
2. What do you think the oldest language is? Why do you think so?
3. What is the most romantic sounding language? What makes it sound that way?
4. What is the funniest mistake you have made in another language?
5. What language do you use when you count in your head? Why that one?
6. Have you ever tried to learn a language with an app? How did it go?
7. What language would you most like to learn next? Why?
8. What is the first thing you learned to say in English? Do you remember how you learned it?
9. Do you ever mix two languages when you talk? When does it happen?
10. What is the hardest thing about learning English? Why is it so difficult?
11. Have you ever tried learning a language but stopped? Tell me about it.
12. Have you ever had trouble communicating because of a language barrier? What happened?
13. What is a slang word or phrase in your language that you think is funny? Why is it funny?
14. Do you think your accent sounds different when you speak English? How?
15. What is the most useful phrase you know in another language besides English? When do you use it?
16. Have you ever tried to read a book in English? What was it, and was it difficult?
17. What is the most creative way you have found to practice a language? Did it actually help?

Intermediate (B1)

1. Which languages are the most difficult to learn? Why do you think so?
2. Which languages are the easiest to learn? Why do you think so?
3. Esperanto is a language that was invented to help people from different countries communicate. Do you think an invented language like this could work? Why or why not?
4. Should languages be preserved? Why or why not? What is the best way to preserve languages?
5. What languages do you hear the most in your city or town? Why do you think that is?
6. What do you find easier to learn in a new language: speaking or writing? Why?
7. If you could wake up tomorrow speaking any language perfectly, which one would you choose and what would you do with it?
8. What do you think makes someone ‘fluent’ in a language? Is it about speaking perfectly or being understood?
9. How does knowing more than one language change the way you think?
10. What do you think is the best age to start learning a second language? What makes that age ideal?
11. Some people say you can never truly understand a culture unless you speak the language. Do you agree? Why or why not?
12. If you could choose one language for the whole world to speak, would you do it? Why or why not?
13. Do you think AI translators will make learning languages unnecessary in the future? Why or why not?

Upper Intermediate (B2)

1. Do you think learning a language online is as good as learning in a classroom? What are the downsides of each?
2. Is it important for immigrants to learn the language of their new country, or should the country provide more translation services? What do you think is fair?
3. When a movie or TV show is dubbed into another language, something is always lost. What gets lost in translation, and does it matter?
4. How has social media created new slang and changed the way young people use language? Is this a problem or a natural evolution?
5. English is often called the global language of business and science. What are the benefits and drawbacks of having one dominant world language?
6. How has the internet changed which languages are growing and which are disappearing? What do you think about those changes?
7. How do dialects and regional accents affect the way people are perceived in society? How often have you noticed this?
8. What are the social and economic benefits of a country having multiple official languages? What are the challenges?
9. When people move to a new country, how does language ability affect their economic opportunities and social integration?
10. What are the advantages and disadvantages of growing up speaking two languages at home?
11. What role does language play in preserving cultural traditions? Give examples from your own culture or others you know about.
12. When someone moves to a new country and their children grow up speaking the local language, the family’s original language often disappears within two or three generations. What do you think drives this, and is it avoidable?
13. Children who grow up speaking a minority language at home and the majority language at school sometimes feel caught between two worlds. How does this experience shape who they become, and what can families and schools do to make it easier?
14. When a language dies, what is actually lost beyond just words? How does this affect the communities who spoke it?

Advanced (C1)

1. Many people switch between languages depending on who they are talking to or the situation. What does this code-switching reveal about how people see themselves in different social settings?
2. People who speak multiple languages often say they feel like a slightly different person in each language. Why might switching languages change someone’s personality, and what does that say about the relationship between language and identity?
3. People often say that certain ideas or emotions can only be expressed in certain languages. If that is true, what does it mean for people who only speak one language? What might they be missing?
4. English dominates the internet, business, and science, which gives native English speakers an advantage. At the same time, it means that ideas and research from non-English-speaking countries often get ignored. How does this language imbalance shape what the world pays attention to?
5. In many countries, speaking English with a native-like accent is seen as more professional or educated, even when the person’s English is already excellent. How does this accent bias affect people’s careers and self-confidence, and what would need to change to fix it?
6. How do standardized language exams and proficiency tests both measure ability and reinforce particular cultural and class biases?
7. Many governments promote a single national language to build unity, but this often means minority languages die out. When is protecting a national language worth the cost of losing smaller ones, and when is it not?
8. Companies often require employees to use one common language at work, even in countries where people speak many different languages. How does this affect the people who have to work in a language that is not their own, and what gets lost when a workplace only allows one language?
9. When tourists visit a country and only speak English, locals often switch to English to help them. What does this do to the local language over time, and how does it change the relationship between tourists and the communities they visit?
10. Parents who move to a new country sometimes stop speaking their native language at home so their children will fit in better. What are these families giving up by making that choice, and what might they gain?
11. In many places, speaking a local dialect is seen as uneducated, and people are expected to use the ‘standard’ version of their language in professional settings. Who decides what counts as ‘proper’ language, and what happens to people who grow up speaking a dialect when they enter the workforce?