In this acerbic commentary, Staff Writer Chiara Lewis critiques British attitudes towards language learning based on her observations from her time in Paris.

Delving through Regiment of Women’s pages and Mädchen in Uniform’s scenes, Florence Thomas dissects the theme of desire through the lens of the maternal, the guise of female companionship, the beckoning lure of the illicit and the comforting embrace of the devotional.

In the first instalment of her column, European columnist Freya John explores the mystery of Euskera, the language of the Basque Country. From its linguistic background, to its sociopolitical significance, John offers an insightful overview of this minor language.

Go through enough Soundcloud rave mixes and you’ll likely come across a thick Slavic accent drooling stereotypical Russian buzzwords – “high track-speed, vodka no limit” – over a hard-bounce bassline. This is хардбас, or hardbass, a bizarre mutation in EDM’s already-contorted family tree that momentarily exploded the ears of Saint Petersburg’s perestroika-era youth at the end of the millennium only to slink into obscurity and, more recently, back out.

From regional language policy, écriture inclusive, to linguistic evolution and xenophobia, European staff writer Chiara Lewis offers an eloquent and probing critique of the famed Académie Française.

In this intriguing investigation, European Staff Writer Faith Martin probes the Estonian struggle with the Russian language. Her linguistic musings take us from a bar in Talinn, down the cobbled streets and towards the Russian border.

Staff Writer Isabelle Watts recounts life as an English-speaking au pair in France, and explores the wide-ranging effects of cross-Channel attitudes to bilingualism.

Lara Zand explores new political party Sumar’s potential to reinvigorate the country’s progressive politics

Motomami: A Brief Study on Rosalía’s Cultural Appreciation

In the second instalment of her column, Sofia Johanson comments on two films that deal with the near-impossible task of publicising what was going on in the concentration camps during the war.

In her thoughtful account, Michelle Schreiber describes the Leipzig book fair— from its unannounced backyard readings, to its awards, she covers it all, and does so both in German and in translation.

German editor Freya Swinburne takes us on a tour of the German memorial landscape as she traces forgotten pasts through Gunther Deming’s Stolpersteine.

Marcelina Palamar introduces us to the complicated work of Jan Matejko, one of Poland’s most famous artists, revealing that despite Matejko’s grand intentions, a failure to consider his spectator’s lack of contextual knowledge eventually betrays him.