Another Friday, another TGIF selection… you know how it works now…

The results of the Top 100 Language Blogs 2009 competition are finally in. We are more than delighted to tell you that we have received almost 5000 unique votes, 500 comments and countless e-mails. For more information about the competition, you can read all about it in our how and why article. You can find [...]

The Top 100 Language Blogs 2009 competition is over and the results can be viewed on the bab.la Language Portal Anyone who took part in the competition is welcome to put this button on their website. The Top 20 overall, and Top 10 in each category, can get their own ‘special’ buttons further down on [...]

[English] Peu importe que nous apprécions cette coutume ou non, vivre en France impose la maitrise d’un sujet de conversation de haute importance…la météo ! Certes, ce n’est pas le sujet le plus intéressant mais soyons honnêtes, c’est une façon simple de briser la glace et de faire connaissance. En fait, nous parlons du temps [...]

In France, no matter whether you enjoy them or not, you will always be faced with what we call “weather talks”…

[English] En las vacaciones de verano los latinoamericanos tienen una variedad de destinos para elegir, playas paradisiacas, montañas con nieve, ciudades emblemáticas y selvas. Otros quizá no tan afortunados tienen que quedarse en casa y redescubrir los ‘joyas’ escondidas de sus propias regiones o simplemente se reunen con amigos, van de fiesta, al cine, a [...]

the definition of summer varies from country to country. For some countries summer is synonymous with January and for others with August.

Russia is a huge country. In theory, one can choose between millions of different ways to spend their free time. However there are few that seem to be extremely popular among people…

Chinese peoples’ favorite holiday destinations are well-known: the seaside or the mountains. Usually young people will get together in groups of three to five and visit the Gulangyu Xiamen area in Southeast China or experience such a miraculous and beautiful place like Yellow Mountain…

[English] 一般来讲，中国人假期最喜欢的旅游目的地是海边或者著名山岳，通常年轻人会约上三五好友自助去如厦门一带的鼓浪屿或去领略如黄山的奇秀美亦或是如桂林山水 的假天下。接下来是一些知名的有历史古迹的城市，如北京西安等，这些地点比较受以家庭为单位的团体青睐，通常父母带着孩子去到各个著名的景点，一边旅行度假一边给孩子讲解当地的历史，可谓一举两得；最近几年，冬夏两季打折期也会有很多人到香港购物，背着大包小包满载而归。 对中国人来说，境外旅行目的地的选择受距离因素的影响很大。多年来，东南亚和日韩长期占据着中国人境外游市场的大份额，曾经有段时间“新马泰”是人们提到境外游即刻想到的旅游地点。随着经济的发展，北美游和欧洲游路线的比例在逐年攀升，尤其是欧洲游在某些旺季甚至要提前很早预定。在中国人心中，欧洲很多城市如罗马，雅典等文化中心保留了诸多古老遗迹，很多小镇有着别样美丽的自然风光和纯朴民风，都是旅途中不可错过的必经之地。不过遗憾的是境外游大多以旅游团为单位，属于走马观花的类型，大多数游客虽然对欧洲, 美国心驰神往，却很少有机会在一个地方久留或者深入了解。 除了长期假日如春节，国庆等集中出游时间，大多中国人喜欢在周末约上三五好友到餐馆小聚，就像欧洲人喜欢在露天阳台吃烧烤或者喝咖啡一样，中国人对各种别具特色的街边餐馆也偏爱有加，边吃边聊是中国人社交一个很重要的特点，就像很多生意是在饭桌上谈成的一样，很多感情也是在餐桌边沟通的，朋友们相约一起或是聊着生活中的趣事,或是相互倾诉彼此的烦恼，亦或是回忆过去在一起的美好时光; 如果吃得不够尽兴，很多人还会在饭后一起到卡拉OK放松一把，不管唱得好不好，大多数人都愿意一展歌喉，毕竟假日就是用来休息的, 而和朋友在一起开心是最重要的。