Learn a language? It’s worth having a go to keep the old cortex toned

Lockdown was a time to try something new. Like many others, Christine Manby decided to try to learn a language, and now she’s ready to go and practise it – if she ever gets the chance

(Illustration by Tom Ford)

How did you spend your spare time this spring? If you only saw Instagram, you would be forgiven for thinking that spring 2020 was all about perfecting sourdough bread, doing handstands and making face masks from the shirts you used to wear to the office. Remember the office? But a huge amount of us turned to a pastime that doesn’t lend itself to Insta. Lockdown saw a huge growth in the number of people learning a new language, with some apps and online courses reporting an increase in sales of up to 200 per cent.

I was among those people. At the beginning of lockdown, I used a free audiobook credit that came with my phone contract to download Learn Italian with Paul Noble. Three months later, Non parlo fluentemente Italiano but I have a better idea of when my Italian friends are insulting me.

Like many graduates of the British education system, I left school thinking I would never speak another language well. School French lessons were nerve-wracking experiences. There were no points for trying but abject humiliation in front of the class for getting something wrong. Simultaneously, there was humiliation from the rest of the class if you tried too hard to get something right by, for example, saying a French word with anything other than a strong Gloucester accent.