Self-directed learning is more suitable for intermediate and advanced language learners than for beginners.

culture week fgga. from 25 to 29 May we will pay extra attention to culture. A different theme is central every day.

In this dissertation, a corpus of 595 seventeenth-century letters (mainly private ones) written between 1664 and 1672 is examined from a sociolinguistic perspective.

Een orang-oetan lacht niet gauw hard om een video waarin een soortgenoot dat ook doet. Een peuter doet het meer dan een volwassene, een Japanner weer iets minder. Chris Riddell leerde uit zijn vele experimenten ook dat geduld loont. Hij promoveert 16 september.

For decades, scholars have wondered about the development and dissemination of languages around the world. What are the odds that peoples living thousands of miles apart speak varieties of Indo-European languages that are closely related? This riddle has now partly been solved thanks to an international…

From films, video games and historical novels to Nordic folk bands, Old English from the early Middle Ages is experiencing a revival in the 21st century. Together with international colleagues, university lecturer Thijs Porck (LUCAS) made a book about the 'resurrection' of this dead language.

It is one of the most talked-about subjects right now: how do we eradicate sexual harassment and violence? Alumnus Femke Eisma is the spokesperson for Mariëtte Hamer, the government commissioner tasked with tackling this persistent social problem. Eisma studied the Dutch language at Leiden. How is her…

Anneke Wurth, PhD candidate at ICLON, wanted to gain insight into what works well in oral language education in the school subject of Dutch in the upper years of havo and vwo. The role of feedback became central to her research.

Now available on YouTube!

Maarten Mous, Professor of African Linguistics at Leiden University, looks back on the 50th edition of the Colloquium of African Languages and Linguistics (CALL) and explains why this birthday was a celebration like no other.

The Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC) is concentrating increasingly on research into the role of the brain in language development. The institute has now set up the LIBC Language website that brings together all the information on this research.

Linguist Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade retired in July, but is pressing on regardless with her languages in The Hague project. An online tour of her Hague Proverbs launched recently and Tieken also has academic publications in the pipeline.

On Saturday 13 May, the 11th edition of the International Cultural Festival took place. This festival brings together international students, Dutch students and inhabitants of Leiden for a trip around the world in one day.

Do you want to discover a language and culture that is completely different from the Netherlands? In the Bachelor's programme Middle Eastern Studies you will study the connections between the different cultures in the Middle-East in the past and present. You will be able to choose from the languages…

Studying linguistics at the Leiden University Centre of Linguistics (LUCL) is a challenging but rewarding experience. There are few places in the world where such a broad range of languages are studied from so many different perspectives.

LIAS is comprised of three research schools with expertise in different areas:

Do you have a question about studying at Leiden University or student life in Leiden? Do you want more information about the Asian Studies master's programme? Chat with a current student for answers to your questions!

Are you thinking about studying the 2-year Asian Studies programme? Learn more and watch this short programme presentation!

PhD candidate Sulakhana de Mel discusses the link between geography, trade and food in Sri Lankan newspaper The Examiner.

Maarten Mous, Professor of African Linguistics at Leiden University, looks back on the 50th edition of the Colloquium of African Languages and Linguistics (CALL) and explains why this birthday was a celebration like no other.

A large interdisciplinary NWO research project attempted to discover the cognitive origin of the human ability to learn linguistic rules. This is not so simple, according to linguist Andreea Geambaşu and her colleagues. PhD defence on 11 December.

Lecturer and PhD candidate Aholi So is one of the KNAW’s new Faces of Science. By offering a glimpse into his life as a young scientist, he hopes to inspire young people and encourage their enthusiasm for science.

De Regenboog primary school in The Hague has a high percentage of children whose first language is not Dutch. In the ‘Children of the City’ project, Education and Child Studies students help primary school children practise their Dutch.

Conference, Book launch and Roundtable

On 5 October, Katherine Filesia defended the thesis 'Speaking the same language: the introduction of the Anglo-American trust into the Dutch legal system'. The doctoral research was supervised by Pim Huijgen and Frans Sonneveldt.

How might viola and string quartet playing in the performer-centered, moment-to-moment and communicative style heard on early recordings be brought about today?

How would you convert Egyptian hieroglyphs into Latin script? And what is actually the correct translation of dishes on a Vietnamese menu? On Saturday 28 January, high school students from all over the Netherlands will come to Leiden to ponder a series of language-related puzzles. Their goal? To win…

The number of books by U.S. authors released in China has drastically decreased in recent years. Assistant professor Svetlana Kharchenkova wrote an article about this for the Diplomat.

Professor emeritus Frank Pieke speaks on BBC and BBC Vietnamese about Xi Jinpings ongoing fight against corruption within the Communist Party.

Hecho en California highlights associate professor Willemijn Waal’s research on the history of the Greek alphabet.

Get the most out of your studies at Leiden University by taking part in our extracurricular activities.

The Universities of Leiden and Tokyo jointly established a chair named after Professor Hisashi Owada in 2021.

This subproject of 'From Homo Economicus to Political Animal' analyzes Greek economic thinking in late 5th- and 4th-century philosophical circles.

Teachers viewed multicultural classes with VR glasses and discussed that for the study 'Culturally responsive teaching in multicultural classes'.

The climate crisis, the return of TB and the digitisation of cultural heritage. The Netherlands and Indonesia face many of the same challenges. A visit by a delegation from Leiden University to Indonesia at the end of June highlighted the benefits of cooperation.

Leonard Blussé, Professor Emeritus of History of European-Asian Relations, was awarded the 13th Fukuoka Prize in Japan on 10 September.

Leiden has an international reputation as a stronghold of knowledge about cultures worldwide. Under the umbrella name of LeidenGlobal, Leiden University, the National Museum of Antiquities, the Natioial Museum of Ethnology and five research institutes are working together to disseminate this knowledge…