Start a Love Affair with a Romance Language
14 February is St Valentine’s Day (also known as Saint Valentine's Day) and is a great time to start a language love affair with a Romance language in French, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese.
Valentine’s Day is celebrated all over the world when, traditionally in the West, people send 'Valentines' or love poems and cards, as an expression of their love and affection for each other.
The origins of this day can be traced to the Roman pagan festival of Lupercalia, in honour of the god of fertility. In the third century, it is thought that a Bishop Valentine was beheaded for carrying out marriage ceremonies in secret against the will of the Emperor of the time. St. Valentine became the patron saint for lovers. Even during Victorian times, and certainly since the 19th century, the day has grown into a massive commercial event with people giving roses, chocolates, teddy bears, jewellery and other special gifts to loved ones - in fact, anything to do with love hearts and cupids and quite frankly anything that is red and pink! Even, the days of anonymous love letters seem long gone.
Valentine’s celebrations are different across the world. In Wales, you can give your loved one a beautiful carved wooden love spoon. In Finland and Estonia, this day marks the day that you remember all your friends, more than just your loved ones. In Japan and South Korea for instance, women typically give hand-made chocolates to men.
Back to this particular language family, the destinations themselves certainly live up to their 'Romance' name. You can forget the winter blues because things really do start to heat up around this time of year!
The Val de Loire region in France is well known for its celebrations on Valentine’s Day, as well as Verona in Italy where a four-day festival is held - a very likely location with it being the city of Romeo & Juliet (it doesn’t get more romantic than that!). Or perhaps it does! It is without a doubt that Paris takes gold for the most popular city around this time of year, attracting thousands of lovers to enjoy the romantic sights, the walks, the restaurants and perhaps the less stereotypical ritual of attaching a padlock (or 'love-lock') to the Pont de Arts bridge.
Whether you’re heading somewhere romantic this Valentine’s Day or just looking to impress, learning a Romance language will certainly help you along the way and a certain je ne sais quoi to any romantic date. All Romance languages have Latin roots, so once you’re speaking one, it won’t take long for you to get the hang of the others. The grammar, vocabulary, syntax all share a lot of similarity and with the irresistible sounding accents and the cultural associations to go with it, it’s definitely a package deal! French in particular has been dubbed the 'language of love'. It is the accent best known for its passionate qualities and is the tongue that lends to many romantic expressions. Take the words 'amorous' or 'amour' for example, borrowed by English and originating from Old French. Other expressions may not translate word for word, but the seductive undertone is definitely there.
So if you’re looking to fall in love with a language, or indeed, use a language to fall in love, browse our language courses to help you get started!
If you want to celebrate St. Valentine's Day with a more unusual gift, then give the language of love or the love of languages! The gift will last all year long - well past 14 February! It would be very romantic to hear your loved one talking to you in French or Italian next Valentine's Day.
Get the language advantage! Get the language of love!