Language connects us! We are here to help you! The Academic Language Centre (ATC) is the language centre of Leiden University. As the oldest university language centre in the Netherlands, we offer language courses in a wide range of languages, both for beginners and advanced students. All courses are…

From the smallest level of interaction among families and close friends, over the meso-level of schools, shops, churches, religious communities and companies, to the highest level of nation-states and international organisations: Language Policy and Planning (LPP) is everywhere!

Like any language, the natural sign languages of deaf communities differ from each other in their grammars and lexicons. A growing number of studies indicates that sign languages make use of the gestures of hearing speakers to build linguistic structure. This implies that variation and similarities…

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers Russian language courses at various levels and tailor-made Russian language courses. The courses are practical in nature: focusing on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers Arabic language courses at many different levels, an intensive summer course and customised Arabic language training. The courses are practical in nature: focusing on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers Italian language courses at many different levels and tailor-made Italian language courses. The courses are practical in nature: focusing on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers Arabic language courses at various levels, an intensive summer course and tailor-made Japanese language training. The courses are practical in nature: focusing on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers Chinese language courses at three different levels and tailor-made Chinese language courses. The courses are practical in nature: focusing on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

The Academic Language Center Leiden offers Korean language courses at various levels and customized Korean language training. The courses are practical in nature: focused on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers Swedish language courses at different levels and tailor-made Swedish language courses. The courses are practical in nature: focusing on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers French language courses at eight different levels, an intensive summer course and customised French language training. The courses are practical in nature: focusing on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers Spanish language courses at ten different levels, an intensive summer course and tailor-made Spanish language training. The courses are practical in nature: focusing on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers German language courses at two different levels and customised German language courses. The courses are practical in nature: focusing on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

Languages of The Hague is a collection of columns on languages and language which were published between 2016 and 2018 in the weekly newspaper Den Haag Centraal.

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers Persian language courses at different levels. The courses are practical in nature: focusing on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers one Portuguese language course. The course is practical in nature: focusing on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

The language learning resource centre unites all language teaching professionals working at Leiden University: teachers and researchers at the LUCL, ATC, LUCAS, LIAS, and ICLON.

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers various Dutch language courses, ranging from online courses, intensive and non-intensive classroom courses of several weeks, and custom-made language trainings. More information can be found here >

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers English language courses at different levels, intensive summer courses, tailor-made language training and various courses such as academic English, legal English, and financial English. More information can be found here >

On the 4th of June, Andreas Joswig successfully defended his doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Andreas on this great result.

Research combining a conceptual and practical perspective within the field of teaching and learning second languages.

Languages spoken around the world differ vastly from  the more familiar Indo-European languages. The courses in this theme aim to introduce you to the immense linguistic diversity still found in the world today. 

This thesis presents a thorough survey of the central aspects of the phonology of Shaoxing Chinese from a synchronic perspective and on the basis of recent theoretical phonological developments, with the secondary goal of casting some light on current issues in Modern Chinese (Mandarin).

What is effective viewing behavior for foreign language learners and how can teachers effectively train language learners to apply effective viewing strategies that will maximize their learning when viewing subtitled materials?

Collaborative linguistic research on indigenous languages of Ecuador: description, documentation & materials

The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo offers Dutch language courses for Egyptian adults on a regular basis. These courses aim to provide students with language skills in Dutch, which they can use in everyday life. Therefore you will spend most of your time practicing the language in order to…

A synchronic description of the endangered Slovene dialect spoken in the Gailtal valley in Carinthia, Austria.

This research examines the social, political, and cultural forces that structure people’s responses towards accented speech, and further uses the accent as a focal point to theorize the interrelation between language and body.

Man is nature's mind-reading champion: we are better able than any other living beings to empathise with others. This comes in part from our story-telling culture, according to Max van Duijn. PhD defence 20 April.

This thesis describes the use of the evolutionary approach in the study of language change, aiming to provide a better insight in the mechanisms that play a role in language change and to validate this approach in the field of language change.

What can languages spoken in the Lesser Sunda Islands today tell us about the histories of its various population groups?

Lecture

Publishing about your research is a key aspect of your career as a researcher; the majority of research publications are written in English. When applying for research funding, too, it is very important to ensure that your application is written in clear, accessible English. Maria Sherwood-Smith, Academic…

The form and content of the course are determined by your answers on the intake form and, if necessary, an intake interview.

Tonal bilinguals of two closely related Chinese dialects are amazing people. They handle two tonal systems in their mind; their two vocabularies are from closely related dialects, and they write translation equivalents with common Chinese characters. Their unique language situation makes their mind…

This thesis presents a detailed description of the phonology, the tone system and the grammar of Liko, a Bantu language spoken by about 70,000 people in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It provides numerous examples.

This dissertation aims to explore how university students use mobile technology for their self-directed language learning and investigate factors influencing their self-directed learning with mobile technology.

At LUCL, researchers have established the Leiden Hands!Lab for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies.

In this research, for the first time a detailed description as well as systematic and comparative analysis of the final particle system in Chinese are provided.

Interested in our GTGC programme? Read more here in other languages.

This study presents a full descriptive account of the grammar of Mualang, covering the major features of phonology and morphosyntax as well as issues related to pragmatics.