1 . Everyone “talks” with their hands at least sometimes. Some people’s hand-talking, or gesturing (手势) matches their messages well. Other people like to make gestures that can be confusing. And still others don’t use their hands much at all. No matter which group you are in, it’s important to pay attention to your hand gestures while you are communicating. And also remember hand gestures can have cultural meanings.

A few years ago, I was a speaker at a conference in Lisbon, Portugal. It was my first time in Portugal, and I became immediately fond of the special pastries (糕点) that Lisbon and Portugal are known for. One morning I went into a bakery and ordered two of the pastries. I did so by holding up two fingers, similar to the “victory” or “peace” gesture in the United States. The person behind the counter put three pastries in the box. I later learned that the gesture for two would raise thumb and index finger. Even though my thumb wasn’t showing, the person behind the counter thought I was signaling for three.

I was lucky that I didn’t get into more trouble than an extra pastry. Many hand gestures are not universal. Before speaking in a country that you are not familiar with, do some research to find out which gestures might be misunderstood, not understood at all or rude.

4 . Do you speak a dialect (方言) in daily life? While many Chinese people speak Mandarin, some local dialects are in danger of disappearing. To save them, the Chinese government started the Chinese Language Resources Protection Project a few years ago.

This project looks at how people talk in 1,712 places. Their languages include 103 dialects that are almost gone. It has helped China to build the largest language resource library in the world. There’s an online library where people can learn dialects from over 5.6 million audio clips (音频) and over 5 million videos.

Why is it important to protect the dialect culture? According to British linguist Harold Palmer, dialects are a key to store local cultures. Language faithfully shows the history, the beliefs and the biases (偏见) of an area, he said.

Scholar Zhang Hongming talked about his concerns of the disappearing of dialeets, “For about over 10 years, in the Wu dialect areas such as Shanghai and Suzhou, children aged 6 to 15 can understand but hardly speak the dialect. Meanwhile, young people above 15 years old sometimes speak it, but not very well. If this keeps happening, the dialect might disappear,” he said.

So how did China make this big library? “A big national effort has been put into the project to make it happen,” said Cao Zhiyun, chief expert on the project. Over five years, more than 350 universities and research groups joined in, along with over 4,500 experts and more than 6,000 dialect speakers.

The project is now entering into its second part. This includes creating digital tools like apps and mobile dictionaries to help people lean dialects.

7 . You can study the English language for years and still not understand a native speaker of English when you meet one. Many language leaners know that native speakers say a lot of things that you can’t find in a dictionary. Well, here’s a secret for you: A lot of British people can’t understand each other either!

Across the UK, a number of regions have different dialects—that is, they have their own unique vocabulary and grammatical phrases. There are many different accents in London, because it is not just where a person is born in the UK that decides their accent. Language and accents also vary across social class and level of education. Hence the recent rise of a new accent coined at the end of the 20th century—“Multicultural London English”.

Other factors are also important in the invention of new accents and ways of speaking. These include the influence of people from different ethnic backgrounds and different age groups, too.

“Yoof culture” is an example. The word “yoof” is a slang spelling of “youth”. Young people are creating their own language, concepts and identity. By using words that their parents don’t understand, children can talk about things that their parents might not approve of. For example, instead of saying something like “That’s good!” or “I understand”, yoof will use a single adjective like “Safe!”, or “Sorted!” Besides, Yoof would use “kind-a-thing,” or “sort-a-thing” to replace “if you understand what I’m saying”. In this way, they are starting to find freedom, independence and self-expression.

As learners of English, we may wonder how well we can talk to a native speaker, but perhaps we should worry less about this. Research commissioned by the British Council shows that 94 percent of the English spoken in the world today is spoken among non-native speakers of the language. In fact, when we think about “international English”, there is no such thing as a native or non-native speaker. The UK no longer owns the English language.

8 . As you probably know, learning a foreign language is sometimes challenging. But it can also be fun. Learning to speak a second language opens doors to new opportunities, helps you to communicate with others and makes travelling overseas more satisfactory.

It might come as a surprise that the number of teenagers learning foreign languages in UK secondary schools has dropped by 45% since the turn of the millennium. Another survey of secondary schools suggests a third of students have dropped at least one language from their GCSE exam options. There are some reasons for this, including many students’ opinion that languages are difficult. Others have questioned the need for a second language when translation technology is advancing.

Matthew Fell, chief UK policy director for business group the CBI, believes that “The decline in language learning in schools must be reversed, or else the UK will be less competitive globally and young people less prepared for the modern world.”

Some native English speakers have admitted the benefits of speaking another tongue. Cassandra Scott, from Edinburgh, studied three languages in her final year at school. She is now a freelance translator in Edinburgh, and says “Learning languages at school really set the course for my career.”

10 . When you go to the US, someone often says to you, “Give me five.” What should you do? Do not get five dollars from your pocket! It will make others laugh! The person is not asking for your money, but your fingers.

In the US, “give me five” or “give me the high five” is a popular gesture (手势). You can see it often in films or on TV. It means hitting each other’s right hands together.

People do it when they meet for the first time or something happy happens. For example, a student has good marks in exams. If a football team wins a game, the players will give high fives to everyone around to celebrate.

This gesture may come from the old Roman gesture of raising the right arm for the emperor (皇帝). This showed the person raising his arm did not have a sword (剑) in his hand.

Why not try to give the high five to your friends?