7 gifts for language lovers

Do you know that moment mid-December when you realise you have zero gifts ready? Despite firm resolutions to start planning for the holidays earlier, it happens to me every year 🙈

Imagine the frenzy of pushing through crowds of other last-minute shoppers, navigating among overfilling carts, and fighting for the last scraps of packing paper. This mayhem is really not fun, and makes you question whether your friends and family are truly worth getting them any presents at all.

Trust me they are. There is nothing more pleasant than to see a smile brought by a carefully chosen gift, tailored to the person’s needs and interest. An effect like this is rarely achieved with a pair of discounted socks with reindeer.

You may have not realised you have a language fan among your loved ones. Give it a think… Does auntie Greta constantly read latg.org? Is your cousin’s Facebook riddled with posts about grammar? Is your friend using vocab apps at every work break? These may be the hidden language enthusiasts, whose hearts will sing once they unwrap a gift linked to their passion.

To make a gift choice easier I thought I’d compile a list of ideas for presents for language lovers.

You won’t find books here, because those are a pretty obvious bet, and you can pick some yourself. If you really think you have no one who would enjoy the below presents… feel free to send this post to your family and friends as a subtle suggestion of what to get for you 😜

1. Word magnets

A fun way to practice sentence building in foreign languages, as well as a tool to release your inner poet. These magnet sets are endless fun for word-lovers!

They could also easily become a part of your daily language learning routine. You could incorporate them to a morning learning habit, for example decide that each time you open the fridge you’ll compose a new sentence in Spanish 😁

2. Nerdy t-shirt

If your gift recipient has already completely embraced their love for the foreign tongues, they may want to indicate their belonging to the language tribe. The best way to do it is by wearing a nerdy t-shirt, like this one:

For more ideas, just search for “language t-shirts” or “polyglot t-shirts” on Amazon or Zazzle…

Now that I searched for them, I want these t-shirts myself! Does anyone wants to sponsor one for me? 😉

3. Box set

This is a good gift idea for pretty much anyone. If you are aiming to please a language lover the only caveat is that the show you pick has to be in the foreign language they are learning. This can require some investigatory work on your part.

The gift would be even better if you can find a series that also aligns with the interests of your gift’s recipient. This means no stories about drug dealers for your 12-year old niece, and no Bulgarian version of South Park for granddad. I mean… unless they do dig this sense of humour.

4. Language blocks

Ok, I know. The product description says they are meant to help bring up a bilingual baby. But, find me an adult Mandarin or Spanish beginner who would not enjoy playing with those!

If you need to buy a gift for toddler parents who you don’t like—even better. The little one will use the blocks to throw at their parents, and you can become a villain in your personal life-thriller ”The Revenge of a Language Freak”.

5. Sweet scrabble

A choice perfect for those language enthusiasts who also realise themselves in the kitchen. Behold here are molds for making chocolate letters which you can then use to… play Scrabble with? Hm, I think if it was me, all the chocolate letters would be gone before I even spelled my name.

If making your own chocolates is too complicated, there is also this cookie-cutting Scrabble set:

Why not get both and play a letter-matching game? Imagine the chocolate letters melting on hot cookies… an unworldly word-ly pleasure 😉

6. Poster

One tip: first make sure your recipients still have room on their walls. The language learner’s rooms tend to be plastered with conjugation tables and habit-reminding quotes.

This poster is a treat! A chart of 25 opening lines from famous works of fiction.

If the above is too nerdy or too literary, this one is more foreign language-y, illustrating the emigration of German words.

What on earth is oom pah pah music?!

7. An annual subscription to LinguaLift

This is a treasure among treasures.

An access to a full textbook for Japanese, Russian, and Hebrew full of interactive content, grammar and vocab drills, a wealth of cultural information, and of course cake videos 🍰

LinguaLift’s course structure removes the decision fatigue of what to study every day, and makes it effortless to fit language learning into even he busiest schedule. It’s an excellent way to get going with this New Year’s resolution to learn a language, right?

If you are interested in gifting someone with a yearly subscription, email us at [email protected] and we’ll make it happen!

So here we go. Christmas sorted, isn’t it? Do you have any other language related gifts ideas? Please share, I need to send my present list to Santa too! 😜