english language

The world-famous English satirical writer, author of the ‘Wilt’ series and the novel ‘Porterhouse Blue’, died in the Catalan coastal village of Llafranc, where he had been living since the early 1990s. The writer’s doctor and secretary unveiled that Sharpe had left an unfinished autobiography with 30,000 words already written. The British author died from complications of his diabetes while he was sleeping in his house during the early hours of Thursday. He passed away “in the most peaceful way”, his widow Nancy told the press. Nancy Sharpe thanked medical services for the attention received in the last few days and stated that the family will keep the Costa Brava house, which was so dear to the writer. She explained that her husband “fell in love with the sunlight and the Mediterranean sea” of the Costa Brava.

English Summer S.A. has been organising English language immersion camps for kids for 30 years. This summer, Jiajia Wang Liu is organising a new concept for the company: a Chinese language summer camp. Wang Liu is an entrepreneur who came from China when she was 8. She studied economics at the Pompeu Fabra University and at Harvard. Nowadays, she has her own publishing house and a lot of projects on the go.

The project, sponsored by three Catalan universities, focuses on the academic community but it can be used by everyone. The initiative is unprecedented in Europe, especially as regards self-learning systems.

With the aim of fostering vocational training in Catalonia, the Catalan Government approved a decree to modify it today. All students will have to learn foreign languages. Combining studies and a job will be easier. Programmes’ curriculum will be adapted to sector needs and student requirements.

‘The Selected Stories of Mercè Rodoreda’ is the book’s title. It is the second English translation of this Catalan author from the second half of the 20th century.