Collocations for language

Verbs
learn speak study teach understand use a language I speak three languages. translate sth into (another) language Can you translate this letter into English for me?

CALD 3rd Ed.

Nouns
language acquisition development processing proficiency skills usage They are studying language development in small children. a language learner teacher school I enrolled in a language school. language barrier difficulties The language barrier did not hinder their romance.

Adjectives
abusive bad foul strong vulgar language The programme contained strong language. literary plain simple technical language I explained it to them in simple language. spoken written language He is writing a grammar of spoken language. a common a different another the same language These children share a common language. an international local official language I don't speak any of the local languages. be/become fluent in a language During her years in Brazil, she became fluent in Portuguese.

Types
a computer human natural programming language He can work in several programming languages. body sign language Her body language showed she was nervous. legal technical language The documents were all written in dense legal language. a European modern Romance language I studied modern languages. a/sb's first foreign native official second language English is her second language.

Prepositions
in a language They spoke in a language I did not recognise. the language of sth I'm interested in the language of medicine.

bad language body language dead language first language high-level language inflected language language laboratory lavender language natural language

second language sign language strong language target language tone language language lab = language laboratory your native language/tongue speak/talk the same language l

Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English, 2nd edition

language

noun

1 system of communication ADJECTIVE first, native She grew up in Mexico, so her first ~ is Spanish. foreign, second How many foreign ~s does she speak? the teaching of English as a second ~ original Most local cinemas show films in the original ~, with German subtitles. source, target ( both technical ) ancient, classical, dead Latin is a dead ~. Modern, common, shared, indigenous, local, official Belgium has two official ~s. national Portuguese is the national ~ of Brazil. dominant international, universal minority Some minority ~s are dying out. natural Computers will never be able to understand natural ~. strange, unknown manuscripts written in an unknown ~ computer , programming VERB + LANGUAGE speak know, understand use learn, study teach master LANGUAGE + NOUN acquisition, development, learning new methods of ~ learning course, lesson skill barrier PHRASES command of (a) ~, knowledge of (a) ~, mastery of (a) ~ Her command of ~ is very advanced for a six-year-old. 2 way of using language ADJECTIVE spoken, written She could speak some Chinese, but never studied the written ~. colloquial, everyday, informal formal expressive, flowery, literary, poetic figurative, symbolic everyday, plain , simple His strength is that he addresses his readers in plain ~. vague racist, sexist sign Not all deaf people use sign ~. body You could tell from his body ~ that he was very embarrassed. legal, technical biblical harsh She reserved her harshest ~ for those she believed had betrayed her. bad, colourful, crude, foul, obscene, offensive, strong, vulgar people using foul ~ VERB + LANGUAGE use be couched in, be expressed in mind, watch The referee told the players to mind their ~.
PREPOSITION PHRASES

in~ His letter was couched in very formal ~. use of ~ The writer's use of ~ reflects the personality of each character.

Languages excellent , fluent , good , perfect He speaks fluent Japanese. bad , broken , poor I got by with broken Chinese and sign language. colloquial , idiomatic , non - standard , pidgin , standard The inhabitants speak a kind of pidgin Spanish. spoken , written My spoken Polish is better than my written Polish. business She is doing a course in business English. original The fable is translated from the original French. know , read , speak , understand , use I am more comfortable using Spanish, if you don't mind. be fluent in She was fluent in German, Urdu and Swahili. do ( esp. BrE ) , learn , study I did German at school but I've forgotten most of it. I've been learning Arabic for four years. improve , practise/practice I spent a month in Rome to improve my Italian. master I never really mastered Latin. translate sth into He has translated her latest book into Korean. class , course , lesson I'm late for my Russian class. interpreter the need for Gujarati interpreters speaker, a speaker of the number of Portuguese speakers in the world a command of , a knowledge of He has a poor command of English. in What is apple in French? He addressed me in his best Portuguese.
Oxford University Press, 2009