Latest Information

SNEL no longer offers pre-programmed classes. Its teaching is now wholly demand-responsive, providing private tuition and tuition in small groups as required.

If you want to find out more or to enrol contact Stuart Poole: 0131 664 9053 or stuart@snel.co.uk.

Welcome to SNEL, the School of Northern European Languages in Edinburgh. If you would like to learn or develop further a Germanic language, if you too are fascinated by the Germanic languages, you’ve come to the right place.

What can SNEL offer you?
SNEL can give you an introduction to a language in an hour and a half or teach you a language from scratch up to a level where you could take part in a discussion or read a book. If you have a knowledge of German SNEL can help you convert it into, say, Dutch or Swedish. If you have only recently arrived in Scotland it can give you an introduction to Scots - perhaps in the picturesque fishing village of Pittenweem. It can introduce you to earlier forms of English or fascinate you with the origins of words. If you think that what SNEL has to offer might appeal to a friend or relative you can treat him or her to a SNEL gift voucher – the perfect gift for the person who has everything except the ability to speak Swedish!

The programme can be offered as classes, as in-house sessions or as private tuition. SNEL can talk to a club or society, perhaps even treat you to an after-dinner speech.

SNEL offers high academic standards but strives where possible to give you glimpses of the fascination of the Germanic languages. To help you to benefit from its high standards it can offer support sessions in such areas as grammar and phonetics. It aims to give you much more than the ability to repeat sentences; it aims to give you a fundamental understanding of how a language works. If you are a committed student we can make great progress together.

To see the programme that SNEL has to offer and to see some samples click here: PROGRAMME.

For a brief introduction to the man behind SNEL click here: STUART C. POOLE.

If you want to join us or find out more click here: ENQUIRIES, COSTS or EXPRESSION OF INTEREST. Or ring 0131-664 9053.

If you have found our homepage intriguing, imagine how much our programme has to offer. I hope to see you soon.

Stuart C. Poole
MA, MPhil, FCIL

Deutsch
German calls one’s belongings one’s ‘seven things’.

Nederlands
The Dutch word for a hammock is hangmat, a form that appeared to make more sense.

frysk
The Frisian word utfanhûzer – an ‘out-of-houser’ – denotes a guest or visitor.

English
In Old English the art of medicine was ‘leechcraft’

Scots
Scots refer to the little finger as a pinkie, a word taken from Dutch / Frisian pink.

íslenska
In Icelandic an arm is a ‘hand leg’

norsk
Norwegian has two forms; the word for autumn is either høst or haust, words related to the English word for the characteristic activity of that season: harvest.

svenska
In Swedish the word vrist denotes the joint between foot and leg.

dansk
In Danish a dimple is a ‘smile hole’

Click here to view this flyer