City of Westminster

Language resources

Do you want to learn a new language?

You can borrow a wide range of language courses in book, cassette and CD format in Westminster's community libraries. Telephone first to check whether the one you want is in stock, or search the catalogue and reserve online. You can also find Language websites using the Westminster Libraries Gateway to websites.

Do you want to read a book in another language?

Most Westminster lending libraries have collections of fiction in languages other than English. Here is a chart to show you which library has which languages. The last column shows which library in Westminster has the largest collection. Please note that this should not be understood to mean that the library specialises in a language, only that they have more stock than the others.

Language Libraries with stock Best library to visit
Arabic Church Street, Maida Vale, Paddington, Queen's Park, St John's Wood Paddington (collection includes magazines for loan and some newspapers)
Bengali Church Street, Maida Vale, Marylebone, Paddington, Pimlico, Queen's Park Church Street
Chinese Charing Cross, Church Street, Maida Vale, Marylebone, Paddington, Queen's Park, St James's, St John's Wood Charing Cross (this is a specialist collection including music cassettes, CDs and periodicals for loan - visit the Chinese Library home page for further details)
French Charing Cross, Maida Vale, Marylebone, Mayfair, Paddington, Pimlico, Queen's Park, St James's, Victoria Paddington
German Charing Cross, Maida Vale, Mayfair, Marylebone, Paddington, Pimlico, Queen's Park, St James's (very small amount), Victoria Paddington
Hindi Marylebone (small amount) Marylebone
Italian Charing Cross, Maida Vale, Marylebone, Mayfair, Paddington, Pimlico, Queen's Park, St James's (very small amount), Victoria Paddington
Japanese St John's Wood St John's Wood
Polish Marylebone, Paddington and Victoria Any of these three
Portuguese Paddington (small amount), Victoria (small amount) Paddington
Russian Paddington, Marylebone Paddington
Spanish Charing Cross, Maida Vale, Marylebone, Mayfair, Paddington, Pimlico, Queen's Park, St James's, Victoria Paddington
Urdu Paddington, Queen's Park Queen's Park

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