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.

We’ve recently added a new format to this list – online, or e-learning, courses. Your library membership gives you access to ten new language courses for a small charge, wherever you have a computer and an internet connection, Register for a Learning Nexus course, and learn at your own pace and in your own time. 

You can also find Language websites using the Westminster Libraries Gateway to websites, including Oxford Language Dictionaries Online, which translates between a number of different languages but specialises in translating beween Spanish, English, French, German and Italian. This resource is available in all libraries and from home (with your library membership card). Favourite feature: you can listen to how a word is pronounced in all the main languages!

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.

LanguageLibraries with stockBest 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 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, Victoria

Paddington

German Charing Cross, Maida Vale, Mayfair, MarylebonePimlico, Queen's Park, Victoria Any of these.
Hindi Marylebone (small amount) Marylebone
Italian Charing Cross, Maida Vale, Marylebone, Mayfair, Paddington, Pimlico, Queen's Park, Victoria Paddington
Japanese St John's Wood St John's Wood
Polish Marylebone, Paddington and Victoria Any of these three
Portuguese Victoria (small amount) Victoria
Russian Paddington, Marylebone Paddington
Slovak Victoria (small amount)  
Spanish Charing Cross, Maida Vale, Marylebone, Mayfair, Paddington, Pimlico, Queen's Park, Victoria Paddington
Urdu Queen's Park Queen's Park

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