language

Iran accuses the French language centre of conducting ‘illegal acts that violated diplomatic conventions’.

France will summon Iran’s ambassador and take “appropriate measures” after Iranian authorities closed a French-language centre linked to its embassy in Tehran, according to the French Foreign Ministry.

“This new attack against France’s cultural presence in Iran, following the assault on two staff members of the French embassy last July, is unjustifiable and unacceptable,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said in a statement on Sunday.

Iran announced on Sunday the closure of the centre it accused of conducting “illegal acts that violated diplomatic conventions”.

“Based on the Tehran prosecutor’s office, the illegal centre affiliated with the French embassy in Tehran, which has operated for years under the guise of language instruction, was closed,” the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news website said, referring to the French Language Centre (CLF).

It said the centre “abused its status as a language training facility” and sought to “identify and build networks among the country’s elite figures while facilitating their departure”.

The French Foreign Ministry said it would “take appropriate measures to respond” and would summon Iran’s ambassador in Paris at the request of French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.

Relations between Tehran and Paris have been strained in recent months.

In August, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said it detained two French diplomats over alleged foreign interference during a national security investigation before handing them over to the French ambassador.

Evelina Fernández’s “Antigone: In the Language of Kings” receives a theatrically entrancing staging at the Getty Villa’s Outdoor Theater in a production co-produced with Latino Theater Company.

The adaptation resets Sophocles’ tragedy to Aztec culture in a transposition that is both visually and musically enlivening. If the drama is oversimplified, it nonetheless makes for a gripping spectacle.

It’s not easy to find analogies that can reanimate the importance of burial rites to a modern audience. The production’s creative team, led by the inexhaustibly inventive director José Luis Valenzuela, returns us to a world where the dead are owed sacred duties and the living are fearful to renege on this basic human responsibility.

The incense-filled production — conducted in English, Spanish and Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs), with English and Spanish supertitles — proceeds like a pageant. Headdress-clad warriors clash on the battlefield. A masked chorus, moving with the coordination of a Broadway musical ensemble, gives voice to the anxiety and grief of the collective. A statuesque figure of death, trailing black fabric, sweeps up the casualties of war with the efficiency of a human vacuum.

In Sophocles, Antigone, Oedipus’ headstrong daughter, defies the edict issued by her uncle Creon, the newly deputized king, declaring that her slain brother Polynices is an enemy of the state and therefore ineligible for burial. For Antigone this is an imposition of political power over divine law, and she puts her life on the line to uphold her obligation to her family and faith.

The ensemble of “Antigone: In the Language of Kings” at the Getty Villa Museum Outdoor Classical Theater.

(Cassia Davis / © 2026 J. Paul Getty Trust)

The German philosopher Hegel considered Sophocles’ “Antigone” the high-water mark of tragedy for the way it dramatizes the collision between two equally justified moral positions. Creon, representing the claims of the polis over the clan, cannot be dismissed outright. Nor can Antigone, whose all-consuming identification with her cause renders her indifferent to other obligations, be adopted as a user-friendly hero.

Tragedy arises from the one-sidedness of their claims. Antigone loses her life and Creon, for all intents and purposes, destroys his own, suffering the deaths of his most cherished loved ones.

Hegel’s reading of “Antigone” illustrates his thesis-antithesis-synthesis view of dialectical progress. Sophocles, it can be surmised from the other plays in his Oedipus cycle, likely conceived “Antigone” with a larger metaphysical design. But even if Hegel’s interpretation would have seemed off the mark to him, Antigone and Creon are too complex to reduce to a schematic argument.

Fernández simplifies these antagonists. Her Antíkona (a formidable Esperanza América) reveals her softer side even when rejecting her sister, Ixmene (Alexis B. Santiago), for not having the courage to zealously join her fight.

Tlahtoani Klion (Cástulo Guerra), Emperor of Tenochtitlan, is a ruler so intoxicated with his own authority that he’s clearly courting rebuke from the gods. It’s only a matter of time before his hubris is slapped down.

The acting is theatrically robust, though not always subtle. I wondered if ambiguity had been outlawed along with the funeral rites of Antíkona’s warrior brother Polynices. The bold clarity of the performances was energizing, but the wailing sometimes sounded like parody grief.

The outsize nature of the production invites overacting. And Ric Salinas, who plays Chachalacani, humorously obliges, bringing his Culture Clash vaudeville skills to the role of the sentry who’s caught between the rock of Klion’s tyranny and his fellow feeling for Antíkona’s sympathetic cause.

Strong performances are elicited from José Eduardo Moreno, who plays Klion’s son Hemon, Antíkona’s fiancé, and Zilah Mendoza, who plays Cihuatlahtoani Euridice, Klion’s wife. Their portrayals, mixing ferocious strength with stark vulnerability, make the tragedy’s pileup of bodies at the end all the more piercing.

The ensemble of “Antigone: In the Language of Kings” at the Getty Villa Museum Outdoor Classical Theater.

(Cassia Davis / © 2026 J. Paul Getty Trust)

América’s Antíkona is as unyielding as any Antigone I’ve seen. It’s a commanding portrayal, but I wish the production didn’t shrink from its protagonist’s fierceness. The obdurate side of the character is lessened with a gesture Antíkona bestows on Ixmene — a reassurance that even though she’s a revolutionary, she’s still an affectionate sister.

Sophocles is made of harsher stuff. Fernández’s adaptation is anxious to turn tragedy into a sermon, offering theatergoers moral solace where Sophocles leaves his audience in a contemplative state of stunned silence.

But the staging makes up for the dramatic shortfall. Valenzuela masterly orchestrates the mise-en-scène. The majestic costumes of Catarina Copelli, invoking a rich brocaded world on the brink of disappearance, might be the real superstar.

François-Pierre Couture’s scenic design is mesmerizing without ever being overbearing. “Lee” Xinyuan Li’s lighting heightens the sense of theatrical foreboding. Yee Eun Nam’s projections inject into this transient world a welcome subtlety.

Urbanie Lucero’s choreography and movement direction maintain the production’s graceful poise. The musicians, discreetly performing at the back of the stage under the guidance of Mesoamerican instruments director Christopher García, charge the air with percussive Indigenous wonder.

“Antigone: In the Language of Kings” marks the Getty Villa’s 20th anniversary of reinventing classical tragedy for our time. This gorgeous staging makes me ardently wish that the theater extends the tradition for at least another 20 years.

Milo Boyd wanted to see how best to learn a bit of Spanish before heading on holiday, putting Preply, Rosetta Stone and Battersea Spanish language school to the test

“¿Hola, qué tal?”

Cue a string of mysterious words from the cheery bartender I’d nervously tested out my very limited Spanish on. When she stopped speaking, I took that to be my turn.

“¿Me puede dar tres cervezas y tres tortillas?”

After the bartender looked confused for a moment, a miracle happened. Three beers and three tortillas arrived. If you’ve ever spent time learning a language, then you’ll know how toe-curling it can be to try it out, in the wild, for the first time.

Without an expert tutor to pick through your dodgy accent or an encouraging classmate to wait patiently while you remember what the Spanish word for ‘I’ is (yo, incidentally), it’s easy for it all to fall apart.

And on several occasions during my week in Bilbao, it did. Fumbled orders turned to English halfway through; garbled questions were met with blank stares. But when it works, it’s a fantastic feeling that almost lets you forget all the traumatic memories of KS3 French lessons.

If you do want to pick up a bit of a language before heading on holiday, how best to go about it? I put three different ways of learning to the test and found one clear winner.

The evening classes

It’d been ten years since I was last in a classroom, and I was nervous. Would my classmates like me? Would they all be really young? Would they all already know Spanish for some reason?

It’s certainly daunting going back to school, all these years on, however shiny your new pencil case is. Battersea Spanish could not have done a better job of easing me through the first-day jitters.

The South London school bills itself as a cultural hub where learners can immerse themselves in Spanish film nights, cava and conversation sessions in the on-site bar, a Spanish book club, live flamenco performances and much else.

In the first session of the term, learners get a free glass of wine, which really helps get things going. I love this way of learning. The teachers are warm, encouraging and just strict enough that you make sure to do your homework, while my classmates were lovely. Committing to an hour and a half each week, along with an hour of revision, means progress feels gratifyingly quick.

The downside? Getting there! Having to travel somewhere after work is a slog, especially on the cold winter evenings, but well worth the journey.

The app

Duolingo. Babbel. LinQ. Pimsleur. There are now almost as many language-learning apps as there are languages. Having previously spent too much time with the green owl, I gave Rosetta Stone a go.

The interface is a little simpler and more classic-feeling than Duolingo, but I prefer it. Learners choose a category (shopping, travel, food and drink, etc.) and are then shown stock photos of people doing something, with a description alongside.

‘Como comida’ is written next to a photo of someone eating food, with the words spoken out loud. Rosetta Stone works through repetition, having the learner listen to, read, and speak versions of a sentence several times, adding new words along the way.

For me, it’s a perfect app. None of the bells, whistles and premium add-ons that make language learning feel like you’re playing Angry Birds. Just straightforward, comprehensive, and vocabulary-expanding.

The downside? These apps are great if you’ve already got a bit of the language and want to expand it, or are naturally confident when trying them out. Otherwise, the move from private learning on your phone to real-world experience can be particularly daunting.

The tutor

Sitting on a bench in my local park, the summer morning sun lighting up the duck pond, I flicked open Preply and Lucia appeared. We chatted for 40 minutes, with her leading me through the words for family members and basic questions you might get asked at a party.

The major strength of one-on-one tuition is the extra time and attention you get to root out little issues before they grow into big ones, and to put everything you’ve been learning over the past week into practice. Taking a language from the textbook page into real life is probably the best, quickest way to make it stick, while building a rapport with a tutor can turn lessons from a dutiful slog to a fun cultural exchange.

From my experience, Preply tutors are lovely and affordable.

The downside? I have one major issue with Preply. It’s one that has made me start and then cancel a learning plan on three separate occasions. Preply requires learners to buy blocks of at least four hours, which get renewed on a 28-day cycle. While this encourages commitment and regular learning, the lack of flexibility is frustrating, as is the cycle length. If you start a subscription the day after payday, next month it will fall two days before. For anyone balancing a household budget, this is a big downside.

The verdict

For me, nothing beats in-person classroom learning. The accountability it requires is key to learning a language; the social scene it offers makes learning fun; and the combination of reading, writing, speaking and listening means all bases are covered.

If you’re going to learn a language, why not commit and really throw yourself into it? Battersea Spanish is based in London only, but there are plenty of similar schools across the UK, whichever language you’re learning.