Despite France being our closest neighbour, things can get a little lost in translation when trying to export chalkboards 26 miles across La Manche.

The French for chalkboard is Tableau, or Tableau Noir for blackboard. However, this can also mean a scene (or a dark scene in the case of Tableau Noir) or piece of art - so you have to be careful what you try to sell to our French cousins!

Here's a few translations of chalkboard or blackboard from around the UK and Europe:

English (UK) - Chalkboard or Blackboard
Welsh - Bwrdd Sialc
Gaelic (Scotland) - Bòrd-Dubh
Gaelic (Ireland) - Gclár Dubh
French - Tableau Noir
Dutch - Krijtbord
German - Tafel
Spanish - Pizarra
Italian - Lavagna
Polish - Tablica
Portuguese - Quadro-Negro
Danish - Kridttavle
Swedish - Tavlan
Norsk - Tavle
Suomi (Finnish) - Liiutaulu
Icelandic - Chalkboard
Estonian - Kriiditahvel
Latvian - Krīta tāfeles
Czech -Tabule
Slovak - Tabule
Hungarian - Palatábla
Romanian - Tabla
Croatian - Ploča
Bosnian - Tabli
Serbian - доске (Doske)
Greek - Chalkboard
Bulgarian - Черна (Cherna)
Russian - доске (Dose)
Georgian - Chalkboard
Hebrew - לוח
English (USA) - Neon Sign - there's no easy translation for our American cousins!

Wherever you're from, if you'd like to buy a tableau noir from us, as long as it's a chalkboard, please don't hesitate to call us on 01384 445844 or e-mail sales@chalkboardsuk.co.uk

Congratulations to the The Belfry Hotel and Resort who win £75 to spend with Chalkboards UK.

They sent in this great picture of one of our Badger Chalkboards at the start of their woodland trail.

Keep watching this space and get your social media at the ready - there'll be another competition for February announced later this week and more photo competitions throughout the year!

If you follow any of the Chalkboards UK Social Media channels - Facebook, Twitter or Google+, you may have noticed that we've started and new feature on a Friday - #FunFridayChalkboards

We're collecting a photo bank of humorous chalkboards (not necessarily ours) to post on a Friday to help everyone with the final straight to the weekend.

So... if you see any hilarious chalkboards on your travels, take a picture of it and send it in to sales@chalkboardsuk.co.uk. You can even just mention us in a post or tweet and we'll pick it up from there.

If the pic is one of our chalkboards, we'll enter you into the next photo competition too.

Twitter - @ChalkboardsUK
Facebook - facebook.com/ChalkboardsUK

Freshen up your signage with 20% OFF our wooden A-Frame chalkboard range.

Christmas and New Year are but distant memories now, January is well underway and 2016's events are fast approaching - Rugby's Six Nations, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Easter, Spring Bank Holidays, the European Referendum, Euro 2016, the Olympics in Rio, the Ryder Cup... the list goes on.

What better time to freshen up your signage? We're offering 20% OFF our wooden A-Frame chalkboard range to help you prepare for 2016, promote footfall to your business and increase sales.

For more information, call the Sales Office on 01384 445844 or e-mail sales@chalkboardsuk.co.uk

Congratulations to Christina from Wiltshire who is the lucky winner of December's 'Find the Reindeer' competition. Christina's hamper is on it's way in time for Christmas.

Look out for more website competitions at Chalkboards UK in 2016.

It's been a great year at Chalkboards UK and we wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.