Posts Tagged ‘Foreign Languages’

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The Language School

January 1st, 2010

There are thousands of various languages that are to be found all over the globe; every language is likely to come along with its own culture and refinement and the person who is interested in learning it may use the online schools that have been developed to meet these types of demands. There are online courses for almost every language that is widely used in the whole world. Learning a new language can become quite challenging and rewarding if you are attending the classes of an online language school.

For instance, if you are a businessman who is looking forwards in order to develop his businesses abroad, you will have to deal with the language barriers that may come across your way. You may use the online schools in order to learn the languages that are likely to be the most used ones when traveling abroad. You will have to prepare yourself for the language barriers to come and the language school may become the wisest choice you have ever made in order to enhance your business opportunities.

Online courses may be very helpful because they are especially designed in order to meet the busy people’s needs and demands. Their structure is a simplified one that is easy to learn especially if you do not have too much time at your disposal. Business communication has faced new challenges in the past years and English seems to become the rule in the business communication. But you will also have to be prepared to handle different cultures and backgrounds and the language school can help you do it because the online courses are not likely to be focused only on the language matters.

On the contrary, they may come along with a wide variety of information that can be very helpful when it comes to understanding foreign people and their native cultures. The business partnerships can also be enhanced in case that you learn the foreign languages that are the most used one in the business environment; common ground can thus be found because learning a foreign language can come along with new opportunities to communicate and understand different foreign matters that are related to the business world you are dealing with.

You must avoid struggling with foreign words especially if you are not likely to trust the hired translator; therefore, the online schools are to be taken into account in order to learn the necessary foreign languages. Actually, it is quite crucial for every public relationship to conduct all its businesses in a familiar language; if you are keen on proposing your own plans or ideas, you will have to attend the online classes in order to find everything about a particular language and its specific terms in order to learn how to use them in the proper manner.

If you are looking forwards in order to propose your business ideas on different grounds and not on your home ground, you may try to become familiar with some of the international languages in order not to embarrass yourself while in front of your interlocutors. But if you do not manage to attend the online courses, you can also hire a professional translator in order to show your true respect to the people who are watching you during the business meeting.

By hiring a professional translator or leaning a foreign language, you can make your audience feel comfortable with the language you speak and this is highly important in order to be able to capture their attention. Having a linguistic and cultural background is very important. The language school and its online courses can assure this background. You will have to take your time and study all the available options in order to choose the one that is proper for you.

The online schools have been developed in order to meet all the demands that are coming from very busy people; therefore, if you are a busy businessman, you may consider attending the online courses in order to learn a language that can enhance all your future business opportunities. You will be able to impress your future audience by speaking in their own language and making them feel comfortable when listening to your business ideas and proposals. Online learning is to be regarded as the wisest alternative especially if you are looking to expand your business area; you will be provided with all the information you might need without having to leave your home in order to attend real classes.

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Top Foreign Languages To Learn

December 29th, 2009

“What are the top foreign languages to learn?” is probably the most frequent question I get asked by people who just start to learn a foreign language. The assumption behind this question is usually that learning any language is an endlessly tiring task. For many, it’s a lot like asking “Which mountain should I climb first? The Everest or the Kilimanjaro?” But what if I told you that you can master any language you set out to learn within 6 to 12 months? Would the choice of languages still be a problem? You may be working on one or even several languages already, then it’s good that you know which languages you want to master. But if you don’t, you might be tempted to ask questions like “which are the top foreign languages to learn”, and “which language is the most useful?”, “which one should I start off learning?” Some people may tell you that “the answer to your question “depends on the goal you want to achieve”, but something tells me that it’s not the answer you’d like to hear. If you have ever asked one of those questions, I suppose you don’t feel strongly towards a particular language and just want to hear some general language learning tips, or maybe you just want to pick up a foreign language as quickly as you can. But what if I tell you that the differences among all those “candidate languages” are almost negligible once you apply the right techniques? What if learning one foreign language is just as easy as learning another one? Which language would you choose to learn then? The fact is, you should never listen to anyone who’s had a good or bad experience with a particular foreign language. Just because someone had a horrible time with Chinese doesn’t mean you will too. Everyone will feel differently about a specific foreign language according to his or her own education, background and social experience. By the way, did you know that Chinese is one of the simplest languages in terms of complexity? The very reason that many people find Chinese such a demoralizing language is that Chinese is dramatically different from all alphabet-based languages. Asking a European to switch to a tonal language all at once is just as demanding as asking you to write with your right foot. However, the same issue is not an issue at all for a new-born baby. Teaching a baby to speak a tonal language with much fewer grammar rules (Yes, day-to-day Chinese has much fewer grammar rules) could actually be more manageable than teaching the same baby a European language with a huge vocabulary and stringent grammar rules such as German. With all that said, the top foreign languages to learn are: Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Arabic, Russian Those include the official languages of the United Nations. Since you are already reading this article, I presume that your English is well beyond “basic”, which is why English is not included here. How about German, which is not an official language of UN? Let’s see. . . 25% of the European population speak it and it’s the second most popular internet language in the world. The reason German is not listed as a UN Official language is highly political. It should, in fact, be one of the top foreign languages to learn.

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Learn a New Language by Immerging Into a New Culture

December 22nd, 2009

 
 
I was challenged to learn a new language for the first time in school. As our education system requires, every student should learn two foreign languages. Depending on the school, the students were learning English and French (as mine did) some of them English and German, and some of them English and Italian. I loved English (can’t say the same about French)!!! I tried hard to learn it. Believe me, this was a challenge in a class with 30 students and only one teacher! I learned mostly from books, reading and writing… and surprise, when the moment came to talk in English, I couldn’t find my words!!! Did you have the same problem? I know many friends who had the same experience. Some of them learned English with a dictionary and phrase books, and some of them joined English classes. Few of them became fluent in the new language fast, but most of us… we were trying and trying really hard. After many years, moving to India, I was forced to learn Hindi. A difficult language!!! Different sounds, different script, and once again learning from books did not work. I’ve tried for some time, and reached a beginner level. I was able to survive, but I wasn’t content because of the inability to share my deep feelings and experiences with my Indian friends. Miscommunication due to the lack of language knowledge made life really difficult sometimes. In that moment I learnt about OnSite Language Services, an immersion language learning program which helps English/Spanish speaking people to learn Hindi/Urdu and other Indian languages. Its motto is “Immerse to Converse”, because they believe that immersion is the best way to learn a new language. The principles of OSLS are natural, and yet I haven’t thought about them! Let’s learn as children do! What does it mean? Children learn through their everyday experience not through lessons; they acquire language which they need to use; they speak before they write and read. Through OSLS you become a child again; you learn to listen to the new language and to speak before you read or write. This does not mean that writing or reading is neglected, but the program concentrates on speaking. Being a community based language learning program, the students learn the new language mostly out in the community with natives or in private sessions with a language helper. This makes the relationships easy to build and learning culture a natural process. Of course, learning requires sweat, frustration and… humility: to recognize that you don’t know everything, to accept that people will laugh at you and to persist in having embarrassing language contacts. So, what did I learn from my language learning experience? I learned… how to learn! I learned that immersion language learning is the most efficient method to learn a new language… as long as you work hard!!!
 

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