Nowadays language learning is constantly happening in almost all corners of the world since many people have already learned of the importance of being proficient in more than just a single language. In various fields of research, business, education and other sectors, languages play vital roles in enriching these fields and languages help in making globalization a bit easier.

A lot of people in various parts of the planet are learning the English language since English is considered to be the world’s lingua franca; spoken as a native language by more than five hundred thousand people and as a second language by more than a billion people. A lot of people are also studying the Spanish language since Spanish is the third most spoken language in the world and it is spoken by more than three hundred million native speakers. In the United States there is an upsurge of native English speakers who are learning Spanish and there are Spanish-speaking immigrants who are also learning English in order to adapt into the country they call their new home. However, are you aware that in Spain there are only few people who can read, speak or understand English?

A study was done by Ipsos and it has revealed that only seventeen percent of Spaniards can read English, fourteen percent can understand it, while eleven percent can speak it. The study also revealed that seventy percent of Spaniards are aware of the importance of English yet only four percent are learning it. A director of a language school has stated that the statistics have not changed much over the years and that one of the reasons why some Spanish are not able to learn English is that they are not exposed to it. News broadcasts which feature international leaders talking in English are dubbed in Spanish instead of just adding Spanish subtitles to the original language the video clips are stated in.

Another of the reasons why Spaniards are not learning English is that it requires money to learn the language. Ninety-four percent of more than a hundred thousand Spaniards traveled abroad in 2006 in order to learn English and they spent something between 2500 and 3000 euros for a four-week English language course which some families cannot afford.

Spain is one of the biggest economies in the world ranking at eighth, yet it is failing at a second language. The people of North America and England are also considered to be no experts in second languages and it is being accredited to theory that countries whose languages are spoken by a large number of people do not feel the need to learn other languages.

Neither Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero nor opposition leader Mariano Rajoy can speak English fluently. Among the five prime ministers who have governed Spain since 1975, only one Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, spoke English fluently. PM Zapatero wants all the young people in the country to speak English within a time frame of ten years.

About a hundred thousand people in Spain take the Cambridge ESOL test every year and in 2006, among those who took the proficiency test, seventy percent passed. The Director of the British Council in Spain has stated that “The level of English in Spain has improved considerably over the last ten years.”

If more Spaniards will become interested in learning English and they have access to learn the language, there is hope that Spain will not lag behind other countries when it comes to proficiency in the English language.

Learning foreign languages is a wonderful investment, it is one of the most useful things that you can “carry” when traveling, and also it can open a variety of job opportunities and increase your knowledge about other cultures. Learning the basics of the language such as the major skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing are essential in order for you to become fluent in the language.

If you are considering to enroll in a language course in a language school (perhaps abroad where the language is spoken as a native tongue), better read up on what kind of language courses are available and figure out which will be able to help you learn your target language faster.

Group Classes
The most common types of language courses are available in group programs. Group classes are oftentimes offered to a specific number of students in a group of 10 or more students. Group courses are offered in various levels from beginner to advanced and focus on the main language areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Majority of group lessons are based on oral conversation as well as studies in grammar and comprehension. Most of the students who enroll in group programs have limited time or would like to have a more intensive language study.

The advantages of learning a language through group classes is that you will be able to interact with your classmates; you will be able to participate in discussions, share your different views, learn to work with a group and most importantly, learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses in your target language. The downside with group classes is that you might not learn what you specifically want to learn about the language and your progress and weaknesses might not be closely evaluated since there are many of you in the class who need the teacher’s attention.

One-to-One Classes
One-to-one or individual language classes are tailor-made courses which can be designed to a student’s own request. A one-to-one language course can be combined with the language needs identified during the diagnostic assessment and interview. The student will have the attention of the language teacher all to himself or herself! The course follows a set curriculum and the time and pace of the lessons will be adapted to the schedule of the student. This type of language learning course is ideal for students who are willing to learn the language in a longer period of time as long as it accommodates their time and comfort.

The main benefit of taking up a one-to-one language course is that you will be given close supervision by your language teacher. Other advantages include your faster development with one on one conversation and the intensive grammar support you receive in your target language; your teacher will be able to check up on your errors and your progress in real time compared to group classes where the teacher wouldn’t be able to identify each student’s individual progress. The disadvantage of a one-to-one course is that you will be interacting only with your teacher. You might get too accustomed to your teachers expressions, vocabulary and pronunciation. There is a possibility you might not enjoy your teacher’s company if you could not establish good rapport with each other. Also, usually one to one courses are more expensive than group courses.

Now that you know some of the pros and cons, you can take your pick between group classes and one-on-one courses and choose the one which you think will help you learn effectively and quickly. However, there is another type of program you might want to consider if you find it available in your prospected language school.

Combined Language Courses
There are some language schools offer combined language classes which incorporates the benefits of group classes together with the benefits of a one-to-one course. Language learners who want to focus on particular areas of their target language may tackle them during the individual lessons and they may also enjoy the dynamic activities and interactions during the group classes.

Whatever type of language course you plan to take, think things over carefully and decide on the course you think you will enjoy more. After all, if you are having fun, it will be easier to learn and improve your languages skills.

Language learning is an interesting investment because you can be assured that learning a target language will be very useful for you in the future. Nowadays there are so many ways and methods to learn a language and each technique may produce different results for each language learner. Have you ever tried or would you want to try learning a language through performing arts, such as acting?

Learning languages through arts is a creative and original way to become fluent in a language. The Slovak National Theater or the SND has recently hosted several experienced experts from various European theaters in Nottingham, Berlin, Helsinki, Saint-Etienne, and Hamburg; these experts gave lectures and led workshops on joining Theater – Education – Art, a unique European educational project. The project took place during the last weekend of February 2009 and its goal was to exchange experiences about connecting theater with school, educating through theater, and various creative ways of education.

One of those who teach foreign languages through drama is Steven Clark. He is a teacher of English as a foreign language, a French teacher and also gives classes of theater studies. He has stated that, drama is like a language. He uses drama to teach languages through his basic idea for students to forget about one’s identity and overcome shyness, to let go of inhibitions and feeling guilty for not saying or doing things properly, and to enjoy and take pleasure in exploring a foreign language.

Communication is a major key in learning a language; through the performing arts many emotions are reflected and eventually lead to better communication. For example in drama, a single eye contact can draw out a lot of emotions such as aggressiveness, friendship, hostility, solidarity, and trust among others. Through these emotions you can establish rapport with other people and communicate through actions, interaction, and eventually through language exchange.

Steven Clark has said that the feeling of human belonging is essential when it comes to learning a language because we humans sometimes need to communicate abstract and sophisticated stuff in a way that is fair to other people. If people who have performing arts as their common ground, they should start working from it and explore the possibility of learning new languages.

If you’re interest in the subject you can read our post on learning languages through music.

Learning languages is very interesting yet when you are still on the initial stages of learning you may become eager to immediately understand what you are reading or listening to. On the internet there are various language translators which may guide you as you enrich yourself with the language you are learning and most of them have helped a lot of people in translating webpages and texts.

The following are just some of the many online language translators, their features, and some of their advantages and disadvantages.

Babel Fish – used to be powered by AltaVista and now by Yahoo!, Babel Fish is among the pioneering translation tools on the web. The site allows translations in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. It also allows embedding of a widget on your personal site to enable your readers to translate your site content into the language they prefer. Babel Fish is a powerful online tool yet it doesn’t assure accurate human translation since it is an automated translator that uses a machine to translate words.

Babylon – it is a free online translation site which supports more than seventy-five languages. The service of this translator is aimed to help users gain the basic understanding of texts in an unfamiliar language. The service of Babylon has been tried and tested many times over yet they admit that there are times that the translations have pitfalls perhaps due to inaccurate translations. Among the languages supported by Babylon include Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.

Google Translate – this online language translator powered by Google now supports translations in five hundred six language pairs and is one of the most comprehensive online translation tools available for free. As most translation sites don’t give perfect translations, Google Translate has the same weakness however it makes understanding the central ideas of the text easier. The languages supported by Google Translate include Albanian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.

Nice Translator – it is a quick online translation service which allows you to translate text between thirty-six languages. When using this site all you have to do is select one or more languages you want to translate into then type or paste in the stuff you want to be translated, press the Enter key then everything will be translated in a snap! What is so nice about Nice Translator is that it auto-detects the language you are translating from and translate it into your selected languages right away. The site does not require registration and it has an easy to use and clean interface. In Nice Translator you can translate text to and from Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, English, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek,Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Latvian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese. A lot of people who use Nice Translator think it is more than just nice because its translations are superb and almost accurate and it also has plugins and widgets which you can embed in your website or blog.

SDL FreeTranslation.com – it is a free translation site which allows users to translate text and web pages in various languages. It is one of the popular translation sites online having an estimate of two million visitors a week. It supports Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish languages.

There are more language translators out there on the web which may or may not offer the same kind of services, features and satisfaction to its users. Online translation tools are very useful especially when there is immediate need to translate important things. However, bear in mind that these online tools are automated and cannot assure you perfect or accurate translations all the time.

Read more about some add-ons in firefox that help you translate and learn languages online.

According to the results of our Poll of the Month, this article is about online tools that you can use to learn a language. There are many sites where you can find tools, but this article does not cover them all. We will only discuss some tools that we believe to be innovative and that use a practical methodology to learn languages on the Internet. All of these tools are completely free to use.

The first tool that we will discuss can help you improve your English pronunciation and knowledge of phonetics. The website has a variety of educational activities such as cards, games, pictures, etc., that will allow you to learn and practice the language using fun and entertaining resources. This website has been nominated by British Council ELTON awards in 2008.
You can visit this site @ http://cambridgeenglishonline.com/Phonetics_Focus/.

The second site is that we will talk about is www.bbc.co.uk/languages/. Here you will be able to find courses for beginners in various languages. Some of these languages are English, French, Italian, German, Chinese, Greek and Portuguese. In this site, you have the option to study grammar, vocabulary, and you can freely download or listen online to key phrases of the language. This site is ideal to begin studying any of the languages that they have available.

Another cool website is www.vocabulix.com. In this site you can go through different exercises on vocabulary and verb conjugation with Vocabulix. The languages you can learn here are German, English and Spanish. So for people who already speak one of these languages, this site will be useful, since it uses one these three languages to translate the verbs and vocabulary you are studying. This site can track your progress, so as you go through the vocabulary exercises, lessons become more complex and advanced in each language.

Also, we would like to recommend the online translator: http://www.nicetranslator.com/, which is developed by Tumble. This is an effective translator, since it uses Google translation API, which is one of the best online translators available. The main difference with Google’s online translator is that Nice Translator has an improved interface for translating text on the Web and you can translate one language into several languages at once. Tumble also has available several web widgets and plugins that you can download and install on your Blog or web.

I hope these tools will be useful for you in learning other languages. We will continue to search for more information about other tools on the Internet. If anyone has used any of these online tools can give his/her opinion about them or if you want, you can recommend other tools as well.

Please read our article about a tool that automatically translates conversations in chats -  meglobe.

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The necessity and curiosity in people that want to become fluent in other languages makes them invent new ways in which they can improve their language skills.
For example, there in the United States there is a group of women who meet weekly to talk over coffee and learn languages. These women are professionals who gather after work in order to use the art of conversation to their advantage – for learning languages!

These women meet weekly due to the crucial need of becoming bilingual in their country. Some of these women joined the group in order to learn English while some joined to learn Spanish. They gather at a local Starbucks not only for lattes but for conversations in the languages they want to learn.

This weekly gathering of empowered women is known as Bilingual Coffee or Café Bilingüe which allows women to speak for forty-five minutes in English and another forty-five minutes in Spanish. It is by speaking with and practicing a language that they are on the way of becoming bilingual.

These professional women are an example to others who would like to improve their language skills and would like to better integrate themselves in the culture they are living in. These women are of different nationalities who wish to assimilate themselves into American culture and the others are natives of the United States who want to learn Spanish.

For the people that are embarrassed when they make mistakes when speaking in the language they are learning, should think that making mistakes while learning languages is common, and it makes it easier when the whole group are students and teachers at the same time. Chatting over coffee lessens the tension when someone makes mistakes.

Learn languages with your friends or by meeting new friends who are fluent in other languages is a great experience that could encourage you to start following this example. You can talk about anything and everything under the sun, and it will be cozier while you talk over cups of coffee.

Are you in search for language learning tools which may help you become fluent and efficient in your target language? Linguaphone could just provide you exactly what you need to improve your language skills!

For more than a hundred years of experience, Linguaphone knows that anybody who can speak one language has the ability to learn another language. Their proven method which is to Listen, Understand, and Speak has helped more than seven million people to learn a new language in an effective and natural way over the years.

Linguaphone has a range of tools which helps language learners meet their schedules and goals. You will have the opportunity to study your target language through a PC or portable audio materials and books wherever you are, at your own time. The pioneer methodology used by Linguaphone will allow you to learn to Listen, Understand and Speak your target language.

• Listen. You will learn how to Listen to your target language by using audio tools. Through listening to native speakers of the target language, you will be able to associate the sounds you hear with the sentences and words you read in the course books.
• Understand. Though reading and listening to your target language, you will learn to discover what every word means. Words, phrases and sentences become clearer to you and you will be able to understand the language better thus improve your reading, writing, and speaking skills.
• Speak. A lot of people find that speaking the target language is the hardest part yet that would not be the case if you use Linguaphone’s method. You will be assured that you will start speaking from the very first lesson with the correct pronunciation.

Linguaphone aims to become the most successful provider of quality self-study and assisted learning programs in the world. It enters its next hundred years well-positioned to develop its enviable status for providing high quality language learning solutions through the web, at home, work, and school.

If you would want to improve your knowledge of languages anytime and anyplace you want to, avail of Linguaphone’s various tools and become fluent in your target language!

Learning Italian will be such a breeze if you get to experience the Italian culture while you explore the language in one of Italy’s amazing cities! It will be more exciting and fun if you discover Italian culture through genuine Italian cuisine just a stone’s throw away from your Italian language school!

Scuola Leonardo da Vinci is our partner Italian language school in Rome and it also presents a cafeteria and lounge for its students. The school is located in the heart of Rome and the Italian language classes are held in spacious and well-lit rooms. The language teachers use modern methods as well as modern equipment such as tapes, projectors, CDs, and a lot more which allow the language learners to have interesting, dynamic, and efficient Italian classes. The students of the school will have the chance to explore Italian culture not only by exploring the sights and sounds of the streets and landmarks of Rome but also in Gustolab which is just across the street!

Gustolab which is located just in front of the language school is a wonderful place for foreigner students to meet up, relax, have coffee, lounge, surf the internet for free, and savor Italian food. Gustolab has been set up by Scuola Leonardo da Vinci to better inform and educate their students to the quality of good Italian food and its ingredients; to communicate knowledge and passion towards Italian food; to assist the students’ recognition and understanding of the true traditions of Italian cooking and wine; and to help the students discover, enjoy, and appreciate the culture of Italian food which has made the country famous throughout the world.

Aside from what was stated above, Gustolab also offers seminars and lectures on the Mediterranean diet; wine and cooking courses; and field trips which combine visits to artistic treasures with educational gastronomic visits to local producers of fine foods. Gustolab also presents consulting on food and wine, catering, regional Italian food and wine, and products which are available for purchase. The Gustolab cafeteria and lounge is open every day from 8.30 in the morning until late evening and in that pale you will find pleasure, cultural understanding, and healthy lifestyle through the art of Italian cuisine.

So what are you waiting for? Don’t waste your time and set your sights on learning Italian in Rome and have the opportunity to explore its interesting places, meet its accommodating people, and taste its world-famous cuisine! Learn Italian in Rome and explore the Italian culture with a tasty approach!

It may seem intriguing why I gave such a title on a blog post, and you might wonder what may be the relationship between soccer and foreign languages?

Just recently in Atlanta, Georgia, and organization called Soccer in the Streets or (SITS) teaches less advantaged children how to make positive choices and become successful in life through soccer, has announced that their organization will be recognized for their efforts to introduce young people to foreign languages.

The Southern Conference on Language Teaching or SCOLT is the body which will present an award to SITS for being among the individuals and organizations that encourage, promote, and highlight world language learning and teaching. This year Soccer in the Streets is being recognized for its German Street Soccer Cup.

The executive director of Soccer in the Streets is thrilled together with the organization for being the recipient of the “SCOLT Friend of World Languages Award”. SITS is an organization which strives in creating a comfortable learning environment for children of different cultures. Its program brings children of diverse cultures and backgrounds together through positive physical activity to help them overcome their differences and bridge their gaps.

The German Street Soccer Cup which is sponsored by SITS will be held sometime this year and it requires children of various backgrounds to form a team and work together. Each team is required to have a German and Spanish speaker. The games are intended for children to have fun and to bridge cultural gaps while teaching each other foreign languages. The players who will qualify as all-stars will have the opportunity to travel to Germany to compete. The tournament will also recognize the student with the best cultural experience and will have the chance to travel to Germany with the all-star team as a reporter for Todo Alemán which is a blog that highlights the German culture all over the world.

One of the aims of Soccer in the Streets is to promote and provide leadership opportunities for youth to gain important life skills through soccer and by promoting the German and Spanish languages using soccer as a medium. SCOLT appreciates Soccer in the Streets’ language diversity and vision in exposing the youth to a variety of communication so that the youth may be encouraged to pursue language studies.

Soccer which is also known as football in many parts of the world is a very popular sport not only for the young but the not so young too. Having this sport as one of the keys to promote the learning of languages is very innovative and helpful in promoting not just the languages of the players but it also teaches young people that through this sport and the languages that they learn, they will be able to make the world a better and harmonious place.

If you are interested in Soccer in the Streets Organization visit http://www.soccerinthestreets.org/

Studying foreign languages abroad is considered as one of the best methods and current trends in language learning. It has been proven time and again that cultural immersion is the most effective and fastest way to learn a new language. If you choose to study a foreign language abroad, you will not only learn how to speak a language fluently but you will also have the opportunity to learn about the culture of the language and also you will be able to create connections with other people who have similar viewpoints and interests as yourself. Learning a foreign language in a classroom in your hometown or on your own may appear to be difficult; however, learning a foreign language in the place where it is spoken facilitates your ability to learn while making your experience enjoyable, exciting, and memorable.

A lot of people from different parts of the planet get involved in numerous means to learn new languages in various parts of the world. Most of the language learning techniques encourage language learners to experience total language immersion by learning a new language in the place where it is spoken in order to be fully aware of the place and culture where the language originated from. Studying a foreign language abroad will give you the opportunity to have fun, travel, and meet new people as you explore the wonders of your target language. Studying a foreign language abroad will also give you the chance to live independently away from your home.

Studying a foreign language abroad can be quite intimidating but, you must have the patience and consistency to do so. You should be patient enough to learn a language because it usually takes some time and effort in becoming good at it. Consistency in studying a foreign language means that your firmness or stability in your determination to learn a new language should be consistent. By being consistent with your language learning process and having constant exposure to the language, can guarantee you that your language immersion program will be a success once you develop your basic language skills and start communicating with it.

For you to improve your language skills, you should explore the place where you are learning the language. Know about the history and culture of the place, visit its attractions, and meet its local folk! Cultural exposure and travel are major points in studying a foreign language abroad as well as enjoying yourself and having fun! Dance the night away or dine with your new-found friends and language school classmates in your immersion place’s local clubs and restaurants, meet local people and practice your language skills with them. Studying abroad to learn a foreign language could be just a once in a lifetime experience therefore you should learn a lot from it and cherish the memories you create!

Studying a foreign language abroad is one experience that you should not miss! Study a foreign language abroad right now and create memories that will surely last a lifetime!