There’s only a few more days left of 2009, and as early as now, people are already putting up lists of what they should do in 2010. New Year’s resolutions are already being written up and most involve activities that have not been done this year. Have you ever learned something new this year? Did you ever move a finger and made an attempt to learn a foreign language? If you haven’t, then let us give you reasons why you should!

Learning languages is fun and it will help you open doors to various educational and career opportunities. Learning languages has many benefits and it will be great if you can reap all of them! Why should you learn languages abroad? Learning languages abroad can help you become fully immersed in your target language and have the chance to explore and learn about a different culture!

What languages should you learn and where should you learn them? Check out this list:

Learn English in the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, Australia, Malta, South Africa, New Zealand – English is one of the most spoken languages in the world and millions of people are learning it every day! It would be best if you go to an English language school located in either of the said countries since English is their main language! Wouldn’t it be great if you start 2010 learning English in either of these amazing countries?

Learn Italian in Italy – have the chance to explore and experience la dolce vita by learning Italian in the amazing cities of Italy! Learn Italian in Rome, Florence, Viareggio, or Sienna and discover the uniqueness and grandeur of Italian culture!

Learn French in France and Switzerland – the French language is considered to be a very romantic language and it would be great if you could learn it in 2010 in beautiful cities in Switzerland and France! Learn French and learn to say more than just bon jour!

Learn German in Germany, Austria, Switzerland – are you aware that German is one of the major languages in the world? It will be great if you will kick off the year by learning the language of Goethe, Beethoven, and Mozart in various German-speaking European cities!

Learn Spanish in Spain or Latin America – the Spanish language is considered to be quite exotic and it would be great to learn such an exotic language in equally exotic locations! Spain has a lot to offer, you can enjoy the wonderful Spanish music such as Flamenco, which is really popular in Andalucia. Also, you can travel to Latin America, where there are a lot of countries where Spanish is the official language. You can visit exotic places like Machu Pichu in Peru, Tikal in Guatemala, Teotihuacán in Mexico, and many other destinations. You also have islands in the caribbean where countries such as Dominican Republic, offer many beautiful beaches. Punta Cana is one of the most popular spots in Dominican Republic, and it is really easy to find “viajes baratos punta cana” as it is said in Spanish.

Learn Japanese in Japan – the Japanese language and culture have enthralled a lot of people for many centuries and more are learning the language not only for business purposes but for the growing global fascination with Japanese manga, culture, and art!

Learn Russian in Russia – Russian is one of the official languages of the United Nations and if you plan to learn it in Russia, you will have the chance to explore the country’s colorful history of czars, socialists, and reformists!

Learn Arabic in Egypt – the Arabic language is spoken all over the world not only by Arabs but also by people who practice Islam. Learning Arabic paves way to better understanding among cultures and learning it in Egypt will be something you will treasure for the rest of your life!

Learn Chinese in China – more and more people all over the world have seen the importance of the Chinese language since it is the language of a growing global economy. Chinese culture is something interesting you would want to explore too so don’t hesitate to learn Chinese in China on 2010!

Learn Portuguese in Portugal – Portuguese is a very lovely language used by great poets and authors and it would be great if you can understand their works written originally in Portuguese! Portugal is also a country with great treasures that’s why it is a beautiful place for learning the language!

Learn languages in 2010 and choose from 10 languages and 17 countries!

AbroadLanguages.com wishes everyone a Happy New Year!

In Burbank, California, almost three dozen students who have different cultures, countries, and languages come together and learn English through a blog. Students from Luther Burbank High School are exchanging posts with hundreds of students all over the world through the blog created by their teacher Larry Ferlazzo who partnered with teachers from six countries.

The students in Burbank are communicating through the internet with the students from six other countries in the planet due to their same desire to learn English as a second language. The worldwide participants of the blog have posted videos of tours in Hungary, voice threads about Romanian architecture, photographs of cable cars in San Francisco, and the like. The students in Burbank then post written and recorded comments on one another’s posts.

During the early stages of the blog project the students in Burbank and the ones abroad got to know each other and about each other’s countries, lives and cultures. Later on the teachers will ask the students to post certain topics or themes, or answer questions about the governments of the countries, their advocacies, and other socially relevant topics.

The Burbank teacher Larry Ferlazzo teaches history and English to non-native students of the said high school and came up with the project in order for his students to benefit a lot from it. The blog project helps the students practice their English writing skills through written posts and their listening and pronunciation skills through the voice threads. Since they are the ones making the posts, they force themselves to work well.

The project exposes the students to other cultures and most of them find it nice that they become friends with people who come from different spheres. The project also opens up the students to the world of technology since many of them have grown up in countries where technology was not a part of their daily lives. The blog also offers an entertaining and attractive method of sharing important skills with each other.

The blog constitutes an authentic audience since the students take part in the production of the blog that is why other students from different parts of the world follow it. The students who participate in the blog become teachers, ambassadors, and representative of various sorts, that is why the blog is interesting and educational at the same time.

Other teachers and in the high school are interested with the project and would want to apply the kind of learning technique even to their native English speaking students.

The blog project started by a teacher with a vision only proves that cooperation and interaction among people from different cultures can bring people together to reach a common goal.

The Spanish language is set to overtake the German language as the second most commonly taught language after French in the state secondary schools in England. It reflects a change that has already taken place in private schools. Learning Spanish has become a trend among teenagers since it has its various benefits in the future.

Three years ago only half of the two thousand surveyed state schools in the country offered learning Spanish programs and recently it has risen to 75 per cent. The changes in cultural attitudes and the global balance of economic power may have influenced the shift in the trend of language learning. There is also a possibility that teenagers view learning Spanish to be easier than learning German.

The National Center for Languages or CILT which holds an annual survey in England has found that the substantial decline in language learning in school has halted in recent years even though there is little sign that language learning numbers are rising again. Thousands of students have dropped language learning classes in favor of subjects which they find easier such as drama and media studies since the government made a controversial move that the classes will be optional.

Language learning in the country is quite different between state schools and privately-run ones. Eighty-eight percent of the language schools in England offer compulsory language learning at GCSE level.

Learning Spanish becomes one of the top learned foreign languages in the country since it is in great demand for those who are interested in the language and the Spanish culture. Spanish is one of the major languages in the world with more than three hundred million native speakers. It is an official language in twenty countries, the United Nations, the European Union, the Latin Union, and the Organization of American States.

Learning Spanish is one of the top choices of secondary students in England because they see that the language could come in handy in their future for higher education, career, business, and leisure purposes. Choose to learn Spanish like these young students and be among those who can benefit from the language!

Multilingualism is the ability to communicate and understand more than just a single language. These days and even in the past, being multilingual is very useful especially if you would want to communicate with more people from around the world.

Recently, the European Union and the country of India have signed a joint declaration to strengthen dialogue and cooperation on international dialogue and linguistic diversity. The minister of state for human resource development of India has stated that there is a need to send a clear message that all their languages are equally important, with EU and India having more than twenty official languages.

The minister also stated that India is essentially a multilingual country and that a part of their cultural heritage is their linguistic diversity which is also an essential facet to its nation-building philosophy. The joint declaration of the EU and India will help provide a challenge and opportunity for the education planners who want to consider societal multilingualism as an active resource shared among many interacting communities since Indian culture has always understood the importance of language studies.

The European Union commissioner who is in charge of multilingualism has said that the declaration rekindles their commitment for closer cooperation in the filed of multilingualism and that the promotion of language skills would allow them to engage in deeper exchanges. He has also stated that the declaration would allow India and the EU to learn from each other.

The EU-India declaration also aims to strengthen their cooperation on impact of languages on social cohesion, employability, new technologies for language learning and terminology, and lifelong language learning. The declaration is a follow-up to the EU-India Summit in France in 2008 where the leaders of both entities have committed themselves to developing a dialogue on the promotion of intercultural dialogue, languages, and multilingualism.

The very first step towards the dialogue of India and the EU was achieved in December 2008 with the conference in New Delhi called “Multilingualism and Cultural Dialogue in Globalization” which coincided with the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. The said declaration of the involved parties would allow them mutual learning through conferences and seminars as well as building administrative links between the European Commission and the executive body of the European Union, the human resource development ministry of India, and other Indian authorities.

India has a population of more than a billion people and it is a country which represents a unique example of religious and socio-cultural variety which brings with it an abundance of languages. Based on the 2001 Census Report, more than a million native speakers speak twenty-nine languages, at least ten thousand speak one hundred twenty-two languages, and a smaller number of the population speak two hundred thirty-four languages. India also has twenty-two official languages besides English and Hindi. The rich linguistic diversity of India is similar with the linguistic landscape of Europe and it is a privileged country for being a partner of the EU in the field of multilingualism.

If the declaration of India and the EU to promote multilingualism will be successful, it would be interesting if other countries participate in similar programs and help promote multilingualism and the learning of languages throughout the world.

Languages are the basic tools for communication and without knowledge of languages aside of one’s own, a person may have a hard time communicating and understanding other people. Better communication with a wider scope of people and cultures is one of the main reasons why language learning is widespread and why more people are engaged with it.

There are many immigrant parents in the United States who are going out of their comfort zones and are learning English – the main language of the United States. One of those parents who came from another country who are learning English is Yolanda Nicasio. She has many reasons for learning English but her best reason and motivation is her children. Yolanda wants to become fluent in English so that she will be able to help her children with homework, for setting doctor’s appointments, and for better communication whenever they go to a store. She has been taking English classes at Jackson Elementary School in Utah for almost a month.

Voices for Utah Children, a non-profit advocacy group supports the immigrant families in Utah by helping them integrate into their new homes and the new culture around them. Offering immigrant families more opportunities to learn English helps them to better support their families.

Terry Haven, the Kids Count Director at Voices for Utah Children said that there’ a lot of misconception about the immigrant community. The reality with most immigrant families in the US is that they are look a lot like the locals and in some ways, have stronger families. However, statistics show that Utah children who live in immigrant families are less likely to have parents who graduated from high school and more than twice a likely to live in poverty as children who are born to non-immigrant parents.

The key that might help immigrants to reverse some of the statistics is the learning of the English language. Children of immigrant parents who speak English are not much more likely to live in poverty than children born into non-immigrant families. The statistical report also recommends that more opportunities to learn English be made available to immigrant parents.

Senior research economist at the University of Utah, Pam Perlich, has agreed that teaching immigrants and their children the English language to better not only their personal welfare but also to the state and the country’s being. Perlich also said that it can be more difficult for many Utah immigrants who come from East Asia and Africa to learn English compared to those who arrived generations before from European countries with languages that are similar to English.

Sarah Little, the coordinator of the English Skills Learning Center parent program attended by Yolanda Nicasio and almost one hundred sixty-five adults said that parents mainly say that they want to learn English to help their children.

One of the volunteer English teachers at the center, Eileen Meiners, said that one of the English learners, a Somali woman even refused a translator when it came time for her parent-teacher conferences at her child’s school. She wanted to communicate by herself in the English language. The Somali woman is so proud of herself and the center is so proud of her.