Scuola Leonardo da Vinci, located in Florence, Milan, Rome and Siena, is one of the leading schools in teaching Italian language to foreigners and it is proud to present its new 2010 Italian language course offer.

For whoever wishes to learn or improve Italian language, for the teachers of Italian as a second language, for students of any age and for the ones who simply wish to discover Italian culture, art, cuisine and traditions…the Italian language schools Leonardo da Vinci present the new dates and prices of the Italian language courses scheduled for 2010.

Among the numerous new courses and programs, students will find the special One Week Italian Language Course and they will have the opportunity to attend a simple standard version or intensive group, plus 5 or 10 individual tuitions options.  

In addition, from 2010 on, also the Italian language school in Milan will offer students the possibility to attend the Drawing and Painting basic techniques Courses, or lessons in watercolor painting which are conceived for more skilful students, as well as the Italian Fashion and Design Courses, to learn the history and importance of Italian fashion and discover the secrets of the most famous stylists and designers.

From 2010, at Leonardo da Vinci schools it will be possible to attend the Preparation Course for the DALI C2 exam and obtain “Firenze” – AIL advanced Italian language Diploma (advanced level 2).

In addition, we remind all the students about our specific and original courses offered by Scuola Leonardo da Vinci centers:

-       “Part Time Twice a Week” Italian Language Course, for  whoever is very busy and/or works in Italy;

-       Courses of Italian Culture;

-       Course of Culinary Traditions and Gastronomy, discovering the Italian cuisine and tastes;

-       La Dolce Vita, courses for mature students of any age;

-       Italian Language Courses by the Beach, Italian language courses in Viareggio;

-       Italian Language Professional Courses, Italian language for work or specific studies;

-       Academic School Year, a course which lasts for 32 weeks;

-       Sabbatical year, long term course for the minimum duration of 48 weeks;

-       Courses for Italian Language Teachers;

-       Art, Fashion and Design Courses;

-       Music Specialization Courses, for amateurs and professionals.

This and much more at Scuola Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian language school for foreign students.

The new dates and prices of the Italian language courses for foreigners are already available on the website www.scuolaleonardo.com

On the continent of Africa many have a desire to learn English as a Foreign Language, whether it’s for social reasons, their job, or for family is the ability to be bilingual (Able to speak another language) but due to life’s hectic schedule and lives people hardly ever find the time! Majority of people in the country of Burkina Faso favor the internet and CD’s over other conventional methods to learning languages, in the year two thousand there were 10,000 internet users. Many internet surfers know in the capitol Ouagadougou are learning EFL. Programs such as “English in an hour a day” and a significant few others, really do work but it takes a year longer or more to achieve the basic fluency. The authors could have done a much better job by making the EFL educational program more “newbie friendly”.

English as a Second Language lessons are very common around the world. Some students even take online English lessons that include ESL videos with native speakers for teachers. A system that allows you to learn EFL at a faster pace, whether it’s by books, CD’s or internet is what everyone is looking for! Considering that this year the population of BURKINA FASO is 15,264,735 half of which is under fifteen years of age and in school there is a great need for streamlined EFL education.

Today, there are approximately 80,000 internet users in Burkina Faso getting some hands on experience with speaking and writing. Internet EFL education is a fantastic way to learn. With 0.5 % of the population of Burkina Faso on the internet you can be sure many are looking for ESL educational websites. You can get all the attention needed and any questions answered simply and quickly on internet based EFL programs, but due to many students work schedules they would normally often have to cancel regular classes and hope to catch up next week but not with the internet.

Since the percentage of the population of Burkina Faso that uses the internet is 0.5 % the need for bricks and mortar English as a Foreign Language schools has just gone down dramatically. This is a growth of internet use of 700.0 % from the year 2000 until today! What will the next couple of years hold for EFL students in BURKINA FASO opportunities for a quality English education?

I have been learning Japanese on my own ever since I started developing feelings toward the language. I find studying another language is fun and a great way of understanding other language. Personally, I find learning other languages easy especially when someone who speaks the language is teaching me. However, I find learning on my own enjoyable just the same. If you want to learn other language than your own, I suggest you seriously make up your mind first before starting anything because your determination and focusing will help you reach your goal or learning the language. Put effort as well as time on the learning process and I assure you that you will achieve what you want in due time.

Basically, learning foreign language is like eating a cake as a whole but it is guaranteed that you will definitely not be able to eat the whole thing all at once. You have to slice the cake into manageable chunks for your mouth to handle.

Same is true with learning another language other than your own. You need to break it down to units and organize them so that things will be a lot easier later on. Start with the overview and basic things to learn. Here alone, you may find it a little confusing especially if you want to take things all at the same time. Well, don’t. Spending 15-20 minutes per unit of the language is enough each day. Your attention span could not last longer than not, human as you are. You need to absorb the information first before you take on another session.

Having someone to listen to when learning another language is also another important key for you to learn how the language is spoken and in order for you to get to feel the first hand experience of hearing someone talk. At first glance, you may find this one a little difficult especially if you do not really know anyone who speaks the language.

However, there are some ways to alleviate this posing problem. In my case, I watched way too many anime DVDs and also watched online. They speak the Japanese language quite clearly if you have a sense of speed in grasping. In all other language, if you can’t hire someone to teach you, you can do little search for sites with mp3s or wav files of foreign language audios that can be downloaded. I assure you there really are a lot of them in the internet.

Write down notes as much as possible during your learning process. I find this very important in learning because I can remember things faster if I wrote them down myself. You can do this too. For example, I write down notes while watching anime DVDs. I find this really helpful in my 15-20 minutes session in learning the language. You see, learning a foreign language will require a lot of effort and time. If you doubt you can make it, I suggest you don’t start. If in any case you are determined to finish the whole course even if you are only self-studying then by any means, go ahead.

Boost your career by learning foreign languages

“Good command of English”, “excellent English knowledge”, “proficiency in English”, “English is a must”. One of these lines or a similar others referring to the mandatory character of knowing English is included in almost all the jobs advertisements. Looking for a job today without knowing English is a half-lost battle. Although English will help you get through most of the multicultural work situations, it does not represent a competitive edge anymore. If you want to see your career and salary boosting, knowing English goes without says, but is not enough. Experience has shown that the more foreign languages you know, the better your career will look. The less common the language you know is, the more and faster your career can advance.

There are a few reasons why knowing more foreign languages can help you in your professional endeavors. Alongside with the globalization, people focused on learning the language that helped them best handle any interaction with foreigners – English – which led to a shortage of people having command of other languages used internationally like French, Spanish, German or Portuguese. Not to mention the rarity of people able to manage communication with speakers of Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, Greek, Turkish or other less used languages.  Handling this kind of languages has become a premium skill; therefore people possessing it have access to premium job opportunities and financial rewards. Last year, the Modern Language Association (MLA) reported a rise of the number of US college students interested in Chinese and Farsi, which were the most two popular foreign languages among them, next to Japanese, Latin and Russian.

It is good news that young people start to realize that knowing English is not enough anymore if you have high expectations. For example, in 2008 the foreign languages in high demand for FBI enrollment were Swahili, Urdu, Farsi and Bahasa Indonesian.

In today’s global business context, where relocation is a routine, knowing the language spoken by natives in the area you are about the move in is a strong advantage over any other candidate to the job, having the same professional skills and command of English. Knowing the language of the people your company is doing business with will not pass unnoticed either. Just knowing to say a few words in the mother tongue of a client or business partner can open doors, hearts and wallets. As a classical German adage says “the best language is always the customer’s”.

Even if better rewarding the command of uncommonly spoken languages is not a stated policy of a company, this is a skill that will indirectly help you stand out from the crowd. Imagine you have to do a research. By knowing more languages, you will be able to browse more Internet pages, not only the ones written in your native language and English. It will also help you to manage better multiculturalism situations. In the end, foreign languages can put you on light and boost your career. Never miss the opportunity of learning even the basics of a foreign language, because you never know how far these few words can take you.

Is there a certain language you would like to speak, but don’t have enough finances to attend a class? Learning a foreign language has never been easier. Come to Fluent Future and learn a language for free, meeting native speakers of the language you are seeking to learn, or pay rated teachers for individual lessons.

1. Emigration

When you move to a different country or region, learning the local language will help you to communicate and integrate with the local community. Even if many of the locals speak your language, for example if your L1 is English and you move to the Netherlands, it’s still worth your while learning the local language. Doing so will demonstrate your interest in and commitment to the new country.

2. Career or Business Benefits

If your work involves regular contact with speakers of foreign languages, being able to talk to them in their own languages will help you to communicate with them. It may also help you to make sales and to negotiate and secure contracts. Knowledge of foreign languages may also increase your chances of finding a new job, getting a promotion or a transfer overseas, or of going on foreign business trips. Many English-speaking business people don’t bother to learn other languages because they believe that most of the people they do business with in foreign countries can speak English, and if they don’t speak English, interpreters can be used. The lack of foreign language knowledge puts the English speakers at a disadvantage. In meetings for example, the people on the other side can discuss things amongst themselves in their own language without the English speakers understanding, and using interpreters slows everything down. In any socializing after the meetings, the locals will probably feel more comfortable using their own language rather than English.

3. Study or research

You may find that information about subjects you’re interested in is published mainly in a foreign language. Learning that language will give you access to the material and enable you to communicate with fellow students and researchers in the field.

4. Travel

Many English speakers seem to believe that wherever you go on holiday you can get by speaking English, so there’s no point in learning any other languages. If people don’t understand you all you have to do is speak slowly and turn up the volume. You can more or less get away with this, as long as you stick to popular tourist resorts and hotels where you can usually find someone who speaks English. However, if you want to venture beyond such places, to get to know the locals, to read signs, menus, etc, knowing the local language is necessary. A basic ability in a foreign language will help you to ‘get by’, i.e. to order food and drink, find your way around, buy tickets, etc. If you have a more advanced knowledge of the language, you can have real conversations with the people you meet, which can be very interesting and will add a new dimension to your holiday.

5. Studying abroad

If you plan to study at a foreign university, college or school, you’ll need an good knowledge of the local language, unless the course you want to study is taught through the medium of your L1. Your institution will probably provide preparatory courses to improve your language skills and continuing support throughout your main course.

6. Secret communication

If you and some of your relatives, friends or colleagues speak a language that few people understand, you can talk freely in public without fear of anyone eavesdropping, and/or you can keep any written material secret. Speakers of such Native American languages as Navajo, Choctaw and Cheyenne served as radio operators, know as Code Talkers, to keep communications secret during both World Wars. Welsh speakers played a similar role during the Bosnian War

7. Culture

Maybe you’re interested in the literature, poetry, films, TV programs, music or some other aspect of the culture of people who speak a particular language and want to learn their language in order to gain a better understanding of their culture. Most people in the world are multilingual, and everybody could be; no one is rigorously excluded from another’s language community except through lack of time and effort. Different languages protect and nourish the growth of different cultures, where different pathways of human knowledge can be discovered. Perhaps you enjoy the food and/or drink of a particular country or region and make regular trips there, or the recipe books you want to use are only available in a foreign language.

8. Religion

Missionaries and other religious types learn languages in order to spread their message. In fact, missionaries have played a major role in documenting and devising writing systems for many languages. Others learn the language(s) in which the scriptures/holy books of their religion were originally written to gain a better understanding of them. For example, Christians might learn Hebrew, Aramaic and Biblical Greek; Muslims might learn Classical Arabic, and Buddhists might learn Sanskrit.

9. Linguistic interest

Maybe you’re interested in linguistic aspects of a particular language and decide to learn it in order to understand them better.

10. To help understand what other people think

Language influences culture, so learning a language helps you to understand how other people think, and it also helps you to get a general understanding of our world and the many people and cultures that inhabit it.

Russia, the largest FSU state has an unparalleled cultural heritage of many centuries embodied in the little towns and cities of Moscow. Numerous art galleries, museum theatre halls, and St. Petersburg on river Neva are some of the most frequented places in the cities, while small towns with cloisters and castles have an old world charm about them. Russia is also known for its huge rivers, Volga, Lena, placid seas viz. the Caspian & Black Sea and chilly Siberian winters. But, no mention of Russia can ever be complete without its charming womenfolk. Russian women have caught the fancy of westerners since ages (Ayn Rand, Anna Pavlova, Anna Kornikova, Maria Sharapova to name a few) but recent times have seen an unpreceeded number of cross country marriages between Russian women and men from various European and American countries. And, to testify the fact further, there are over 80, 000 registered marriage agencies and dating sites in Ukraine alone with a mind boggling number of educated, professional Russian girls registered with them looking for their dream man outside FSU!

Russian women are known for their ethereal beauty, poise, intelligence, warmth, and strength of their character. With such poise, grace and intelligence why do these women have to look westwards for a suitable match? But, a fact not known to many women by far outnumber the men in Russia (the men: women ratio in Russia according to 2002 statistics is anywhere between 46-54% and things haven’t much changed since then) which leaves her to either opt for a life of solitude or settle for being “second best” in their homeland. But, those who dare to look beyond the horizon, register with a dating site and find a suitable match in a foreign land.

In fact, a few of these women are seeking to break free. Russian society/culture is by and large male dominated. While the men are traditionally seen as the heads of the family and leaders, they are themselves notorious for not assuming the role! The women are left with making all the decisions for the family and supporting their lazy, deadbeat, drunkard husbands or boyfriends. In their own words, a whole lot of women opting to marry offshore admit that Russian men are irresponsible, extremely demanding, uncaring, and stone-hearted and have little empathy for their children, let alone their wives. So, Russian women have to shoulder the entire responsibility of looking after their families despite having a husband. While that may explain the independent and self reliant nature of Russian women but most Russian women if given a choice will prefer to stay indoors and devote their entire lives to their husband and children. So in fact through the dating sites they are looking for someone who can bravely shoulder their responsibilities and lead them, protect them and make them feel free!

If you’re seeking a caring, beautiful wife who places her marriage above her career and family values above material wealth, you should look no further and settle for a Russian mail order bride. But a “mail order bride” is not some merchandise you can purchase online. You must be clear about that you’re going to enter into a relation with someone a person from a foreign land who speaks an entirely different language and comes from a completely different background, which certainly means things are not going to be easy.

A relationship with a Russian woman is likely to be entirely different from any relationship you have had before. Remember you’re dating someone only to get married and not looking for easy fun. Russian women are very serious about marriage from an early age and will take their share of time to judge your intentions before answering in affirmative. Give your relation time and space to flourish before you decide to say I Do. Get acquainted with each other and learn about each other’s country, customs and life style, try to share your views on various issues and your likes/dislikes, it goes a long way in avoiding clashes at a later stage.

If you’re genuinely interested in marrying a Russian girl, you should settle for one these international match making and dating sites. Make sure that you choose a legitimate Russian dating site. Some of the better known Russian dating sites are; russiandatinglive.com, match-ru.com, Russian-women.net, rwguide.com, Loversplanet.com, European-dating-club.com, woman-russian.w-ru.com, and Baltic.russian-women. Once, registered you will have access to the profiles of thousands of Russian women from whom you may handpick a select few on the basis of their age, physical appearance, interests, hobbies or professional background and interact with them through e-mails, postal mails, telephone or voice chats. Apart from this, these sites also provide many additional services like dating tips, translation services and wealth of information about Russia and its culture. But, they can only bring the two ends close by; making them meet will depend on how you nurture your relation.

A word of caution though, you must make sure that your Russian mail order bride is marrying you only for love and willing for long term commitment. Because, there are a handful of women registered on such sites who are either looking for easy money or want to have some fun or even worse migrate to another country by marrying a foreigner. In fact, it is in wake of such incidents that most reputed sites require the registered Russian women to appear for a personal interview and psychological screening where their intentions, credentials are assessed thoroughly so that fake profiles can largely be avoided. The agency staff thereby claims to know the ladies personally. The ladies registered on such sites are from well to do families and have nice academic and professional background. In fact, many of these dating sites have a marriage agency in Russia and Ukraine which lends them a genuine touch. But, deciding upon one’s life partner is no child’s play and in the virtual world where things are often not what they seem, making a choice is all the more difficult. So, one should always be patient, honest and wise while deciding upon a mail order bride.

If you’ve ever had the urge to travel around the world, visiting exotic places, and ordering authentic local cuisine, then you’ve probably considered the fact that it might help if you were able to speak the language. Even if only to read the menu at your favorite French Bistro or Italian Restaurant, it is amazing how much more of the menu you will understand simply by learning a few key phrases in a foreign language.

Learning a new language is almost always a thrilling prospect, even better when you can learn a new language for free. In fact, at this price why on earth would anyone stop at just one language? Many of these online language programs are not intended to work as a sole source of language education, but when used in conjunction with other language learning programs can produce amazing results.

If you use the flash cards and matching games that are available on this site, you will be speaking your new language like a native in no time, better yet, you will understand it like a native as well. Have you ever envied those that speak several languages with as much familiarity as their own mother tongues? Be jealous no longer. Apply these lessons, study diligently and you will notice a significant improvement in your vocabulary.

Learn an Arabic language conversation free with lessons online. In fact, learn a few. Take a look at the free online “Learn Spanish Video” and see how many new words you can learn in a short period of time. Take lessons with a friend and have competitions to see who has learned the most new words. Playing games is a great way to learn and still have fun being competitive with one another.

Remember though that the overall goal is learning a new language. Whether your goals are Russian, Hungarian, English, French, or some obscure tribal language on the moon, you might be surprised at the selection available. You can even use this program to help you avoid the syntax errors in English second language learners. This will make an incredible difference in how you are accepted globally as well as corporately.

There are several sites out there that deal with teaching a foreign language and you’re bound to find something suitable for your needs even after a few minutes of electronic surfing. Although most will focus on popular languages such as English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian or Portuguese, other “smaller” languages are not left out in the cold either. Regardless of what language you’re aiming for, chances are that you can find a site that covers it and offers some learning courses for it.

Learning a foreign language can be really easy if you have a good teacher. I travel a lot, and I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of people spend years in a foreign countries. However, they weren’t able to speak correctly.

To learn a secondary language, you need the proper method. Believe me, one of my coaches told me that he had a friend who was able to learn the basics of any language in only three days.

This is the secret! Once you have the basics right, everything become easier..

1. Communication with a native

This is the first thing you need to do. If you want to learn French, you need to speak to someone on a weekly basis.

You have different methods to do this, and the Internet made this even easier.

You can use skype, Yahoo or msn messenger. It’s much cheaper than the traditional telephone, and hence, you will be able to speak more often and longer.

It is even better if you have a native speaker in your neighborhood, but it’s not frequent.

2. Get a grammar manual

You need to have a manual that explain all the basics of the language. It will be your guide.

Whenever you have a problem, you will come back to this manual. It can be a book, or even a software. Today, there are a lot of good software out there, and you can easily find them on the Internet.

3. Memorize Everything

Yes, I said learn everything.

Every single day, write a minimum of fifteen words on a piece of paper, put this on your pocket and memorize them.

Think about it, after one week you will already know ninety words. After two months, you will have a lot of vocabulary.

I learned the traditional Arabic language in only three months because I applied the two tips above, plus this one.

I speak fluently, and whenever I travel in an Arabic country, people think that Arab is my native tongue, they don’t even see the difference.