Keeping Away From
LANGUAGE LEARNING SCAMS

As United States citizens increase their interest into foreign language , many dishonest businesses take advantage of New Yorkers' desire of a quick learning.

here is a popular joke among foreign language teachers that says that bilinguals are those who speak two languages. Polyglots are able to express themselves in three or more tongues, while monolingual people could only be Americans.

However, the notion that one can survive in today's globalized world by speaking only one language is extremely outdated, and by today's standards, it is simply wrong and utterly arrogant.

U.S. Citizens took long to realize that. After many losses in sales and profits, Americans began to notice that their foreign competitors were always step ahead of them simply by speaking more than one language apart from their own.

Today language centers, who used to concentrate into teaching English as a second language to nonnative students and immigrants, thrive by offering programs in Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese and many other languages to people from all walks of life who have realized that just English simply isn't enough.

That is especially true in the tri- state area, where businessmen and businesswomen come from all over the world to negotiate and close multimillion-dollar deals every day.

The presence of language schools in New York is quite visible. One cannot take a walk along the Financial District or anywhere else without stumbling into a language center. In Manhattan alone there are hundreds of them, and quite a few(not including nonprofit organizations such as the Y's) flourish in the tri- state area.

One must be aware that learning a foreign language is not easy, and it requires a lot of dedication and endless hours of self-study in addition to those spent in the classroom. And of course, it requires time, and many hurried New Yorkers don't want to wait, and they quickly jump at a promise of a "fast, conversational course" that will have you speaking "in a matter of days."

Now just wait a minute. I have been teaching English as a foreign and second languages for the last 15 years, and let me tell you that there is no way that anyone can start speaking, say, French in "a couple of weeks" unless that person is extremely gifted(and there aren't many of those) or if he or she decides to register in what is called a "total immersion" course, in which the student spends up to eight straight hours in class for a determined number of days, which is inadvisable to those who, like me, have no stamina for that kind of thing.

"A matter of days" will be enough for basic survival skills such as ordering a meal in a restaurant or talking to the concierge at a hotel. Those "skills", however, have no guarantee of working in a real-life situation, when your teacher will not be anywhere near you if you get in trouble.

Of course, in many countries people speak English and you just might be able to sort out whatever you need, but by then it just might be too late and you will have wasted lots of time and money, let alone your self-respect God forbid you find yourself stranded somewhere in Mexico or Argentina .Stay away from promises of a quickie course and realize that it will take some time until you can discuss soccer in a Brazilian bar.

When selecting a language course, check out their reputation. Have they been around long? If not,find out about former students and get their feedback. Always ask for a sample lesson and get out of there in case they refuse you.

Many courses boast that they have "native" speakers. While that might have its advantages, sometimes a well- rained nonnative can be of much more use to the student's needs than a non-trained native.

There has been a lot of investment into computer-assisted language learning in more recent years. It is always helpful to see if the school embraces (or is willing to embrace) new technology, for it is and indication that the center that they will keep an open mind towards new pedagogical ideas, which is something constant in the foreign language teaching business.

Finally, do dedicate yourself. Just spending a few hours in class and doing your homework is not enough. Try to find publications in your target language such as books or magazines, and try to stimulate your listening skills by learning songs and watching films in whatever language you have chosen.