Thursday, 12 April 2012, 2:09 pm

Press Release: Euroasia

Leading foreign language school expands into Wellington

New Zealand’s leading provider of European and Asian language and cultural services is opening a branch in Wellington CBD this month. Courses are delivered in conjunction with Wellington partner English Teaching College (ETC), which has been operating in Wellington since 1993. The manager of the school in Wellington is veteran language professional Marty Pilott.

Euroasia Director Kenneth Leong says: “Over 200 Wellingtonians have expressed interest in signing up for our courses in the last 12 months. We believe our range of offerings would appeal to the Wellington market.”

Mr. Leong describes Euroasia’s mission: “We are in the business of connecting people across cultures. Euroasia has a role in promoting greater cross-cultural understanding as New Zealand becomes more culturally diverse.”

“Language skills aid in bridging the cultural divide as globalisation means people of different cultures will increasingly work and play together.”

Although there are other organisations offering foreign language teaching, a few things about Euroasia make it a little different:

• Specialisation in European and Asian languages other than English (including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese Mandarin, Japanese etc)

• Teachers are native speakers, and offer interesting cultural input

• Specially designed curriculum taking into account unique requirements of New Zealanders

• Each course is designed in consultation with the students to meet their needs

Euroasia’s foreign language classes have been attended by over 3,000 New Zealanders in the past 5 years. Euroasia courses in Auckland and Wellington are available through evening classes, in-company tuition or online learning. Cross-cultural consulting and translation services are also offered. Euroasia’s clients include many of New Zealand’s leading corporate and government organisations.

Mr Leong further adds: “New Zealanders’ interest in foreign languages and cultures continue to grow unabated,” said Mr. Leong. “More New Zealanders are traveling and doing business overseas; this is translating into higher levels of business for Euroasia”.

ENDS

Posted via email from Euroasia

A friend asked, “Why weren’t you successful with the Saudis?” 

The salesman explained, “When I got posted, I was very confident that I would make a good sales pitch. 

But I had a problem. I didn’t know how to speak Arabic. So I planned to convey the message through three posters.

First poster: A man lying in the hot desert sand totally exhausted and fainting. 

Second poster: The man is drinking Coca-Cola. 

Third poster: Our man is now totally refreshed. 

And then these posters were pasted all over the place. 

“Terrific! That should have worked!” said the friend. “The hell it should have!” said the salesman. 

“No one told me they read from right to left!“

Posted via email from Euroasia

Here we’ve compiled a series of articles which may be of interest to language learners and linguaphiles, all from January 2012.

1) How to maximise your memory – The Guardian, 14 Jan 2012

Forget rote learning, one of the best ways to commit something to memory is to think of associated images – the more outlandish, the better.

The brain is often likened to a muscle, the suggestion being that if you exercise it, its function will improve. A bodybuilder can strengthen his biceps by repeatedly lifting weights and so, the argument goes, you can improve your memory by repeating over and over to yourself (either out loud or sub-vocally) the information you wish to remember.

For years, researchers considered that “rehearsing” information in this way was necessary to retain it in your short-term memory and transfer it into long-term memory. This view fits with our instinct that if we want to remember something like a phone number, we say it to ourselves again and again in the hope that it “sticks”. Generations of students have held fast to the principle that repeatedly reading through lecture notes and textbooks, attempting to rote learn the facts needed for exams, is the path to success.

There is evidence that the more an item is rehearsed, the greater the likelihood of long-term retention. In one study, participants were presented with a list of words and were asked to rehearse the list out loud. When asked to recall the words, memory retrieval improved as a direct function of the amount of rehearsal that was undertaken. However, in almost all circumstances, simple rote rehearsal is much less effective than strategies that involve thinking about the meaning of the information you are trying to remember.

Check out the rest of the article on The Guardian

2) Learning a language may come down to gestures –  Washington Post, 10 Jan 2012

Gestures make it easier to learn a language, researchers discover

Language classes of the future might come with a physical workout because people learn a new tongue more easily when words are accompanied by movement.

Manuela Macedonia and Thomas Knoesche at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, enrolled 20 volunteers in a six-day course to learn “Vimmi”, a phony language designed to make study results easier to interpret. Half of the material was taught using only spoken and written instructions and exercises, while the other half was taught with body movements to accompany each word, which the students were asked to act out.

Students remembered significantly more of the words taught with movement, and they used them more readily when creating sentences, according to the researchers.

Rest of the story at Washington Post

3) Why language study should be part of your college experience, CNN, 5 Jan 2012

Russell A. Berman,  2011 President of the Modern Language Association and professor of Comparative Literature and German Studies at Stanford University talks about why the decision to learn a foreign language is one of the best you can make. “Learning another language will open the door to another culture and enhance your career opportunities in the increasingly global economy. Having strong skills in another language may give you an edge when applying for a job. That unique ability will set you apart from other applicants and show a potential employer that you have demonstrated long-term discipline in acquiring specialized knowledge.”

Check out the rest of the article on the CNN blog.

Posted via email from Euroasia

Part of what makes knowing a language a great skill to have is simply because it’s not that easy for someone to acquire fluency. If it was, it would quickly lose it’s value and won’t be treasured as much.

Check out our post on how to learn a language fast for some language learning tips you can employ in 2012.

Hope to see you around at one of the Euroasia language courses soon. We have a 2-week summer school intake kicking off on 18 Jan, and the main term on 31 Jan.

Today I would like to share a little known fact from the world of languages. In day-to-day interactions, we often use no more than 100 words. To maximise return on investment, you have to focus on acquiring the basic vocabulary ie it’s probably not going to matter if you don’t know the Chinese word for aardvark (土豚 or “tu tun” for those who must know). 

The key to language mastery is knowing how to string different words together (we call these ‘rules’ grammar).  Here are 4 key tips on how to learn a language fast.

The 80/20 rule. In the English language, the most common 25 words make up about one-third of all printed material, and the top 100 most common words make up about one-half of all written material. 

At the bottom of this article, I have reproduced a list of the top 100 most commonly used English words (thanks Wikipedia). The key words may vary depending on language, but most likely you will find that it’s only the relative ranking of the key words that change, and the top 100 most commonly used words would be pretty similar across languages. Focus on what matters.

Don’t get too stressed over mistakes. The point to remember is no native speaker expects you as a non-native speaker to speak their language perfectly so don’t get too worked up over whether you have the word order 100% right. Remember: the aim of communication is to get the message across. Unless you’re planning to be a United Nations interpreter, the locals will most likely not care if you make a few mistakes here and there. Memorise the key vocabulary first. The rules matter, but without the vocabulary, you have no ammo.

Know what to talk about. This is related to point 1. It takes a lifetime to master a language, so as you can imagine it’s not easy to work out the order in which we learn topics. We asked our clients what they needed to know when travelling overseas and came up with a long list. Unsurprisingly, knowing how to order a beer and telling a good-loooking girl she’s beautiful ranks pretty highly.  At Euroasia, we teach language learners the important stuff that you can use everyday. Here is a sample outline of what we expect to cover at the most basic beginners level.

Unit 1 – Greet people, give your name and ask how people are.

Unit 2 – Ask and answer questions about your job; you will also be able to ask about and give your phone number.

Unit 3 – Say where you come from and give the language you speak.

Unit 4 – Talk about the people in your family and say how old they are.

Unit 5 – Tell the time and give days and months; you will also be able to ask for a ticket on public transport.

Unit 6 – Say what you like or don’t like, and also talk about your freetime activities; you will also be able to say what the weather is like at the moment or at particular times of the year.

Unit 7 – Ask about something in a shop, understand and talk about prices, and also describe clothes.

Unit 8 – Talk about different meals, also food and drink; you will know what to say to buy these things from a shop.

Unit 9 – Order a meal in a restaurant, book accommodation and check in, also know how to talk about simple problems.

Unit 10 – Talk about where places are in a town, ask for directions and understand simple instructions for getting somewhere.

Constant practice. Learning a language is all about persistence. Much like going to the gym. No pain, no gain. Attending a class on a regular basis makes a huge difference (which is why language schools still exist despite language software and internet courses having been around for the past two decades). Ultimately, to improve you would need to practice speaking the language. 

p/s:  Check out the language courses at Euroasia.  We offer summer school programmes starting 5 Jan and 18 Jan, with regular courses starting 31 Jan.

Source: The Reading Teachers Book of Lists, Third Edition; by Edward Bernard Fry, Ph.D, Jacqueline E. Kress, Ed.D & Dona Lee Fountoukidis, Ed.D.

Posted via email from Euroasia

Language learning is an aspirational goal that ranks highly on many New Year resolution lists. It’s an especially worthy endeavour for avid travellers wanting to maximise their travel experience. You’ve probably heard stories from Kiwis who have returned from their “Overseas Experience” lamenting the fact that they would’ve enjoyed themselves more if they could speak the local lingo.

These days travel is not the only driver of foreign language learning. Increasingly Kiwis realise that knowing a foreign language gives them a distinct edge in dealing with clients and suppliers from other cultures. Job seekers also realise that employers value people who speak more than one language. Language learners also demonstrate to potential employers that they are proactive enough to make the effort to learn a foreign language.

In expectation of a surge in interest from people wanting to learn a language to kick off 2012, we are offering a range of summer intensives. 

Courses for beginners are available in Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, German, Italian, Korean and Russian. 

No previous knowledge of the language is required. By the end of this course, you will already know enough to “get by”: you will be able to cope with the most common everyday situations by asking and answering simple questions. and you will be able to understand people when they speak to you about the situations covered.

Kickstart 2012 with a language boost. Sign up online now. 

January 2012 language intensive – 10 sessions over 4 weeks

5-26 Jan 2012

Duration: 4 weeks, 10 sessions; Tue & Thu 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Sat 9:30 AM-12:30 PM

Session 1, Thu 5-Jan-2012 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Session 2, Sat 7-Jan-2012 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Session 3, Tue 10-Jan-2012 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Session 4, Thu 12-Jan-2012 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Session 5, Sat 14-Jan-2012 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Session 6, Tue 17-Jan-2012 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Session 7, Thu 19-Jan-2012 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Session 8, Sat 21-Jan-2012 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Session 9, Tue 24-Jan-2012 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Session 10, Thu 26-Jan-2012 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Cost is $649 (inclusive of all materials, no hidden costs).

Beginners language course (2 weeks)

5-14 Jan-2012 OR 18-28 Jan 2012

Duration 2 weeks, 5 sessions (Tue & Thurs 6:00-9:00pm, Sat 9:30am-12:30pm)

Session 1, Thu 5-Jan-2012 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Session 2, Sat 7-Jan-2012 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Session 3, Tue 10-Jan-2012 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Session 4, Thu 12-Jan-2012 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Session 5, Sat 14-Jan-2012 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Cost is $368 (inclusive of all materials, no hidden costs).

Posted via email from Euroasia