Alright if you are travelling to France you are bound to see people giving each other kisses on the cheek. In French it’s called “faire la bise”. When you great someone you or are meeting someone new for the first time you will “faire la bise”. This sounds rather simple but it’s rather complex and the French don’t always know what’s standard practice so don’t feel embarrassed if you get it wrong. So let’s cover the basics.
Faire la bise 101
Who:
Technique: When you faire la bise you do not actually kiss the other persons cheek but simply touch cheeks lightly and kiss the air. It is usually done very fast. Depending on the region you are in determines the # of times you will touch cheeks. The most common is 2 times but can reach as many as 5. See the image below
Men: only faire la bise with women or close male family members like your father or brother. There are exceptions for this like when having reunion with very close friends or emotional situations like a marriage or funeral.
Women: faire la bise with male and female acquaintances.
Cultural Notes: Although for non Europeans it may seem odd to be kissing cheeks with another persons spouse or significant other but it is a perfectly normal and harmless greeting in France and other European countries. However, make sure you don’t linger too long or it may taken the wrong way.
The best thing you can do is just watch what the others are doing and go along. You’ll catch on quickly and don’t feel bad if you mess it up.
Let me know your experiences.
When learning a foreign language you need to have goals and to stay organized. This is not always the easiest thing to do because learning a foreign language is not usually done sitting at a desk, it’s done out talking to people. So here are a few things you can do to keep you language studies organized.
1. Make Goals: Think about the things you would like to learn and the things you would like to do in your foreign language. Then list them in order of priority. This seems simple enough but give this some good thought and make sure you are not getting ahead of yourself. If it is a difficult skill or subject make smaller goals to build up to it.
2. Write it Down: Don’t just keep your goals in your head write them down. Write your goals down and give yourself a deadline. If you are like me I have trouble keeping things organized. In fact my friend Adam has created a great tool to help you keep all of your to do lists or goal lists in our case organized. It’s called iPrioritized.
Get a FREE account at http://www.iprioritize.com .
This tool allows you to list and organize all of your goals and to do’s in order of priority. Once you completed one you can just erase it or rearrange goals in order of priority as your studies change.
3. Evaluate: In section two I said to give yourself deadlines. The reason for that is so that you don’t procrastinate and two this gives you the important time to evaluate your progress when you’ve reached those deadlines. You should take a look at your goals and rate yourself on how well you improved in those areas. Also, depending on the results that you see or if your goals change you can take this time to redirect your efforts and priorities.
No matter what you do to organize yourself, just get organized. You will find that you will progress much faster if you have specific goals in mind and make a plan to achieve them.
Don’t forget, if you would like private lessons or need language training for you or your business Le Tutor Language Services is your source for effective language training. http://www.letutor.com/lessons 480.626.7622 info@letutor.com
Foreign Languages are Fun
That’s Right Languages are Fun!
Lets get one thing straight learning a foreign language is hard work, but it’s fun. Yes I said it, it’s both. Although there is not currently a magic formula that will make instantly fluent it is possible to become fluent if you are willing to work. One thing that we advocate at LeTutor is responsibility on the part of the student and that is the key to your success. Am I using to many unfun words? Hard, Work, Responsibility. Well don’t go away yet.
First of all our definition of hard work is a consistent and conscious efforts focused on accomplishing a goal. By our definition hard work does not mean sweating and an aching back. Students simply need to be realistic about their goals and committed to putting forth the time and effort necessary on a regular basis to achieve those goals Now for the fun part. Although languages require work and dedication you must make your learning experience fun. This doesn’t mean that there will not be subjects you that you will have to buckle down and learn or that won’t be boring and monotonous. It does mean that you should be creative with your learning and exercises. Especially by trying to make your lessons as natural as possible they will seem less like work and more like fun. Here a few things you can do to make your lessons more interesting.
1. Carry a Dictionary: This is a fun way to learn new words without having to sit down and memorize boring lists. When you are walking around and you see something that you don’t know the name for look it up and write it down. Writing it down is important, it increases your memory retention.
2. Listen to the Radio: Listening to the radio is a great way to work on your ability to distinguish words. You can find foreign language radio stations all over the Internet that allow you to listen from your computer. Also, Sirius and XM radio have some foreign language channels available.
3. Be Social: After all that’s what languages are for. Get out and visit with friends or make new ones that speak the language you are learning.
These are just a few ideas to make your hard work fun. Be as creative as you want with your studies and if it works for you then keep on doing it. I would recommend that if you are not attending a language class or seeing a tutor that from time to time you schedule a lesson or two with a language teacher to make sure that you are learning everything correctly and are on the right path. The worst thing you can do is learn something the wrong way only to find out a year later. Wouldn’t it be horrible if you we were trying to ask someone how they were doing and told them that their breath was kickin like Bruce Lee?
Why should you learn Spanish? First off Spanish is a beautiful language with a wonderfully diverse culture and people I would recommend learning it to everyone. Although that may be the reason some of you want to learn Spanish I’m sure that each of you reading this have your own reasons for learning Spanish. That is precisely why I am going to break up this piece into three sections so that you can see the benefits of each reason individually: Economic, Travel, and Cultural Enrichment..
Let’s Start off with some basic facts:
Statistics
Number of Countries that Speak Spanish: 22
Number of Spanish Speakers Worldwide : 334,240,000
Number of Spanish Speakers in the USA : 31,000,000 *based on 2000 census
- The USA has the 5th largest speaking population in the world.
The Latino Community in Phoenix, AZ is approximately 1 million and they spend $5 billion per year.
- That is a very large economic market
Language Background
Spanish comes from Spain and it’s original name is Castilian, which is the official literary language of Spain. Spanish is known as a romance language that derives from latin, but is also influenced by Arabic. The spaniards were essentially colonized or invaded by the Arabic speaking Moores from 711 bc to the 1500’s. Spanish was then spread across the America’s, Africa, and the Caribbean through colonisation.
All right so now that we’ve got some basic background information about Spanish let’s talk about why you want to Speak the langauge.
1. Economic Incentive: Whether you want to work abroad or locally there are thousands of business opportunities that are waiting in this underserved market. You can increase your effeciency at your current job by communicating better with clients and fellow employees, or increase your chances of getting a new job or promotion. Also, if you are a business owner increase your share of the local market by increasing your presence in the latino community.
2. Travel: Spanish countries are home to some of the most beautiful natural wonders, architecture, great food, rich culture, and amazing people. There are 22 countries, including Europe, Africa, The Caribbean, and the America’s, who’s official language is Spanish and many more that speak it fluently. Think of all the places that one language will allow you to go. You could even go to the Phillipines and get by rather well between Spanish and English.
3. Cultural Enrichment: First let’s recognize the people. The latino people have a wonderful personality, sense of community, and are very generous. Not to mention their contributions to the Arts which have been more than significant. Although some may be over shadowed at times, by more prominent latin writers, painters, and scholars, their works are just as poignant. Some of the major painters are Picasso, Dali, Kahlo, Botero, and Diego Rivera. Musicians: Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Enrique Inglesias. Ok so maybe not the most convincing list but you and I know that great music comes out of the latin world. Besides my horrible list of “musicians” there is so much culture to absorb in the latin world. That’s because although all of the countries speak the same language they all have very unique cultures and personalities that you get to discover one at a time.
So no matter what your interests are there is a reason and valuable benefit to learning Spanish. Now Take advantage of todays wonderful resources that simplify learning a new language and start today.
If you’re saying well all of that is great but I’m not good with languages. Then I’d say that languages are only foreign because you don’t use them.
Best of Luck!
Businesses have many dimensions and work in all kinds of industries yet they all share one common characteristics. No matter what your business does it involves people, directly or indirectly. However we are not all able to communicate with the same people based on what languages we speak. In your business’ daily operations I’m sure that you come across communication barriers whether locally or abroad. The world is only becoming smaller and whether the world is brought to our doorstep or we seek it out we cannot ignore the value of doing business with customers from other cultures.?
Here in the United States the most obvious market that cannot be ignored is the Latino or Spanish speaking demographic. For example that Hispanic community in Phoenix, AZ makes up 34% of the population and spend more than $5 billion annually. This is an example of the diversity or our local population that is underserved. If you are able to reach them and gain their trust as a community the you can share in the $5 billion that they spend annually.
One of the biggest pitfalls of communicating with an audience that does not speak your language is not working with a professional. One of the main reasons you want to work with someone who is an experienced language specialist is because of the diversity within the community of people that speak a particular foreign language. Just like Americans speak distinctly different English than the English or Australians.
Another example that hits close to home is the Latinos. A Latino or Spanish speaker can come from any of the Spanish speaking countries south of the U.S. So if you choose an employee from Chile or from a specific region in Mexico it is certain that without training their vocabulary and understanding will be different than that of your target audience. That is why it is important to use a language specialist who can either single out a specific dialect that represents your target audience or that can employ a standard and non regional form of Spanish. This is also true for all languages including English. You wouldn’t allow someone with no writing experience from the accounting department in Alabama write your marketing materials, so you shouldn’t do it in a foreign language just because one your employees in your company happens to speak the language of your target audience. So to summarize you want to make sure that the person not only speaks the language but that they have the skills necessary to adapt and understand your audience. Just like you don’t hire a lawyer to do your accounting you don’t want someone other than a language specialist preparing your foreign language documents.*
*A short side note is that if your documents or marketing materials are technical in any way there are language professionals who specialize in those fields. They often have worked in the field for many years and have a deep understanding of the subject of your materials. You want to make sure that the agency or language professional is working with or has experience in the field in order to achieve the best results.
Hello everyone! Coming very soon we will begin adding content that will address everything about Foreign Languages. There will be help for students of foreign langauges like: learning tips, self learning guides, excercises, a comprehensive resource guides, language materials reviews and language news. There will also be help and guides for teachers of foreign languages.
If there is anything that you would like to know more about, questions answered or suggestions for subjects just let us know.
We look forward to getting know everyone and providing a great resource for foreign language learners everywhere.
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