French / German / Italian

[Sockpuppet]

Ok, so I am hopefully going to hear about a role that I am looking at doing which will require lots fo time in Europe.

The client is *dead keen* on people that can speak languages as its all working with natives, several sights, several countries.

My non language skills are hopefully going to get me the role but they are going to want me to put in some effort and learn the languages (hopefully its a 24 month contract).

As there is a definate business need would any course/tutoring be considered "wholly occured by business".

I'm thinking this is a big grey area as it could be seen as BIK it I used it on holidays.


Second point. Anyone know any good language courses. French I will have to re-learn and the other two I would have to start from stratch.

[dang65]

I did a BBC course of 'business Italian' for work a few years ago. Forgotten a lot of it now, but it was very good.

I don't suppose that any language is easy to learn, but if you've already got English and a reasonable grasp of French then I'd say you'd find Italian less of a challenge to crack than many others.

For a start, a lot of the vocabulary will be familiar from a mixture of French and our own language, all having taken from a common source. Also, Italian has a fantastically neat structure with far fewer irregular words than either French or English. Nouns, for example, follow a standard gender and plural pattern which you really only have to learn once.

il ragazzo - the boy
i ragazzi - the boys
la ragazza - the girl
le ragazze - the girls

Learn one root - ragazz- - and you've got the whole sequence just by following the standard rules. Same sort of thing applies to most verbs too.

[Sockpuppet]

Interesting....

Yeah I think I will stick to a language that I know is easier first. French I still know from gcse days its just a case of unlocking what I know in there. Which is nice.

I loate to pay for anything that usenet or torrents can supply for free but Linguaphone are looking like there are some good offers on at the moment.

[Lockhouse]

I can recommend the Michel Thomas CD set for French and I believe he does an Italian set as well. Widely available at a BT site near you. Probably.

[Burdock]

Sock,

check Loughborough or Leicester/De Montfort unis. Many unis run short term intensive language courses or evening classes.

[Fishface]

French = the french don't give you an inch if you get it wrong or close.

Italian = very very difficult grammar and exceptions to rules.

Spanish = most accessible - go for LATAM spanish its more simplified - and dont believe a word that they cant understand it in Spain - the Spanish in Spain make the language elaborate for the purposes of grandeur

[Rantor]

SP - I had to 're-learn' French after a rather substantial gap. It was a lot harder than I expected and it took a lot of plugging away at it - talking, reading and watching the telly in French.

The French can be a bit sneery about it but you just learn to ignore it. I work with a parisian woman who does the same thing as the Marjory Daws does in Little Britain - everyone else understands but she just wrinkles her face up "Qu'a-t-il dit ?"

Starting a Dutch course in September

[TheFaQQer]

If you can stomach it, the Daily Mail regularly gives away free CDs for learning a foreign language (oh, the irony!).

You can probably pick them up in charity shops for 10p or so, thereby not having to buy a copy of the Mail.

[Sockpuppet]

Sock,

check Loughborough or Leicester/De Montfort unis. Many unis run short term intensive language courses or evening classes.

I think it may come to that. May be more expensive but you gets what you pay for.

[Mustang]

As there is a definate business need would any course/tutoring be considered "wholly occured by business"

I think my accountant once provided me with this basic rule of thumb regarding training:

If you are enhancing existing skills (e.g. latest version of Oracle or Java), new techniques for a certain programming language) then it is an allowable business expense. If you are aquiring new skills (i.e. re-training) it is not allowable.

I am not an accountant!

Second point. Anyone know any good language courses. French I will have to re-learn and the other two I would have to start from scratch.

In my own experience I would get private tuition. I found learning at your own pace (1-on-1) helps you to progress as you can adapt things so much more easily. When I lived in Stockholm I learnt Swedish with a private tutor and really found it helped!

(Before anyone asks: NO the tutor was not 28, with long blond hair and long tanned legs! However.................................my girlfriend was! )