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Language TrainersNew York City is one of the world's great melting pots. The home of the UN is also home to people from almost every country on the planet. The essence of New York is in the city's diversity, a fact no more apparent than in the variety of languages you will hear while spending a day exploring The Bronx or Brooklyn. The city has been defined by great waves of immigration from Ireland, Italy, Latin America and Asia, all of which have added a something special to the mix. One upshot of the varied linguistic stock of the city is that it is easy to find a course, should you wish to learn a new language. As an example,it is easier to locate a Hebrew course in New York than in almost any other city outside of Israel, largely because New York has a huge Jewish community. The same is true of finding a course to learn Italian in New York - the Italian community which used to be based around Little Italy is now all over the city. Some people claim that New Yorkers speak a different language from the rest of the world. If you are a New Yorker who wants to speak a different language from the rest of the city, how about taking a Swedish course in New York? The northern European country is famous for its healthy lifestyle and beautiful inhabitants; imagine being able to 'chat up' a Swede in Swedish! A little effort can go a long way. Of course, Swedish people are generally fluent in English by their teenage years, having been brought up on a diet of British music and subtitled American movies. The French, on the other hand, have laws dictating that a certain amount of music played on French radio stations should be in French, while dubbing the majority of imported movies. This often makes the need to learn French in New York a more pressing one than the need to learn Swedish. It is not only New York that benefits from a strong linguistic stock. The city with which the American cultural capital has most in common is London, UK. While London is an older city and arguably doesn't have the same buzz as its American counterpart, people from all over the world are drawn to England's capital city by its reputation for culture, business and history. The selection of language courses available in London is equal to that in New York, while the European languages are, arguably, better represented due to London's proximity to mainland Europe. Finding a Portuguese course in London, for example, is little more difficult than finding a Spanish course in London, despite there being many more Spanish speakers in the world than Portuguese speakers. Learning a language is well worth the effort. The hardest part is, inevitably, the initial stage when you are finding your feet. After initial hurdles are overcome, it is usually an incredibly rewarding experience.
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