Posts Tagged ‘English’
Business and English Language Education in Japan: Another Step in the Nova Saga
March 30, 2011 | 
Author The Osaka District Court recently sentenced Nova’s president, Nozomu Sahashi, to three and a half years in prison for skimming off employee funds. Sahashi stole the funds in 2007 during Nova’s last days; he was just a step ahead of the giant foreign language school’s bankruptcy in October.
Prosecutors had sought a five-year sentence and many were surprised that the judge handed down such a severe sentence. Sahashi will undoubtedly appeal and the appeals process will take some time. Some Japanese businessmen sentenced to prison terms never serve them. Nova was Japan’s biggest foreign language school chain and employed more foreign nationals than any other company in Japan.
The Nova Group was founded in August 1981. Nozomu Sahashi opened the first Nova classroom in Shinsaibashi, Osaka with two high school graduates from Sweden and Canada. Sahashi had met them thanks to a friend who was studying abroad in Paris. Over 20 years later at its peak points, Nova was nearing a half a million students with 50% of the total market share calculated according to revenue and a 66% market share calculated according to the number of students.
Nova’s high numbers were thanks to their very aggressive and extensive advertising in newspapers and on television and billboards everywhere. Many Nova classrooms were located in visible locations near train stations, key locations for doing business in Japan. Nova used the Nova pink rabbit as their company character and the rabbit often appeared in television commercials. Children liked the rabbit and its popularity skyrocketed. Nova introduced Nova pink rabbit merchandise, selling over two million dollars worth in the first two weeks alone.
Aiming to be Different: the New Hi-tech Player in Jakarta?s English Language Education Sector
Aiming to be Different
The new hi-tech player in Jakarta’s English language education sector.
By David Keating.
Jakarta, May 5th 2007
Both learning and using the English language have now become a major part of the lives of many Indonesians. From a young age children begin learning English at schools, meaning the majority of Indonesians who complete formal school education have at least a basic grasp of the fundamentals of the language.
Increasingly, families are recognizing that children who take language education one step further are getting a ‘head start’ on their peers when it comes to higher education and the employment market. From an early age, some modern Indonesian families (especially those in the big cities) incorporate English into the daily lives of their children through family conversation and after-school language classes. The result of this upsurge in demand for language education has been an increasing number of language schools, and nowhere can this trend better be seen than in Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta.
A bewildering variety of English language courses are on offer for Jakarta’s youth, from ‘private’ classes with individual teachers to the array of different types of programs offered by the multitude of commercial language schools in the city. There are now English courses aimed at people from all walks of life, and for an array of different purposes:
Academic English, Business English, IELTS preparation, General English, Conversation, TOEFL preparation, writing classes, business communication, ESP(English for specific purposes)… the list goes on…
2 questions will be addressed here:
Why Learn Swedish?
Aside from the possibility of living in Sweden or Finland (where Swedish is an official second language), or meeting someone important who knows to speak only in Swedish, you’re probably looking for other reasons to convince you to go through the trouble of learning it as a second language. After all, Swedish is not as widely used as Chinese, Spanish or English—it’s not even among the top 10 languages in the world—but knowing how to speak the language does have its perks.
If surviving in a foreign land is not enough of a reason for you, then it should be of interest that the Swedish language is one of the easiest to learn to those who fluently speak English. It is worth noting that Swedish has borrowed a lot from other, more popularly used and studied languages, such as French, German, and English, which may lend to the initial familiarity of the words to a first-time learner of the language.
Before borrowed words were included, however, Swedish has long enjoyed commonalities with most other Indo-European languages, particularly its closest kin—Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic. It is even said, that by knowing how to read in Swedish, one is also instantly able to read Danish and Norwegian text, as probably the main difference between the three languages is in the pronunciation.
Another good reason to learn Swedish, particularly if you plan to stay in Sweden for a long period of time and want to get on the native’s good side is that knowing their language will make it easier for them to open up to you, with you being a stranger to the country. Learning the native language is important if you find it important to make many friends while you’re there, as it is seen as a means of showing respect to the natives in many countries.
Posted in Language | 
Tags: English, Finland, indo european languages, initial familiarity, Language, language learning guide, living in sweden, reason, Sweden, Swedish | 
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Boost Your Foreign Language Learning
Using Mnemonics in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning
So how much vocabulary do you actually need to know before you can “get by” and actually converse in a foreign language? That depends on who you ask, as that tends to vary somewhat.
In his book, “Using Your Memory”, author Tony Buzan says that a mere 100 words comprise nearly 50% of the vocabulary used in every day conversational speech in most languages. Learning the equivalent of these words in a foreign language can help you to quickly develop essential vocabulary for everyday conversational use. But is this really enough?
Link Word Technique
Generally, you can function at the most basic level in a foreign language with a core vocabulary of around 1000 words according to Dr. Michael Gruneberg who formalized the “LinkWord” technique. He claims that, using this technique of linking a word in your own language to a word in the new language, you can acquire a core vocabulary in a foreign language in as little as 10 hours.
The LOCI Method
According to Cicero, the LOCI Method or Roman Room System is said to have originated in ancient Greece circa 500 B.C. When the building he was in collapsed, crushing all of the people inside beyond recognition, the only survivor, poet Simonides of Ceos identified the victims by name solely based on where they had been sitting at the dinner table. The technique was commonly used for centuries by Greek and Roman orators to give speeches without using notes.
The Pimsleur Method
Posted in Language | Tags: B.C. When, Cicero, core, Dr. Michael Gruneberg, English, Foreign Language, Greece, Language, linkword technique, Memory Techniques, Method, roman orators, roman room system, Tony Buzan | No Comments »