Teaching the less common
Only a handful of schools on the market are still providing classes in just one foreign language. Many of these single tongue centers are supported by government institutions, like the British Council, the Goethe Institute, the Oesterreich Institut or one of the numerous institutes promoting specific countries.
Most of the large language schools offer a variety of languages in their portfolio - usually the international ones, such as English, French, German, Russian and Spanish, with Italian also being a common option.
However, some schools go even further offering "other languages upon request". Usually it is individuals willing to study one of the less common tongues, but once the demand for the language grows it may happen that regular classes are established.
"Japanese has been fairly successful in Warsaw, we have a few groups and the number of students is constantly growing," the general director of EMPIK Language Schools, Dorota Żuchowicz, said.
She named Swedish and Arabic as the other uncommon languages that people are increasingly seeking tuition for. However, Żuchowicz added that most people studying Japanese are those interested in the culture of the country or simply people who enjoy learning foreign languages. "What's interesting is that those classes are not just language courses, students also learn about the culture of the particular country or region," Żuchowicz said.
Direct Profesjonalne Centrum Językowe offers courses in Danish, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic. The school's managing director, Inga Lechowska, explained that interest in Danish and Arabic has increased substantially over the last few years. "Danish is usually studied by young people, including many nurses, who have work opportunities in Denmark. It is a similar situation with Swedish. As for Arabic, our students are young people aiming to study at the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at university, as well as wives of Arabs living in Poland," she said.
Of those taking up less common languages business people make up a significant proportion. The main in reason for this is to allow them to deal with clients who do not share the mainstream languages, such as French or English. "Due to high demand last year we have launched our first course of the Chinese language," said Maria Malinowska-Sikora, the head of marketing of Lang LTC, a school concentrating on providing language courses for corporate clients. Malinowska-Sikora said that she had noticed more and more people also asking for Dutch courses, while Direct's Lechowska said they had experienced a rise in demand from managers looking for Japanese classes.
Very often courses in languages which aren't the most popular ones are seasonal. "We used to provide courses in Swedish and even Finnish, but they were dropped because of lack of interest," the president of Spółdzielnia Pracy Lingwista, Piotr Kubaj, said. On the other hand, in some cases an experimental language may become a regular offer in the school's portfolio. Academia de la Lengua F. Eduardo Fiallo E. teaches Portuguese (also the Brazilian dialect) on the regular basis and, according to company sources, there is a growing interest in the language with 74 students attending courses in the summer semester in comparison to 67 in the winter one.
Most of the large language schools offer a variety of languages in their portfolio - usually the international ones, such as English, French, German, Russian and Spanish, with Italian also being a common option.
However, some schools go even further offering "other languages upon request". Usually it is individuals willing to study one of the less common tongues, but once the demand for the language grows it may happen that regular classes are established.
"Japanese has been fairly successful in Warsaw, we have a few groups and the number of students is constantly growing," the general director of EMPIK Language Schools, Dorota Żuchowicz, said.
She named Swedish and Arabic as the other uncommon languages that people are increasingly seeking tuition for. However, Żuchowicz added that most people studying Japanese are those interested in the culture of the country or simply people who enjoy learning foreign languages. "What's interesting is that those classes are not just language courses, students also learn about the culture of the particular country or region," Żuchowicz said.
Direct Profesjonalne Centrum Językowe offers courses in Danish, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic. The school's managing director, Inga Lechowska, explained that interest in Danish and Arabic has increased substantially over the last few years. "Danish is usually studied by young people, including many nurses, who have work opportunities in Denmark. It is a similar situation with Swedish. As for Arabic, our students are young people aiming to study at the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at university, as well as wives of Arabs living in Poland," she said.
Of those taking up less common languages business people make up a significant proportion. The main in reason for this is to allow them to deal with clients who do not share the mainstream languages, such as French or English. "Due to high demand last year we have launched our first course of the Chinese language," said Maria Malinowska-Sikora, the head of marketing of Lang LTC, a school concentrating on providing language courses for corporate clients. Malinowska-Sikora said that she had noticed more and more people also asking for Dutch courses, while Direct's Lechowska said they had experienced a rise in demand from managers looking for Japanese classes.
Very often courses in languages which aren't the most popular ones are seasonal. "We used to provide courses in Swedish and even Finnish, but they were dropped because of lack of interest," the president of Spółdzielnia Pracy Lingwista, Piotr Kubaj, said. On the other hand, in some cases an experimental language may become a regular offer in the school's portfolio. Academia de la Lengua F. Eduardo Fiallo E. teaches Portuguese (also the Brazilian dialect) on the regular basis and, according to company sources, there is a growing interest in the language with 74 students attending courses in the summer semester in comparison to 67 in the winter one.
