Tourism in Rome

Luckily they had a tourist hotline (but only for those who bought the appropriate tourist pass), called the Romapass hotline. The Romapass includes entry to 2 attractions; like the Coliseum, the Forum, and many museums. The pass also offers the option to get public transport included, which makes it quite cost effective. You end up saving quite a bit.

Traveling around Rome

Traveling around Rome on public transport is great as they have a lot of connections and will get you pretty much anywhere you want to go, and top it up they also have mobile phone reception underground.

Buying Goods in Rome

However, if you don’t speak the local language you will find that people will try to rip you off with over-priced goods. Street vendors also are notorius for storing their wares in unsanitary places, especially because street vending is generally illegally done in Rome. So avoid buying things from street vendors if possible, and never buy food or drink from them as you will risk getting ill.

Italian Language – The Final Rome Travel Tip

The biggest thing I felt I should have done is actually learn a bit about the language before traveling to Rome. I should have done some Italian language lessons in London before heading out to Rome.

Hopefully these Rome travel tips will help you in your journey around Rome, but to really experience Rome is to learn some survival Italian and research which monuments you want to visit and whether it is included in the Romapass or not.

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How many languages are there?

Finding out the finite number of languages in the world is complicated. One of the many definitions of a language is (from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company):

Communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols.

Does this mean that the different versions of English are individual languages? Like American English and British English, or we could go into more detail and seperate English based on regions in England due to each region having its own styles and mannerisms. This would end up with there being a nearly infinite number of languages.

The best method is to look at the most spoken languages. Looking at the Nationalencyklopedin (2007 Swedish Encylopedia), the 100th most spoken language has 7 million speakers and the top 100 most spoken languages cover 85% of the world.  Also according to the Linguasphere Observatory there are over 70,000 linguistic names.

It seems like the number of languages vary depending on the definition of a language.

So How Many Languages Is it Possible to Learn?

This really depends on a number of factors details below.

1. Decide how many languages there are.

Figure out how many languages you think are in the world. A lot of different publications and authorities have come up with different number depending on their definition of a language.

Decide which number you accept.

2. How long will it take to learn each language?

Learning is completely dependant on your ability and how in-depth you want to learn. No one can fully learn a language, but you have to decide to what degree you want to learn. Do you want to know how to greet someone in every language or do you want to learn the languages to be fluent and speak like a native? The more you want to learn in each language the longer it will take.

3. Prioritise because time is a factor.

Being human you don’t have forever to learn languages, so prioritise which language you are going to learn first, second and onwards.

Learning multiple languages can be difficult but with the right help and assistance it can be a highly rewarding task. And if you base your job around learning languages it could make you an invaluable asset to any international business. But it is a long road to learn every single language to the level of a native, but it never hurts to try.

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1. Face to Face One-to-One Language Tuition

You can talk to the tutor, have a personal learning schedule and learn at the pace you would like to learn at. This enables you to really learn the language properly and in an efficient way. Having a tutor is great because you can work on all four of the main parts of a language: the reading, writing, speaking and listening. It would be highly advisable to get a native tutor, especially since native tutors can really help with all the accents and pronunciation of words and phrases.

2. Group Language Lessons

Similar to the personal one-to-one tuition, however the main differences are that you will be learning in a group lesson. This means that say you have a group of five students, the attention of the teacher will be split among all five students. It is a great cost-effective method for students if they can find a group lesson with people who are on the similar level and similar learning pace as them.

3. Online Skype Method to Learn a Language

This is becoming a more popular way to take lessons. Online language lessons are pretty similar to the one-to-one tuition style but saves time and money. The tutor generally doesn’t have to travel to the student’s location so travel time and travel costs are saved. Coupled with the flexibility of the lessons and the location it can in fact be quite easy to organise in comparison to face-to-face tuition. We have many tutors who will teach the lesson online and costs are generally cheaper, while retaining all the goodness of a personal dedicated tutor.

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Tip 1: Practise Your French

As with all languages, it is important that you keep up to scratch with the language. You should be continuously practising the language. Try to do the following:

• Write notes to yourself in French, or keep a diary in French and make daily entries. Look back through the diary every few weeks and see what spelling mistakes or grammatical errors you have made, don’t hesitate to look up words or phrases in your French dictionary.
• Listen to French audiobooks. Try audiobooks for younger children first, and then when you’re more comfortable with the language try to listen to ones tailored for more experienced French listeners.
• Speak and record. Record your spoken French, and play it back to yourself and correct any mistakes.
• Read the French newspapers. Try and get your hands on a French newspaper and practise reading, you might need the assistance of your dictionary.

If you have a smartphone try download the Google Translate app for Android or Apple, or if you have the internet try the website. This can often be faster than searching through a French to English dictionary.

Tip 2: Use Online Resources

Try one of the following online resources:

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/
• http://www.bonjour.com/
• http://www.youtube.com/

Tip 3: Find a French Tutor

A French tutor can often be the most effective method of learning French. The tutor can coach you, while correcting all your mistakes in the language along the way. Many tutors will come to your house and provide one-to-one personal and a custom-tailored curriculum to suit your needs. Some tutors will also provide group tuition at a discounted price.

To get help in finding your French tutor click here.

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Conversation Piece Ltd has been active since 1990, and is one of the UK’s leading language services provider. We have over 1600 tutors and cover over 30 foreign languages. We help 1000s of people get better at languages every year.

We provide the following language services:

• Private One-to-One Tuition
• Private Small Group Tuition
• Private Large Group Tuition
• Corporate/Business Language Training
• Language Classes for Schools and Nurseries

All our language tutoring services are custom-tailored to the needs and requirements of the client.

For more information regarding one of our language classes send us a contact form below:

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