Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Regarding the lessons with Zuzana, I’m really enjoying learning with her, and have found that compared to my previous Slovak course I get more time to speak, which is great.

My primary aim is to speak Slovak, as my wife has a large extended family, and we both want our children to be able to speak Slovak when we visit grandparents, uncles and aunties, and cousins. Obviously it’s important I am able to help with this, and speaking a lot in lessons is very beneficial.

In addition I’ve found that the grammar tables that Zuzana uses have helped me to get to grips with Slovakian grammar, which as you may know, is almost impenetrable.

So all in all I couldn’t be happier with the way the lessons our going.

Kind regards,

Mark Cartmell

“Dear Alena, I just want to say thank you very much for finding Zuzana as my Slovak teacher. My progress is far better than I expected. Even my wife is happy with my new found Slovak language skills. Zuzana is a very enthusiastic teacher and the lessons with her are always fun and productive. I believe in saying what you think about things, which is why I have written this message to you. Keep up the great work. Regards, David Knight (Uxbridge, UB8)”

AEOLIS-Cultural Development Society of Lesvos Island

and the Hellenic Culture Centre.

GRANTS offered!

AEOLIS offers 3 individual grants to students of Modern Greek and Classical Studies Programmes in Universities! The grants cover the participation fee for a one-week group course of Modern Greek in any level. Contact us for details on the application.

Contact us to guide you to fill in your application!

• “I TEACH GREEK” in Lesvos (Teacher training seminar for teachers of Modern Greek) (22-26 August 2011)

This is Julie’s email we have received after her session:

Kalimera, Alena:

First of all, enormous thanks for giving me such a great introduction to mastering the Greek language.  I am extremely fortunate to have found such an excellent teacher.

After 7 years of wrestling with books and CDs (and not being able to progress beyond remembering set phrases), I came away with a strong feeling that 1:1 lessons with you are the key for me to be able to reach my goal of being able to have meaningful conversations (rather than just being able to ask for coffee, choose food in tavernas, book a hotel, etc) and read and write Greek with accuracy and confidence.  I thoroughly enjoyed the day.

In the meantime, I will do my homework (and I’m sure, in no time at all, my house will be covered in Post-It notes with Greek words) and keep listening to the recording and reading my notes to ensure everything stays in my head. 

On the subject of reading, I have “Alfavitario”, my childrens’ book,  which before the Saturday with you I found quite challenging and is now, all of a sudden, way too easy.   

Many thanks again for a great start to this next phase in my goal, Alena.  I realise Greek is not an easy language to learn and I will need to work at it – but I do think it is achievable and I’m really looking forward to seeing you again. (I will take a train; the total journey time from home to you is about 3 hours each way but at least it’s not like driving, where I’d have to concentrate all the time).

I hope you can tell by this e-mail that I’m really enthusiastic about all this!

Julie Mangum

Learning Czech is not an easy task. Indeed, the Czech Language is possibly one of the most difficult and complex European languages. Despite this, an incredible number of British students come to us for private Czech lessons. Their reasons or motivations are usually very similar. They have a Czech partner and often even children whom they would like to be able to communicate with. Very many students have been married to their partners for many years, and so they are not new to the language, yet they can not speak it at all. 

Their partners are generally unable to help them; so after many years of frustration, they come to us. 

Why is it this language so difficult to pick up? 

It is because of its grammatical complexity as well as its syntax. It is virtually impossible for the average native Czech speaker to explain anything. It truly does require a qualified linguist to guide a learner through the learning process and to facilitate the language acquisition for him or her. 

It is a beautiful and fascinating language. If you decide to learn Czech, you will truly enjoy your lessons. As you slowly progress and start understanding the mechanism behind it, you will probably become a very passionate student; Czech is enriching, fun and will give you an unbelievable amount of satisfaction when you feel you can finally communicate.

Alena Sunavska, founder of the firm who offers private Greek lessons, in addition to private Spanish tuition , Italian classes, Czech classes and Slovak classes, said, “Here at the London Language Studio we definitely receive the most enquiries for our Greek lessons. More people want to learn Greek, but this is not surprising considering Greece was voted the second most popular European holiday destination in January by the Telegraph Travel Awards.”

The poll also found that Greece was in fact ranked ahead of Portugal, the golfers paradise and the Spain the birthplace of the British package holiday, demonstrating that the €40 million injection by the country’s Ministry of Tourism in 2008 (which country?)  is finally paying dividends with the tourism sector increasing by 2.7 per-cent in 2008.

Ms Sunavska added, “The English are certainly keen to become more culturally affluent and learning Greek, or just foreign languages in general, is a huge part of this.  We are finding that more and more people are taking Greek lessons to aid them on their annual holidays and aid them in the buying of properties abroad as they struggle to understand the locals, the culture, the language and the people.

“We are finding that there is an influx in adult learners who are opting for one on one private Greek tuition with us, some of which are planning to buy property abroad as an investment and are uncomfortable with the language barrier.  As the Pound grows stronger against the Euro investments in Greece are starting to pick up again and it seems that investors are willing to go that extra mile to see a return on their investment without getting bogged down with the hurdles presented by language.”

Alena Sunavska from the firm who offers Italian private tuition in addition to Greek lessons and French lessons said,  “To take advantage of the very few job opportunities in today’s global jobs market, young people need to wake up to the need for language skills as a means of setting them apart from the competition. Here at the London Language Studio, we teach people of varying ages and abilities, many of whom are keen to boost their CV and skill set.”

Despite popular belief, language graduates have endless career opportunities ranging from working with multinational firms and international organisations.  A recent study found that 27 per-cent of language graduates were employed in business services, 10 per-cent went into teaching and around 10 per-cent went into manufacturing, sales, finance, social services and transport.

Ms Sunavska added, “Adding modern languages to your CV will certainly make you stand out from other applicants and for the employer with clients and customers abroad, this can be an invaluable tool.

“Here at the London Language Studio we offer bespoke private language tuition to individual students, small groups and corporate clients.  When students come to us for language tuition we create an entirely individual learning path for each of our students, according to their expectations and existing knowledge of the language they wish to learn.”

The London Language Studio offers specialist tuition in a variety of foreign languages, to find out more visit http://www.londonlanguagestudio.com/

Alena Sunavska, the founder of the firm who offers private Italian tuition and Greek lessons in addition to Spanish, Czech and Slovak lessons said, “I have always had a great passion for languages and I have dedicated a huge part of my life to them. Firstly studying them and consequently becoming a language tutor. I have been teaching languages on one to one basis for the past 10 years and idea to start my own business was inspired by my strong desire to share my language learning experience with others.”

Today London Language Studio offers courses at varying levels to those who would like to learn Spanish, Greek, Italian or French as well as the more “exotic” languages such as Czech, Slovak or Polish. They also teach English as a foreign language to students who wish to work or study in the UK.

Ms Sunavska, who set up her language school, out of a pure despair in how languages are taught in the UK, added, “I felt like I needed to share and communicate my way of learning, because I knew it was different and extremely effective. From my own experience, I knew that learning Greek or taking a Spanish lesson or any other language class can be a lot easier than many people might think.”

“Initially I started the business on my own but soon decided to put together a small team of tutors, as my timetable was pretty full. However I still like to oversee the progress of all our students. The tutors and I keep in touch and we share our teaching experience on ongoing basis.”

Teaching young professionals, children, the retired, the media and even those who are looking for property investments abroad and feel that the language barrier is a hindrance, London Language Studio believes that the easiest students to teach are those who have a strong connection with the target country.

Ms Sunavska added, “Our school has experienced record levels of success in recent months and we have expanded and moved from central London, so that both the office and the Language Studio premises are now in Berkshire, near Reading. I still teach in Kensington a couple of days a week but will now be focusing on my new project which is organizing intensive language workshops at the Studio in Berkshire. It is proving very popular at the moment with many of our current students. They generally commute from London; it only takes 30 minutes from Paddington and the workshops provide an excellent language boost for students who wish to make fast track progress in their language.”

London Language Studio offers specialist tuition in a variety of foreign languages, to find out more visit http://www.londonlanguagestudio.co.uk or follow the company on Twitter at http://twitter.com/londonlanguages

About London Language Studio:

London Language Studio bespoke private language tuition to individual students, small groups and corporate clients. London Language Studio was formed to offer a caring approach to students’ individual learning needs, so important in any language acquisition, and now has based in both London and Berkshire.