Linguaphone Method
   7 Million Satisfied Customers
   What Course is Right for Me? 
          Linguaphone PDQ
          Linguaphone All Talk Basic
          Linguaphone All Talk Complete
          Linguaphone Complete
          Linguaphone Complete Pro
          Linguaphone Mastery
          Linguaphone Daily Online Services
   Linguaphone History
   Linguaphone - Looking to the Future
   How Long Does it Take to Learn a New Language?
   Linguaphone Testimonials

Linguaphone Method
The Linguaphone Method for language learning is the most natural and effective way to learn a new language.  Our method is based on two simple principles:

•  You learn faster when you enjoy what you are doing.
• You make greater progress if the language learning is useful and presented in a familiar context.

Speaking a language is an active skill--something you learn by doing, not just studying.  This is the practical approach to language learning that Linguaphone follows.  You start speaking your new language during the very first lesson.   The courses begin simply, building your confidence session by session.  Soon after, longer sentences are introduced to enable the expression of more detailed and complex thoughts.  But the course always concentrates on useful, authentic everyday words and situations.  The result is that after completing a Linguaphone course, you will have a thorough understanding of the language and be able to converse with and understand real people speaking the language.

The study sequence, LISTEN, UNDERSTAND, and SPEAK, used in the Linguaphone courses is fundamental to the Linguaphone method of language learning.

LISTEN
You should begin by listening to the first CD and keep playing back the CD so that the sounds and rhythm of the language become increasingly familiar.  Then, by following the words in the textbook, this will help to associate the sounds heard with the words and sentences of the text.  

The native speakers on the audio CDs begin by speaking slowly (but without distorting the intonation of the language) and, as the course progresses, speak at normal speed.

UNDERSTAND
Once familiar with the spoken language and able to recognize the written word, you then turn to the handbook.  The handbook is a unique feature to the Linguaphone course.  It provides a complete translation of all new words and phrases that are used, and a thorough understanding of the structure of the language.  It is, effectively, the tutor.

SPEAK
The Linguaphone course encourages you to speak your new language from the very first lesson.  Imitating the voices on the CDs will help you get used to the intonation and accent.  Later on, you take part in conversation.

Each lesson introduces new themes featuring useful words and phrases, thus developing your conversational skills.

According to the course format, you can consolidate what you have learned by doing various written or oral exercises to test and practice your new language.  This progression from speech to writing has been proved to be the most effective in language learning.  You learn more easily by hearing a word first and then seeing it, than the other way around.

7 Million Satisfied Customers!
So what are the reasons that so many customers choose Linguaphone language courses?

Effective, practical learning
"Languages made easy" is Linguaphone's motto. But of course "easy" is of little value if a course is not also "effective". The foundation of the Linguaphone learning method (listen, understand, speak) gives language learners the instruction and practice to learn their new language well. Plus, Linguaphone courses teach practical, usable vocabulary and language skills.

A language course for every need
In many languages, Linguaphone has developed a variety of language courses that fit the learning styles and objectives of different language learners.  Choose a course to learn the basics of a new language, or a course that takes you all the way to advanced or expert proficiency levels . . . Choose from audio and text courses to daily online learning.  You may want an all-audio course for learning "on the go" . . . or a short travel course to survive on your vacation.

Linguaphone courses available in many languages
For many languages it is hard to find any language courses available, especially comprehensive courses. Yet with Linguaphone you can learn Afrikaans or Arabic, Hebrew or Hindi, Indonesian or Irish, Thai or Turkish, Welsh or Icelandic, . . . or more!

Complete comprehensive courses
Not just comprehensive -- but Complete -- Three levels in one course, that help you learn to understand and speak, plus read and write.  Courses from some companies teach you only to understand and speak--and that is our first priority too. But other than Linguaphone, how many language courses really help you learn how to read and write... in Spanish or French, etc.... not to mention in languages with different alphabets like Arabic, Chinese Mandarin, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Russian, or Thai.

Pioneer and Trendsetter for language learning
And last, but not least -- customers trust Linguaphone's leadership in the field of language learning. Since 1901, Linguaphone has led the way, and continues focused on providing excellent solutions for language learners.

What Course is Right for Me?
Linguaphone PDQ Language Course (Beginner to Basic) : On-the-go course + workbook. Available in Arabic, English for Spanish Speakers, French, Italian, German, Greek, Portuguese (European), Russian, Spanish (Castillian), Thai & Turkish. There is no other basic course like this! Learn to understand and speak the basic language with exciting on-the-go audio CDs + a full color workbook so you can learn the basics of reading and writing too! This course will help you gain a basic understanding of your new language - PDQ! You will learn much more than just typical tourist expressions. You will gain a vocabulary of over 500 words. With all that is included in this, you can't go wrong. You can learn on-the-go with the audio CDs or you can practice at your desk with the CDS and the amazing 64-page workbook together. Either way, you've got the components for success in the amazing PDQ course! Give it a try and see just how fun learning a new language can be.

Linguaphone All Talk Basic Language Course (Beginner to Basic): Audio-only on-the-go learning. Available in French, German, Italian & Spanish. Learn in your car, at the gym, or at home with this entertaining audio CD beginner course. With this amazing course, you can learn a new language anywhere you want - on-the-go, in your home, wherever! No more wasting money on courses that promise great results but offer no real language learning. With the All Talk Basic, you will actually learn your new language...and learn it well. Learn the essentials of the language structure including grammar, 500 words of vocabulary, and organization. And learn it at your own chosen pace. Why let someone tell you how fast or slow to learn a language when you can choose for yourself depending on your learning speed and style? The All Talk Basic course provides flexibility and freedom in learning a new language. Don't worry, there are no workbooks and you will achieve real results. The linguaphone method of learning is tried and true for over 100 years!

Linguaphone All Talk Complete Language Course (Beginner to Proficient): Available in French, German, Italian & Spanish this comprehensive on-the-go learning. Learn in your car, at they gym, or at home with this effective and entertaining audio CD course. If you have a hard time finding time to set aside to sit down and study a new language - you'll love All Talk Complete because you can learn on-the-go and use your commute or other unproductive time to quickly and enjoyable learn a new language to an intermediate-high level! With this amazing course, you can learn a new language anywhere you want - on-the-go, in your home, wherever! No more wasting money on courses that promise great results but offer no real language learning. With the All Talk Complete, you will actually learn your new language...and learn it well. Learn the essentials of the language structure including grammar, 2000 words of vocabulary, and organization. And learn it at your own chosen pace. Why let someone tell you how fast or slow to learn a language when you can choose for yourself depending on your learning speed and style? The All Talk Complete course provides flexibility and freedom in learning a new language. Don't worry, there are no workbooks and you will achieve real results. The linguaphone method of learning is tried and true for over 100 years!

Linguaphone Complete Language Course (Beginner to Advanced): Available in Arabic, Chinese Mandarin, Dutch, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (European), Russian & Swedish. Learn a new language and speak it too! This amazingly comprehensive course will help you quickly reach your language goals. With its truly comprehensive approach you will be amazed at how quickly you begin to speak, read, write and understand a new language. You will finally have confidence in your language abilities and without a doubt you will learn your new language well. This course encourages you to master over 2000 words of vocabulary and puts you in the driver's seat to choose your own pace for language learning. The Complete course goes beyond tourist phrases. Just like the name of the course, it offers you complete language learning.

Linguaphone Complete Pro Language Courses (Beginner to Advanced): Available in French & Spanish. Advanced level learning with our complete audio and workbook course, plus daily news based online practice. Learn all four skills of communicating in a new language. Listen, speak, read and write to an Intermediate-high level with our Complete Pro course -- plus continue to an advanced level with additional learning from Online Enrichment -- an interesting and effective online learning subscription that enhances your language learning through real live news reports (audio, video, magazine and newspapers).

Linguaphone Mastery Language Course (Proficient to Expert): Available in English, French, German & Spanish. A serious learner course with intensive study to boost your proficiency from proficient to expert. If you really want to master your new language, then this is the course for you! Our Mastery course is challenging and intense, but if you want learning and practice that will help you learn to understand full-speed your new language, as well as high-level reading and writing, then this is the course for you! *We recommend that you have at least an intermediate-high level foundation in your new language before using this Mastery course.

Linguaphone Daily Online Services -- Available in English, French & Spanish. Real-life practice and excercises with real news sources.  A wonderful complement to any intermediate (or higher) language course.  This online practice resource is great to use with our Linguaphone courses, or with any brand of language course!  Our Online Enrichment is a subscription-based service that gives you experience with actual current news from various countries.  And because this service is updated very frequently--you can continue to enrich and expand your learning with new content and exercises every day!

• Expand your understanding and capability to use your new language in real situations.
• Increase your vocabulary--learning even current specialized words and expressions.
• Enhance your listening and reading comprehension with real, current news broadcasts and articles in your new language.
• Use the comprehension excercises to practice and further expand your new language communication abilities.
  

Linguaphone History
Established in 1901, Linguaphone is the world leader in the field of languages. We provide a range of over 100 products, in 32 languages, in 60 countries. We provide language courses for people to progress from beginner to expert proficiency levels. We also have an extensive network of assisted learning centers worldwide. In our 100+ years of experience, Linguaphone has helped over 100 million people worldwide, including academics from top universities, multi-national corporations, leading statesmen, and royalties—to learn or improve a new language.

Linguaphone was the pioneer of self-study language learning. We were the first to recognize the potential of combining the traditional written course with audio recordings (back when audio recordings had just been invented!) . Linguaphone courses allow language learners to study at their own pace using books and original recordings supported by Linguaphone's proven methodology: 'Listen, Understand, Speak'.

In both its self-study programs and its assisted learning centers, Linguaphone has played a dominant role in language-learning across the globe ever since.

Linguaphone was founded by Jacques Roston, a translator and language teacher who emigrated from Poland, at that time part of Russia, at the turn of the century and set up his business in London, England.

Roston was one of the first pioneers to recognize the potential for language teaching of Edison’s invention of sound recording (1877) and Alexander Graham Bell’s development of wax cylinders (1888). The first Linguaphone courses, then on cylinders, combined authentic native speech with illustrated texts, which also incorporated vocabularies and grammatical notes. By adding to the range of languages and skillfully promoting the distinctive Linguaphone name, Roston created a new and intriguing product of wide appeal both to the home-study hobbyist and the growing number of travelers. With the arrival of flat records, the gramophone came of age, and with it Linguaphone’s opportunity to reach out to a wider public.

Mr. Roston and his family acted as their own photographic models for the first Linguaphone brochure in 1925. We see them grouped around the gramophone in their sitting room, Jaques Roston, the Linguaphone founder, is seen in a classic pose, comfortable in his armchair, listening to one of his own courses.

Mr. Roston maintained his keen interest in all developments associated with the gramophone. He promoted the Linguaphone "Repeater", designed especially to help Linguaphone students to position the tone arm of the gramophone precisely on the correct groove without having to lift it manually.  The "Solophone" - which enabled students to listen through earphones without disturbing the rest of the household - was another new device. Linguaphone even offered their own brand of three-tone gramophone needles to vary the loudness of sound as required.

Linguaphone has always been involved in the use of new technology as an essential aid to language learning. From those very first sound recordings and the invention of the gramophone, we have followed all advancements through cassettes, videos, CDs, CD-Roms, and now the internet, to ensure that we give our students the best advantage in language learning.

Mr. Roston's preoccupation with language teaching methods also never flagged. In 1927 he published a new monthly journal "The Linguist" and contributed to it a history of language teaching ideas from the ancients, through Comenius to modern theorists. It is in the second issue of this journal that a Linguaphone advertisement appeared which contains the following definitive description of the Linguaphone Method:

"A Linguaphone course is composed of a series of records dealing with everyday subjects, situations and needs. Whenever you have a moment to spare you slip one of these records on your gramophone and follow, in a special pictorial textbook, the speaking of a cultured native teacher. The textbook contains, side by side with the printed text, composite pictures illustrating the various persons objects and actions described in the text. With the aid of these pictures you learn to associate the appearance of things with the appropriate word-sounds. This is the truly natural way of learning a language, the way you first, as a child, learned your own mother tongue. The results of this method are astonishing. Under this tireless tutor, mastery becomes easy. Quite soon you find yourself able to speak fluently, to understand others and also to read and write correctly. A course gives you a vocabulary of about 2,500 words, and in two or three months you find you have acquired a sound practical knowledge of the language, with correct accent and pronunciation."

Mr Roston's 70th birthday in 1945 was marked by the Linguaphone staff presenting him with a bust of himself sculpted by Jacob Epstein. The following year Mr Roston started the Linguaphone League with its motto "Let the nations understand one another". Members carried on a lively correspondence, went on foreign holiday courses, formed language circles, attended foreign films together, arranged exchange visits and received the quarterly Linguaphone League Magazine. Mr. Roston died in 1947.

Linguaphone has always had close ties to the academic world. Jacques Roston, the founder, was advised by distinguished scholars in the field of languages. In 1967, Linguaphone’s relationship with the academic world was formalized with the appointment of an Academic Advisory Committee. Collectively the committee provides wide specialist knowledge and great depth of experience.

Linguaphone - Looking to the Future
Global leadership in making learning languages even easier—that is our desire and our quest. In fact, “Languages made Easy” has become our company motto. The development of our current line of products and services reveals a broad range of effective and varied language learning resources:

• Daily Online Service.  A unique, award winning and stimulating way of improving your language abilities via an online news service that gives you daily practice in French, Spanish, or English.
• Next-generation Complete language courses (in French, Spanish, and English),
• New All Talk language courses (in French, German, Italian, and Spanish) for those wanting to make the most of their free time while "on the go" (or perhaps stuck in a traffic jam!), provide an innovative approach to hands-free learning.
• Our excellent PDQ basic language courses, for learning the basics "pretty darn quick."

Linguaphone will continue to seek to provide the learner with a range of complimentary options for online and off-line study.

Combining the unparalleled success of the Linguaphone method with an unrivalled reputation and a range of excellent and complementary products and services—Linguaphone has become an industry benchmark for quality and reliability and an essential business resource.

It is our belief that an 'Assisted Learning' approach is the way forward. By combining the interaction and support provided by language schools and online materials with the high standards and flexible methodology of self-study programs, our students have the perfect combination of resource and motivation to achieve and surpass the level of language proficiency they desire. Linguaphone has established an impressive network of 68 assisted learning centers around the world, with an annual enrollment of just under 35,000 learners!

Our aim is to be the most successful provider of quality self-study and assisted learning programs in the world. After 100 years of success, Linguaphone enters the new century well-positioned to enhance its enviable reputation for providing high quality language learning solutions via the internet, at home, in schools, and at work.

How Long Does it Take to Learn a Language?
The question of how long it takes to learn a language is not asked as frequently as the question, Can I really learn to speak a language? Some people would be very glad if they could say even a few phrases in a foreign language with a passable accent. Others mainly want to read great works of literature. And still others may aspire to speak and write another language as fluently as their mother tongue.

Before travel abroad became common, foreign languages were associated in this country with educated people and immigrants. The former were often interested only in reading and writing a particular language, while the latter could speak their native language, but had little occasion to read or write it after coming to the United States. Some educated people resembled the upper class British gentlemen of the nineteenth century, who typically "knew" French, but were disinclined to imitate the "peculiar" sounds a Frenchman makes when speaking.

In today’s world, many people who study a foreign language chiefly desire to speak it. It is important, therefore, to estimate how well a person can expect to speak a language after studying it for a certain number of hours — and conversely, how many hours it may take him to reach the fluency he has in mind. Several estimates follow on how long it takes to achieve various sorts of mastery, based on FSI data, and personal research.

The FSI (Foreign Service Institute) Rating Scale

Most U.S. government agencies use the FSI Absolute Language Proficiency Ratings to measure a prospective employee’s ability to use a foreign language in his work. Once employed, he periodically undergoes the same type of rating as a basis for promotion. The person to be rated is interviewed by one or more trained testers, who are always native speakers. They converse with him for ten to twenty minutes, probing his command of pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Then they pool their judgments to assign him a rating. The lowest rating is 1, the highest 5, and any rating can be modified by a plus or minus.

Each rating designates a particular degree of mastery of the language for business and social purposes:

1. Elementary proficiency. The person is able to satisfy routine travel needs and minimum courtesy requirements.
2. Limited working proficiency. The person is able to satisfy routine social demands and limited work requirements.
3. Minimum professional proficiency. The person can speak the language with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical, social, and professional topics.
4. Full professional proficiency. The person uses the language fluently and accurately on all levels normally pertinent to professional needs.
5. Native or bilingual proficiency. The person has speaking proficiency equivalent to that of an educated native speaker.
   

How long, one wonders, does it take a person to achieve the minimum 1, and how much longer after that to reach a 2 or a 3?

FSI researchers studied the performance of all their students during a three–year period, noting the ratings they received after various periods of training. Table 1 shows the results for the "easy" languages and for the "hard" languages. Incidentally, the definition of "easy" and "hard" were arrived at by including only Group 1 languages — for the most part the "Romance" languages —under the "easy" languages, while "hard" languages included Groups 2,3, and 4.languages — all other languages — as listed in the second part of the Table below. Whether this is the most valid, or even useful definition of easy and hard to learn languages, depends to a large degree upon whether one feels that language instruction, regardless of learner or teacher preference, must start with each individual learner gradually acquiring an increasing control of the spoken language, before adding written skills, or with the current standard academic approach to avoid language as a spoken skill at first, and work with an eclectic, mixed approach using a written grammar– translation and oral–drill combination, perhaps with a language laboratory, or combinations of film, CD–ROM and/or other equipment. There are advocates on both sides.

"Easy" Languages: (Ratings of FSI students speaking a Group 1 language after specified Periods of training.)

8 weeks (240 hours) 1/1+
16 weeks (480 hours) 2
24 weeks (720 hours) 2+

"Hard" Languages: (Ratings of FSI students speaking a Group 2–4 language after specified Periods of training.)

12 weeks (360 hours) 1/1+
24 weeks (720 hours) 1+ /2
44 weeks (1320 hours) 2/2+ /3

Which Are the "Easy" and "Hard" Languages?

Group 1: French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swahili

Group 2: Bulgarian, Burmese, Greek, Hindi, Persian, Urdu

Group 3: Amharic, Cambodian, Czech, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Lao, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese

Group 4: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean

In reality, these time estimates are a little lower than they at first appear; holidays and other lost time reduce them by about 10 percent. Nevertheless, the meaning is clear. If you are a language learner of average ability, and you undertake an "easy" language, it will probably take you about 240 hours to get to the first level of mastery in speaking it, and double that to get to Level 2. If you are slower than average at learning languages, allow 50 percent more time, if faster, 50 percent less.

These figures are based on a particular type of instruction: the FSI intensive course where one studies a language for six hours a day, five days a week, in a class of no more than 10 students, led by an experienced linguist and a well–trained native drillmaster. The school is a language–learning paradise, the students are highly motivated, and optimum results are achieved. Yet these estimates are reasonably valid for people who, like most of us, have no choice but to attend a conventional course that meets forty–five minutes a day or a couple of evenings a week.

Human attention is limited. No one can absorb knowledge steadily for six hours a day, week after week; some of the time in intensive courses is necessarily "wasted" in relaxing, clearing one’s mind, or plain daydreaming. Moreover, things that seem confusing one day sometimes clear up by the next, after they have settled into place in one’s mind. This "incubation" factor favors a non–intensive learning schedule. In short, it is not certain that people who spread their language learning over a longer period necessarily require more total hours than those who concentrate. They may even require fewer.

The overriding message is that anyone can learn a foreign language, but some people are quicker at it than others. Still, language learning is a serious commitment, and if one’s aim is to speak it comfortably (say, 2+ on the FSI scale), this is likely to take the equivalent of six months of full–time study.

If your objective is to master the language fully in speech and writing, then you may have to devote at least a year and a half, most of it spent in the foreign country, to reach this objective. A good plan would be to study the language for three to six months at home, and then go to the foreign country for at least a year, during which time you must speak only the foreign language. At the end of this time, you would understand most people and even television and movies, read almost any written matter without a dictionary, and perhaps write with a modicum of style. Adults who go abroad to live find that after several months of getting adjusted to speaking and understanding in everyday situations, they can then begin to penetrate the language and participate in the life of the country.

Some people are dismayed by time estimates that run to hundreds of hours. They feel that this is more time than they are willing to commit. They should reflect on the fact that one year from today they will be one year older whether they undertake this learning task or not. The only question is, whether on that day, they are going to be well along toward mastering the language they have dreamed of knowing, or whether it will still be only a dream.

Linguaphone Testimonials
Why do our customers like Linguaphone courses so much?

• I've already recommended Linguaphone to my sister who has purchased PDQ Spanish and my husband who has purchased PDQ French. I'm sure we'll all continue to use Linguaphone. I like the method of learning - listen, repeat, then test yourself.     --Joan Fraser
• V. good - well worth the money. I really didn't think that it was possible to learn a new language so quickly.     --David Welsh
• [Linguaphone courses are] easy to follow, with lots of chances to go over what has been learned...very effective.     --Lee Davies
• Simply amazing. Will recommend this product to friends at work.     
  --Neil Jones
• Cost effective, easy access, all round great service and courses.
  --Janet Jervis
• [This Linguaphone course] suited my requirements admirably.
  --Derek Pritchard
• These really are the best language courses I've ever seen.
  --Andy White
• [My Lingaphone course] worked so well that I've already recommended to other colleagues.     --Vivienne Hull
• [The Linguaphone course] teaches in small chunks. Not too much vocabulary. Not too much grammar. A lot of repetition which helps. Good method.     --N Osemeka
• [This Linguaphone course has a] very good introduction to the language and clear explanations.     --Anna Maria Battistini
• There is very little room for improvement as the presentation is almost perfect.     --Mike Fyson
• [The Linguaphone course was] absolutely as I had expected and it fully met my requirements.     --M. Shah