Study Abroad Blog

Is our world view influenced by the languages that we speak?

The question of whether languages shape the way we think goes back centuries; Charlemagne proclaimed that "to have a second language is to have a second soul."

Do the languages we speak shape the way we think? Do they merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express? 

The Wall Street Journal's lifestyle section has a fascinating article on this topic.

Free Spanish for Critical Social Service Professionals!

Are you in the medical, law enforcement, school teaching, social work or ministerial fields? 

Do you need to learn Spanish or expand your Spanish language skills?

AmeriSpan Study Abroad has partnered once again with Bilingual America to offer a very special, high quality Spanish program for free to qualified participants. If you are in the medical, law enforcement, school teaching, social work or ministerial fields you can get Bilingual America's Basic to Expert Level Spanish Power course at no charge through The Claro Initiative. The Claro Initiative is a community service initiative to provide Spanish training to critical social service professionals at no charge. Spanish Power is considered the most comprehensive and results-driven Spanish training program in the country by many people and we encourage you to take advantage of this amazing opportunity. By the way, if you don't qualify but know someone who does, send them the link below so they can benefit.

Click or share this link to read more about this offer and request admittance to the free Spanish Power course here: https://bilingualamerica.infusionsoft.com/go/claro/immer$$ab/

Homestay and Host Family FAQs

Living with native speakers is an unequivocally educational part of the language immersion process, and in some ways it can give you the best possible scope of your unfamiliar surroundings and language.  We here at AmeriSpan couldn't help but notice how excited our former students are about their homestay experiences, or how anxious our students-to-be are to find out as many details about their families as possible!  So, we want to share with you some very common questions and answers about our homestay arrangement process, and what you can expect!

The Apple iPad for Study Abroad and Travel

If you are like us, you kinda want an iPad. Or really want an iPad. But is it a justifiable purchase or just fun? How about as a study abroad necessity? Will the iPad even work for study abroad? Finally, we're just going to come out and say it:

I want an iPad! Will it work for study abroad and travel?

With all the buzz surrounding the release of Apple's iPad, we’ve gotten curious about how it would work for our students while they are studying abroad. Is it a functional piece of equipment that can replace a laptop or just a toy? Also, how does it compare to the Kindle for traveling? We’ll try to answer your questions and more! 

Study Abroad (at home!) with Bilingual America

Yes, we at AmeriSpan are advocates of studying abroad whenever possible, but we do realize that taking extended periods away from home, work, and school to travel to exotic locales and learn new languages aren't always practical. Also, if you have studied abroad previously, it helps to practice your new language skills so you don't lose them. If you are interested in learning, practicing, and improving your Spanish, be sure to check out Bilingual America. Bilingual America is a company that is devoted to teaching Spanish with an innovative, extremely effective approach. They have a wealth of practical tools to help with learning Spanish, such as their free Spanish learning pack, which includes the “How to Really Learn Spanish” book, a 30 minute sample of their verb structure tool,the first lesson of the SpanishPower™ course and a language learning aptitude assessment. This is an excellent introduction to Bilingual America's Spanish learning system. 

College Study Abroad in Granada, Spain

This past year, we here at AmeriSpan were thrilled to add several College Study Abroad programs to our repertoire.  We know that Spain is and has always been an ideal destination for students studying Spanish and racking up college credit abroad, and we've delivered!  Today we'd like to highlight one of our newest programs, our Spanish Semester Abroad in Granada, Spain at our international campus!

Chile Spanish Schools: Accepting Students After Earthquake

After the earthquake that hit Chile south of Santiago on February 27th, there were complications and closings in many Chilean businesses and points of transport in and around Santiago.  We had one student in Santiago at the time who we called instantly to check on, and he reported to us that he was fine and that the school had dealt with the emergency situation safely and professionally.  He safely flew home soon after.

February is ACTFL's Discover Languages Month!

As part of the sustained public awareness campaign to promote language education, the ACTFL Board of Directors has designated the month of February as Discover Languages month.  This effort will be celebrated annually as a time when language educators can help to raise public awareness by focusing on language programs and the important benefits that people of all ages gain from learning languages.

In the spirit of this effort, ACTFL will be posting interesting language study based "Daily Facts" on their site and their Twitter page!

Here is today's Daily Fact:

"Did you know there are approx 6,500 languages spoken in the world? However, about 2,000 of those have fewer than 1,000 speakers."

Study Abroad Prep: Language Software

If you’re beginning the process of learning a new language, there are many ways to go about it. If you are in school, taking a few semesters is the obvious choice, with perhaps a summer, semester, or year abroad in a country that speaks your target language.

Learn Spanish with Rosetta Stone

If you are traveling to Spain or Latin America for fun or to study abroad and learn Spanish, Rosetta Stone can help you prepare. The Rosetta Stone method allows users to learn naturally without memorization, engage interactively with the software, speak confidently using the speech recognition software, and also have fun. 

Study Abroad Preparation: Rosetta Stone

We’ve all seen the commercials, especially around the 2008 Olympics of  Michael Phelps endorsing Rosetta Stone: It helped him learn Chinese before he went to Beijing to win a record 8 Olympic gold medals. As discussed in our newest e-report, AmeriSpan’s Guide to Cultural Adjustment, it can help immensely to have at least a basic background in the language you will be studying in your host country. This can help in many ways to ease culture shock and help you adjust more readily to your new, foreign environment.