i-Passage language tutoring for Spanish, French, Portuguese

How can I quickly improve my foreign language skills ?

Everyone knows that it is hard to learn a foreign language and that it takes a long time. What can I learn fast? If I learn fast, will I remember it later ? Is there a formula for effective language learning? What is most useful – formal study or immersion?

The first step in improving your foreign language skills is to have your proficiency assessed by a trained language teacher so that you can work from that point up. While all practice is good, there is little point just repeating what you already know. So a cognitive map is your starting point.

Long-term retention of what you learn hinges most on repeated real-world (not simulated “homework”) practice opportunities. Intensive analytic learning (for example, learning Mandarin characters while in a course, or long vocabulary lists in any language) also tends to be forgotten quickly. Conversely, analytic learning followed up by real-world application is very efficient. In summary, the best recipe is a phase of formalized learning which is not just practice but also analytical, followed up by and planned from the start for a real-world application (here, by “application” we do not mean smartphone “app” but rather “immersion!”). Effective language learning is a mix of formal structural understanding gained in partnership with a teacher, complemented by the serendipitous and unpredictable but far more delightful experience of using the language with native speakers to share in their culture and, for a moment, a month or a year, to live daily life as they do and from their point of view.

How can I improve my English proficiency test score ?

I have studied English for many years. I can speak it, and enjoy movies and games in English. I am somewhere in the intermediate range I think. I need to improve my IELTS score to 7.5 or my TOEFL iBT score to 80 for admission to the university I wish to attend. I already took the test but scored below that. How can I improve my chances ?

In English proficiency tests, there are two things at play: the English language itself, and then everything else in the test, which means three main things: test-taking skill in general, the cultural features common to most English proficiency tests, and the particular features of a specific test. Test-taking aptitude is very different from intellectual intelligence and is hard to control, though practice helps a lot. Most English proficiency tests require familiarity with Western and more precisely Anglo-American norms in ways of organizing and expressing information just as much as they require linguistic knowledge of English. The IELTS and TOEFL test structures and grading schemas are very distinct from each other. Test candidates typically prefer one test over another for structural and analytic reasons.

Our team includes experienced foreign language teachers in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.

Services We Provide

We provide the intensive language training you need to quickly gain some mastery or improve your existing mastery of a language you love or the language of a country you will visit.

We also train candidates for exams in foreign language proficiency. These include English Proficiency exams for college admission such as IELTS and TOEFL. We can also interpreter trainees preparing for professional exams such as the California Bilingual Interpreting Examination (BIE) and the Federal Court Interpreter exam.

Our custom-built offerings depend on what you seek, from informal open-ended refresher tutoring to a fully-fledge course with a syllabus of materials and specific objectives and periodic measures of progress.

Typical Contexts

Situation	Target Language	Aim
Chinese speaker, heading for U.S. university	English	Raise score in IELTS writing and speaking tests to 7.5 or better
English speaker planning a culinary tour in France	French	Review school-learned-and-forgotten basic grammar and vocabulary, and acquire specialized vocabulary for wine-tasting
Spanish speaker needing to do business in Brazil	Portuguese	Harvest the similarity of these two languages, acquire core vocabulary and grammar in intensive mode
English speaker with a Spanish-speaking spouse and relatives	Spanish	Learn grammar formally, to build grasp of grammatical structures, to complement informal exposure in the home; collect word sets for activities of interest.

What Sets Us Apart

Collectively, we have many decades of experience in college and school level foreign-language teaching, interpreter training and foreign and bilingual language program administration. We also appreciate the role of informal language-learning stimuli, from the use of apps and internet resources to the human situations which arise in travel, professional situations or relationships. Our starter reference point is your own sense of what you know versus what you need; we calibrate the program accordingly. Every language learner is unique and the tutor needs to understand the learner as much as the target language. There is no charge for the initial consultations needed for us to understand your needs. We only take work we figure we can to our own satisfaction as well as yours. If we think you can do better with a different provider, we will point you in that direction.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How can I quickly improve my rudimentary knowledge of a foreign language for a country I am to visit? I don’t aspire to really mastering this language. I studied it a bit in the past and now speak almost nothing of it. What can I do just to avoid being unable to communicate if they don’t speak my language ?

You can recover your forgotten knowledge of a foreign language very quickly with the right coach. If you are learning a new language, you can quickly get a level of limited proficiency which puts you at a huge advantage compared to no proficiency at all. But language-learning is an intense process requiring many dedicated hours. It is achieved naturally by circumstance of immersion (being there where they speak it) or by sheer effort if not immersed. The best combination is both: structured study before departure followed by real-world experience and practice after arrival.

Can you learn a foreign language using phone or computer apps ? I have been trying to learn language X on my own with apps for several years now. I have gained a good feel for the sound of the language, but when it comes to constructing correct phrases on my own, it’s the opposite. I feel like my progress has become stuck in a circling pattern. I only get it right if the app models and cues me to respond for an obvious structure, like a Yes/No or a Who/What/Where-type question.

Language learning apps like Duolingo and Babbel are good at introducing you to sounds and typical phrases and good for practicing set structures, both passively (you listen) and actively (you speak). Human teachers are indispensable for explaining and exploring the subjective psychological perspective which lies behind a given language’s grammar.

For foreign languages, what are the advantages and disadvantages of machine learning (apps) versus a human teacher?

Grammars are both systemic and idiosyncratic. All natural language grammars present a certain logic for categorizing experience, and then also contain seemingly arbitrary exceptions. Languages are thus best understood as systems with artistic personalities. You really do need someone to talk with about these features! In short: lessons (i.e., for learning) work best with teachers, while apps are more cost-effective for reinforcing practice. All this is not so different from music lessons for children, which are often once a week with the teacher and only productive if the child practiced at least 5 days in the week between lessons. However, relative to learning a musical instrument, language learning requires a higher ratio of teacher-interaction to autonomous practice. At universities, the humanities courses with the highest load of instructional hours per week are languages, just as labs require the most time in the sciences. Language-acquisition thus requires a lot of both teaching and practice. It is very cost-effective to practice with an app. Technology has indeed revolutionized this resource. You can practice while commuting, and the commute will glide by, especially in a car — talking to yourself on public transport is admittedly too thought-provoking for your fellow commuters. Talking in a foreign language while alone in a car is fun.

With modern technology, is it even necessary to learn a foreign language?

The (sad) fact is that the need for mastery of foreign languages has actually declined despite the mobility of globalization. Technology does indeed fill in for an awful lot of our needs. The question, then, is whether your travels have purely logistic, transactional purposes or whether they actually involve connecting culturally to other people who speak a foreign language. If they do, then you need to speak the language. Not perfectly, or even very well. But enough to connect, person to person.

What is the difference between single foreign language learning and professional bilingual competency training?

Learning a single foreign language is mostly a straight vertical path (upwardly mobile mastery through a content-agenda of grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary). Bilingual learning, such as in interpreter training, presupposes the student has general advanced mastery of both languages but gaps in certain key semi-technical lexical fields (legal / criminal / medical / etc.), and so is dominated by vocabulary acquisition, along with specific cognitive skills, such as short-term memorization, and being able to listen and then reproduce a patch of speech while simultaneously listening to the next patch (this sounds daunting but is mostly a matter of trained practice). Understanding and mastery of these cognitive skills are the key difference between the trained interpreter and a person who is bilingual due to their upbringing.

Cost Basis for This Service

How It Works

Customized Language Tutoring