So you can say I have gone through the language learning process a good number of times. Not that I always went ‘all the way’, but I do know what it takes to learn a new language now!

How long does it take to get fluent in a language?

Here is the short answer: as a ballpark number, you can achieve 80% fluency in a matter of months if you dedicate yourself to it full-time (a few hours every day). If you only have a few hours every week, it will take you 1-2 years to hit the 80% mark.

Ok, that answer’s maybe a bit too short. It depends on a number of things, such as what languages you already speak and the way you learn.

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When a school certifies its students, there is a conflict of interest. It would look good on the school if many students score well in the examination. So the school would look better if it would make its ‘testing standards’ more lax. Besides, there are so many language schools in the world – how would any one certificate be able to get recognized by employers and universities.

So that’s why there are independent language tests, such as KLPT (Korean), JLPT (Japanese) IELTS / TOEFL (English), HSK / BCT (Mandarin), DELF/DALF (French), DELE (Spanish). These tests are recognized worldwide and translate readily into a the CEFR, meaning that the person you submit the certificate to can assess what you can and cannot do in the language.

So just like when you learn to drive, use your language school for instruction (like your driving instructor), and book a spot for recognized international certification (“practical driving examiner”) when you have reached a significant level and would like a certificate to prove it.

Many language schools can help you book your examination, and some even offer courses that prepares you for the type of questions asked. It’s good to make use of those if you can. But don’t rely on a school-issued certificate to open doors for you!

Some schools feel like a family, with most of their staff members working for the school over many years and close connections between the students and school staff. Other, mostly larger schools, have a different feel based on the student crowd they attract. What age are the students, and what are they there for? Are they learning for fun or is there a direct need for them to get fluent in the language?

These ‘unseen parts’ of the school are very important when choosing your language school. But how can you find out? If you have a friend taking a course at a school, you can ask your friend what it’s like. But that isn’t always the case, and in any case, it’s just one person’s point of view.

This is why we are gathering as many course reviews on yago.sg as possible. One review can only tell so much, but if you find review after review saying that the staff of a certain school are really caring, chances are that you will experience the same when you join the school.

So before you join a language course, check out what other people have to say about the course you are planning to join. Here are some of our most reviewed language schools.

Have you attended language lessons yourself? Help us make Yago a better resource by adding your review. If you do so before 9 September 2011, you will also enter our draw and stand to win an iPad 2!

For a step-by-step guide on adding the review, check out this page!

You may have done some research and have found out that the Swiss speak several languages, depending on where you go, but that their German is very different from the German language spoken in Germany. That is entirely correct. German is my third language and I feel quite at ease in Germany, but if the Swiss are talking among themselves, I have no clue. The sounds and tones even sound much like my native Dutch, but there isn’t a thing I can distinguish.

But the Swiss do not speak Swiss German in school, in the office or in any other formal situation. In such situations, German-speaking Swiss would speak standard German with a trademark Swiss accent. Swiss German is not a written language. In fact, I once heard that when Swiss kids first go to primary school, they learn their first foreign language at very young age, which is Standard German.

Swiss German is just like Singlish. It’s highly treasured among German-speaking Swiss and the language of choice at home and with close friends. As a foreigner, trying to speak Swiss German is like navigating a minefield, you don’t want to come across as if you’re making fun of your host, or worse, your boss.

Learning Swiss German (or Singlish, for that matter) in class is thus not advisable, and it’s probably for that reason that you’re not going to be able to find a class in Swiss German in Singapore, or elsewhere. But if you are in Switzerland long enough, and understand Standard German, you’ll definitely pick up an understanding of it and may even get comfortable enough to dare speaking a few phrases.

Want to learn standard German? Check out soon starting German classes on our main website!

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque or "Blue mosque" in Istanbul, Turkey

One of the fun thing of being on a holiday is that you can talk openly with your friends / family even in public places, because others wouldn’t understand you. But that is often a false sense of security. Far more often than you would think, some bystander will be following your every word. Here’s some situations:

Turkey

On a school trip to Turkey in my secondary school time, some of my classmates were walking behind a Turkish soldier in Istanbul. They were jokingly saying things like “do you dare to kick him?” “I’ll give you 10 guilders if you kick him”. The soldier turned around: he was a dual Dutch-Turkish citizen normally living in the Netherlands, and was serving his National Service as a requirement to keep his Turkish passport. Fortunately, he had a sense of humor similar to that of my classmates.

Finland

A Dutch friend of mine spent a semester on exchange in Helsinki, Finland. One day, sitting in the train in a spot where two rows of seats face each other, he was joined by two Belgian girls on the opposite site. They were feeling very free and commenting in Flemish on how good-looking Finnish men are etc. Dutch and Flemish are no more different than, say American and British English. Upon leaving the train, my friend couldn’t resist pulling off his mask, saying in Dutch “Nice to have met you, almost-fellow-country-citizens” to great embarrassment of the girls

Singapore

I’m often in a receiving position of this in Singapore, as I don’t quite look like a person who would understand Mandarin. But compared to Europeans, it seems Singaporeans are quite well behaved. I haven’t ever caught a bad word. Wouldn’t know whether I would take off my cover if it happened.

The one situation I can remember is when I was flying off from Changi Airport and wanted to buy some last minute gifts. One of the aunties behind the counter told her colleague as I opened up my wallet: “他住在新加坡。我看到他的UOB card” (“He lives in Singapore. I see his UOB card”, UOB being a local bank). I really wished I had a witty reply ready, but I wasn’t that fast on my feet when it happened.

Do you recognise this?

If you speak English only, you may never have felt comfortable using your mother tongue as a secret language. If you speak Mandarin, you should not, ever, feel comfortable again either. And as you see, even if you speak a rather small language as Dutch, there is no way to be sure that you’re safe.

My guess is that we’re being overheard far more often than we think. Can you remember you overheard tourists who thought they were safe? Did you reveal you understood them?

Yago is not a language school. We are a website about language schools. What we aim to do is two-fold:

1) Make it easier for students to find a language course at a school that fits them

2) Help language schools find suitable and motivated students

It is with (2) that we earn our revenue. Language schools advertise in different ways, including on Google, by giving out flyers, by buying billboard space and in newspapers such as the Straits Times. And now they can also list their courses with us.

We have made a website that we believe is helpful to students. We don’t flood it with advertisements, and we collect reviews for courses, so that you really know what kind of course you are signing yourself up to.

So how do we get paid? Language schools can list a limited number of courses with us, and receive a limited number of enquiries, for free. If they receive more enquiries, they can choose to pay for a monthly subscription, or pay a commission for every student who signs up through.

In the education world, it’s common practice to pay commissions to education agents when they bring students. We don’t really believe in the traditional way agents work, because they may make choices on the student’s behalf, based on which school pays most commission.

We openly display schools’ names and courses on our site. You as a student can make your own choice and then contact the school directly.

It won’t cost you anything extra to contact a school through Yago as compared to contacting the school directly. The only difference is that if you contact the school through the “enquire now” buttons on Yago, we will get credit for referring you to the school.

At this moment we are looking for a charity in the education / language / culture sphere to sponsor with 10% of our revenues. Let us know if you have any suggestions!

Easier feedback: School ratings are important to our site and we are very eager to collect more of them so that all of you can get a better idea of what is happening inside the schools you find on our site. We’ve made it easier for you to leave feedback on your course our school. No longer do you need to create an account before you can leave your rating and comment. Just provide your name, rating and written comments and hit “submit”. Note that your evaluation needs to be first hand: you need to have actually attended the course / school you evaluate.

Search by country: We have recently added the Beijing based Chinese language schools Hutong School and Minsi International and more foreign schools are on the way. So you can now search by the country where the course is taking place. If you have recommendations for really good schools to learn Chinese in China, Korean in Korea or what more, don’t hesitate to let us know!

New products: You can learn a language in many ways besides attending courses. In fact, many of you may not have the time to attend a course on a regular schedule. That’s why we’ve started to add language learning apps, software and books to our website.

Instant chat: On the bottom right, you find a little bar with a chat function. If you are lost on the site, looking for suggestions, or have feedback on our site, you can pick up a chat conversation with us. We will try to be available as much as possible during office hours, but if you find us offline, you can drop us a note and we will get back to you as soon as possible, latest within one business day.

Tai Yu Hsiang, founder of Reading Attic

Tai Yu Hsiang from Reading Attic has been listing his Latin and Ancient Greek courses with us for a while. Time to get to know him better. We met up for a cup of coffee at Parkway Parade.

As I was on my way to our meeting, I realized that I had no idea how this Latin / Ancient Greek teacher would look like. Since he has studied ancient languages, would he look very ancient himself? Grey hair, and small, round, Ghandi type of glasses?

It turned out quite differently. He is in his early thirties and when he is not teaching Latin or Greek, he is an entrepreneur developing a new kind of household device. A worldly guy. While he wears glasses, they are 21st century proof.

Tai Yu Hsiang graduated with a Master of Arts in Greek and Latin (First Class Honours) from the University of Glasgow.

Why go halfway around the world to study Latin and Ancient Greek?

A science person by default, he started out studying electrical engineering in NUS but found it not suitable for himself. It was as if his “brain was not balanced”, as there was too much emphasis on calculus and analysis, and not enough language and creativity.

Before even starting at NUS, he had been so captivated by the Ancient Greek author Herodotus that he had tried learning Ancient Greek on his own.

That enterprise failed miserably, as the language structure is very complex and instruction books assume that the learner already has a strong foundation in the grammar of languages beyond English. The guidance of a teacher is a pure necessity.

So he took his chance and decided to try doing the most difficult thing he could imagine, mastering the classical languages Latin and Greek in Glasgow. The fact that returning home half way was simply not an option has surely helped him to make it through.

Now that he is back, does his knowledge of these languages help him in everyday life?

In Tai Yu Hsiang’s eyes, knowledge is power. He illustrates it with an example:

“My wife and I were addicted to a particular Japanese cartoon series. Not knowing any Japanese, we relied on the English subtitles. But after a while, the guys who were adding the subtitles simply stopped providing them. The series goes on, but we have no idea what is being said. Sometimes we joke that we should learn Japanese simply to continue watching the series.

It is the same with classical languages. A wealth of information is there that gives us precious insight into Western civilization. Wherever you are in the world, in this day and age, much of modern civilization is based on Western values and thinking.

Not everything has been translated, and even if it is, you are at the hands of the translator’s interpretation. But I am independent and can read the original of influential texts from writers as the Greek Homer and Roman Virgil, which till today shape Western thinking. And did you know that the Bible’s New Testament is written in Ancient Greek? That is power.”

Tai Yu Hsiang in Pylos, Greece. In Homer's Iliad, Pylos is described as the home of King Nestor

Ok, but does it get you employed?

The link isn’t that direct. It’s common for Singaporeans to want to see a directly associated benefit before doing something, but unfortunately it’s not true that you become a master trader in the stock market when you know a classical language, or that employers are lining up for you. Since so few people have studied classical languages in Singapore, the value is often not recognised.

But nevertheless, there are clear benefits. Yu Hsiang sees the brain as akin to a muscle. And learning a complex language totally new to you means giving that brain muscle a hell of an exercise. The effects of the exercise go well beyond the ability to comprehend ancient texts. To be successful in a classical language, you have to apply a structured mode of problem solving, and this skill can be carried over to other areas in life, be it science, business or creative writing.

What kind of people are you teaching in Singapore?

My students have often have touched on a classical language from some angle or another. For example:

• Christians who want to be able to read the Bible’s New Testament in its original language;
• An archeology student who wants to understand the language used in the time period she is studying;
• A Classics Ph. D. who wanted to learn some Ancient Greek on top of the Latin he already spoke.

But that is not to say that there aren’t any people who come to Latin and Ancient Greek as newbies and get drawn into it.

“I have also tutored two friends who had just completed NS and had another 2 months to spare before continuing their education. They wanted to use the period to do something totally different and decided to spend the period for intensive study of Latin. It clearly awakened an interest in them. One of them is now considering to take up Latin.”

If you want to know more about learning classical languages, feel free to get in touch with Tai Yu Hsiang through his page on the Yago website.

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I took French in secondary school. It was “kind of” mandatory for the pre-academic stream, which I was in, at least for the first 3 years. Two hours a week in lessons, and another 2 or so in self studies, for 3 years. Very little interest from myself. Unlike English, you don’t meet the French language a lot in the Netherlands where I grew up, and unlike German, French has no familiar ring to it. Moreover, I spent my holidays in those years in Ireland, Norway and Germany, where English and German are of much greater significance.

As for Spanish, one of my examination projects in Secondary school was about the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. I chose the subject myself out of my own fascination. I had left secondary school for about 2 years already, when I decided to spend one month of my holiday learning Spanish in Salamanca. I started really at zero, although I had had some exposure to the related languages of Italian, French and Latin. For a month, I lived in a Spanish host family where all conversation at the table was Spanish. There was no other option. Many of my fellow host-children didn’t even speak English. After two weeks, I joined a tour where everyone was Spanish speaking, and when the month of learning was over, traveled through the country with my brother for another two weeks or so.

From the situation I put myself into, you could see that I really wanted to learn Spanish. And as I put myself in that situation, my desire only grew stronger. The host parents, who were very warm and kind people, would jokingly say “no Espanol, no comer” – if you don’t speak Spanish you don’t get to eat.

A friend of mine went to the same town a year later, joining the same Spanish course. But his interests were more with partying and unlike me, he had rented a room in an independent student apartment. His main desire was to have a good time, and I’m sure he did. But as his desire to learn Spanish wasn’t as strong, he really didn’t speak much Spanish after a month in Salamanca.

The point is not that Spanish is so much more interesting than French. Had I, at the same age, taken to go to France to learn French, I would have been able to learn the language as well. It was “having to” learn the language when I couldn’t really see the point myself that put me off French early.

Put in a Singapore context, I have the feeling that for many children and young adults, my situation with French applies to their mother tongue. How many students learn their mother tongue with the same passion as they would learn, say, Japanese or Korean? If you are required to learn something, but cannot see the significance, desire simply goes down the drain. And as desire leaves, so does learning efficiency.