Language & Travel Blog

We all know the many reasons to study and live abroad, and besides the usual benefits of language acquisition, cultural immersion and expanding horizons, what does living abroad actually do for us?

Each year Wiseward offers junior summer language programmes abroad where young students ages 13 - 17 immerse themselves in language lessons and cultural activities with other students their age from around the world. But you might be wondering, what are the benefits of this?

Studying abroad is often seen as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to so many people; a unique chance to be immersed in a country, city and environment by studying a new language and living with a host family. All your careful planning may still not prepare you for these 5 surprising things you didn't know about studying abroad.

When you move abroad to study a new language, it is a great idea to stay with a host family while you are there. There are many benefits to living with a local family and the chance to improve your language skills and discover a new culture is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Did you know that in Japan you should give and receive a business card with 2 hands? And that in Egypt business meetings are never scheduled on Fridays? Doing business around the world requires you to understand workplace customs and etiquette from various cultures. Read on to discover workplace customs from around the world.

Corporate expansion into international markets usually requires employees to have a certain level of proficiency in a foreign language or two. It matters little whether a company partner with an international firm, opens additional offices in another country, or just wants to expand its customer base; the ability to communicate in multiple languages is becoming an imperative factor in the successful growth of any business.

Australians have a unique brand of slang and if you come prepared, you’ll have no trouble understanding these expressions and getting along with locals. Aussies tend to shorten words, so instead of saying “We will meet up this afternoon” they will say “We’ll meet up this arvo” or instead of saying “Let’s have a barbeque” they will say “Let’s have a barbie”. Below you will find some other equally useful Australian phrases.

When you study German in Berlin you will have a chance to explore a wide variety of cultural content originating from different centuries and not to mention the great German cuisine and beers. So here are some of our tips on places to go and things to see and do while you’re studying German in Berlin.

Have you ever watched a British tv show or movie but had difficulty catching some of the vocabulary or phrases even though the main characters were speaking English? Strange, right? This situation is especially familiar to those who learned English as a second language and that are not so familiar with ‘British English’ terminology.

You want to study and learn a new language. In order to do so, you can either stay in your home country and take courses at a language school or with a tutor, study online or you can choose the more exciting and effective option: pack your bags and study a language abroad. Studying a language abroad is an adventure! You will go outside your comfort zone and immerse yourself in a new language and culture.

The Common European Framework of Reference, or CEFR, represents a guideline used to describe the achievement of learners of foreign languages. The guide is applied across Europe and in some other non-European countries such as Columbia and the Philippines. So let’s see what is so special about this Framework.