Learning a language a few hours a week, week after week, can mean more than a year’s study before you can even begin communicating on any practical level.

If this is too slow for you, you may be interested in intensive learning courses.

Many language schools or institutes offer intensive courses. These courses, however, vary widely with respect to method, quality and price.

The types of courses or methodologies can be summarized as follows:

• Conventional instruction : basically what you are doing a few hours a week, intensified to 40-50 hours a week for 1-4 weeks
• Total Immersion : the „sink or swim“ approach to learning a language fast
• Alternative methodologies : employing role play, suggestopedia, association and relaxed-state learning

Under the last category, one of the most effective in our experience is the Alpha Method.

Lozanov