We know that students have unique learning styles and goals, for this reason there is never a one-size-fits-all approach to language learning. At Strømmen you will be paired with a tutor or group class that fits your needs, learning style and goals perfectly. Some of our students take both group Spanish classes, and private Spanish lessons with a tutor. We always give our students the “VIP treatment” ( Huffpost )

This is a common question, and the answer is never straightforward. We compare 10 hours of private classes to a full semester at a university or college. We have had many students become fluent in under a year. On the other hand we have had students that only take a few hours of language classes per month and have much slower results. Many companies and apps promise that learning a language is easy, the truth is, its not. But learning a language would not be rewarding if it was easy. Our goal is to make it fun, and efficient, so at least it will seem less hard! If you love the language, we recommend signing up to something like our French foundation class, or scheduling a private French tutoring session to get started. Learning a language takes time and effort, but if you never start with classes then it will take even longer!

Adding a second or third language to your resume gives you an advantage in the job market. If you are choosing to learn a new language for a new job or industry, consider which language is most important for that industry. For example, if you are pursuing medicine in Los Angeles, you should focus on Spanish. If you are interested in international trade and manufacturing, perhaps you should consider Mandarin Chinese. Keep in mind, in our increasingly globalized world, most large companies will be happy if you know any 2nd language.

If you are an English speaker with no prior exposure to learning languages, it is safe to say that these are the hardest new languages to learn: Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Finnish, Japanese, Korean. That said, our excellent teachers make the experience fun and engaging. When you can finally hold a conversation in one of these difficult languages we are sure that the feeling of satisfaction and the reward will be worth it! Whether you are taking German Classes, or Chinese classes, or something simpler like Italian tutoring, we know that we can help you achieve your goals!

Romantic languages (languages that derive from Latin) are generally considered easier to learn, because many English words come from romantic languages and the general structure and writing of English is similar to romantic languages. The easiest languages to learn for an English speaker with no previous language lessons are: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and French.

There are many ways to effectively practice a language on your own. We have many resources on our language blog – but some good ideas include watching movies and TV shows in their original language, reading and listening to radio in original language, using free apps and resources and connecting with native speakers in your community. To really achieve fluency we recommend adding private or group classes to make progress more quickly.

If only we could go back to being little babies and learn a language passively with no feelings of self-doubt or judgement. Humans are naturally very good at adapting and learning new things. Learning a new language doesn’t have to be hard, but often our need for perfection makes learning something new a hard task. We aim to make the learning process as natural as possible by matching you with a tutor that fits your learning style and goals.