<p>Does anyone know of any reasonably priced language schools abroad? I was looking for something similar to EF but was hoping for something a little cheaper and that would offer some college credit. I’ve found a few things through google, but if anyone has any !suggestions I would really like to know! Thanks</p>
<p>What language are you looking to study? DD did 5 weeks in Quebec for around 2K, all inclusive.</p>
<p>I am actually looking to study either French as a beginner, or advanced German. Which program did your daughter go through? Thanks!</p>
<p>Why do you want to waste your money on language schools?</p>
<p>Dionysus58, why is that a waste of money? That is like saying that because someone lives in the US, you automatically know all the proper rules of grammar, spelling, etc. you need to know to function at an appropriate level for business and socially. We take English classes throughout our education process here to master those rules, esp. in elementary and middle school. It seems perfectly reasonable to want to do the same in another language. That said, getting out into the culture (esp. w/ homestay or living with students who are native speakers) certainly will help you pick it up faster along with the language classes.</p>
<p>It is a waste of money because you won’t learn anything. It’s that simple. They’re little more than hotels that operate under the pretence that people will study languages (and learn them).</p>
<p>Just as there in English classes in the US, there is a wide variety of (1) quality of language schools, and (2) diligence with which the students apply themselves to their studies. Obviously the OP should not go to one that does not have a good reputation. She should try to find others who have been if possible (which is exactly what she is doing here), and ask the school for references (and check them). I have friends, who happen to be adults, who went to a language school in Belize for a month. They had a great experience and improved their language skills a lot. You are making a very broad generalization to say that none of them are worth attending.</p>
<p>OP, you might try looking at college websites to see where they are sending their students. Then contact the language school directly. Although if you are in college now, your college would have to approve the credit transfer (and if they offer a similar program, they probably would want you to do theirs because it is more profitable for them…).</p>
<p>Hi, </p>
<p>I studied at a few language schools - one in France (2 weeks), one in Germany (6 months) and one in Italy (2 months, summer). Did you mention where or which language you wanted to study? I don’t know if I saw that…</p>
<p>Here’s where I found some of my schools:
[Language</a> School Links Homepage. Links and Contact Info for Over 1,000 In-Country Language Schools Worldwide.](<a href=“http://www.languageschoollinks.com%5DLanguage”>http://www.languageschoollinks.com)
[Getting</a> Academic Credit for Study Abroad at a Language School](<a href=“http://www.languageschoollinks.com/navpages/academic_credit.html]Getting”>http://www.languageschoollinks.com/navpages/academic_credit.html)</p>
<p>The second links gives you a page where they posted some info about getting credit.</p>
<p>FYI, I didn’t have enough money to pay for a regular study abroad program, and since I was studying languages, I decided to find the least expensive programs and go. Either I got really lucky or I did great research (a pat on my back, thanks!) because the schools were excellent.</p>
<p>Most of the programs are immersion programs, so you can count on learning A LOT and fast, too. Also, at each school, people came from all over the world–something I loved. You’ll meet lots of people, especially if you go in the summer. </p>
<p>The schools will arrange housing for you, usually a shared student apartment or a homestay. Shared student apartment is much less expensive. (In Germany, though, I had to arrange my own housing and that was a b***h, but I got into a student dorm and I really, really learned a lot during my stay.)</p>
<p>So check out each school’s website and see what they offer. I found language schools to be a hidden gem in the study abroad arena – remember, I couldn’t afford regular study abroad programs, so the language school thing for me was a dream come true. </p>
<p>Happy to pass on more info if you want…</p>
<p>It’s a kick-butt experience! Definitely do it!</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Hi S,</p>
<p>K, I didn’t see before that you mentioned French and German. Here’s some general cost info I found for France. This info is for a one month stay – you do a total of around 80 hours of class.</p>
<p>Also, most schools give you a 10% or 15% discount if you stay for three months or so. I picked the most affordable schools every time and I was very happy with the experience I had. Don’t trick yourself into thinking that if you don’t go to the most expensive school you’re missing out on anything. When you get there, you’ll see that is just not the case…</p>
<p>Let’s say you want to do a 1 month course, 20 hours a week and you’re gonna live in an apartment with other students…</p>
<p>In LYON, the cheapest price for tuition is 430 euros. The most expensive is about 700 euros.</p>
<p>Depending on which school you go to, you’d probably have to pay around 700 to 1000 euros for a month once you include housing costs (homestays are much more expensive - so I’m just including shared student apartmetns).</p>
<p>Same numbers for MARSEILLES: 320 to 420 for tution, and about 995 euros per month for school + housing (again, student apartment).</p>
<p>MONTPELLIER: 585 euros to 880 euros for classes. Probably around 300 - 400 euros a month for a room in a shared student apartment.</p>
<p>PARIS – ouch. A bit pricey. 575 euros to all the way up to 1600 euros just for tution. I didn’t look at the housing prices, but you can find that on each school’s website.</p>
<p>Those are the cities I looked at. If you want other cities there’s info on that site I mentioned in my other post.</p>
<p>omg, any more typing and my fingers will fall off!</p>
<p>Totally agree with you on this. I did just that and I spent two months at a language school, which cost me about $1600, including housing. </p>
<p>There was a study abroad group in the same school and they told me they were each paying around $3,500 for one month. </p>
<p>They had arrangements to get credit through their schools program – I didn’t. But when I got back I took a standardized test and got 6 credits. Whoohoo! :)</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info Magellan! Do you remember the names of the schools you went to?</p>
<p>This was a great learning experience plus you are in Quebec City during the festival. DD actually learned more French in 5 weeks there than in 5 years at school.</p>
<p>[Collge</a> Saint-Charles-Garnier - International Programs - French Summer Program “En franais Qubec!” - FAQ](<a href=“http://www.collegegarnier.qc.ca/international/eng/quebec/16-17/faq.html]Collge”>http://www.collegegarnier.qc.ca/international/eng/quebec/16-17/faq.html)</p>
<p>I second the whole language school idea, it worked for my daughter last summer in Valencia Spain. She took classes at the University of Valencia language Institute for relatively cheap, and I advertized in the local english language paper and found a host family for free. If you are looking for a complete for credit program, especially for german, look at DAAD.de hit the english button, and select course, international programs. there are several Batchelor programs taught in english. Most provide preliminary language classes before semester start. Cost varies, but is MUCH cheaper than study abroad programs. Study for a year in english, , get credit, and language instruction, and live in the language and culture. After you learn enough german, you can save even more money and take the classes in German. Hard to beat!</p>
<p>Ex: FA aachen engineering degree, 1st year in english, 2.3rd years in german. 500 euros a semester!!!</p>
<p>Hi Sarah,</p>
<p>Somehow I have it in my head that you were looking for schools in France, but I’ll include Italy as well.</p>
<p>In France I went to a school called IFALPES (the French love acronyms…) in Annecy. Annecy was really beautiful, which is why I chose it. The school was good and it actually works as a host school for some US study abroad programs. I had a pretty good experience there. The only thing I didn’t like was that new courses started every week, so if you’re doing a class for 2 months or 3 months, it means that every week new people can come into the class, and that can upset the rythm/progress of the school. Annecy is about an hour or two south of Geneva, Switzerland (but the school is in France).</p>
<p>In Italy I went to the Universita Italiana per Stranieri (“Italian University for Foreigners”) where I did not only Italian language classes, but also an Italian Film class and a History of Siena class. It was great! To this day I still watch movies differently because of that film class! :)</p>
<p>Re: France, I vaguely remember researching a school in France that was really affordable in Nice (I think) – though Nice has a reputation for not being so cheap. K, just looked – Cannes, not Nice. A 1-month course there is now like 695 euros – around 900 bucks because of the exchange rate. School is “College Internationale de Cannes”.</p>
<p>One more word of advice – Do Not go to a French univesity to learn French unless the program is an intensive course for foreigner, i.e., 15 - 20 hours/wk minimum. I made the mistake of doing that at the University of Montpellier once and I only had like 3 or 4 hours of class a week. It was terrible.</p>
<p>PS. The cheapest of all the programs was the one in Germany – for some reasons there seem to be a lot more German programs and less expensive, too.</p>
<p>Hope this helps! Sorry I didn’t respond earlier!</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Hi Sarah,</p>
<p>Somehow I have it in my head that you were looking for schools in France, but I’ll include Italy as well.</p>
<p>In France I went to a school called IFALPES (the French love acronyms…) in Annecy. Annecy was really beautiful, which is why I chose it. The school was good and it actually works as a host school for some US study abroad programs. I had a pretty good experience there. The only thing I didn’t like was that new courses started every week, so if you’re doing a class for 2 months or 3 months, it means that every week new people can come into the class, and that can upset the rythm/progress of the school. Annecy is about an hour or two south of Geneva, Switzerland (but the school is in France).</p>
<p>In Italy I went to the Universita Italiana per Stranieri di Siena (“Italian University for Foreigners” in Siena, Italy) where I did not only Italian language classes, but also an Italian Film class and a History of Siena class. It was great! To this day I still watch movies differently because of that film class! :)</p>
<p>There’s also a Universita Italiana per Stranieri in Pegugia. I would stick with Siena – prettier, nicer, easier to get to other places in Italy…and safer!</p>
<p>Re: France, I vaguely remember researching a school in France that was really affordable in Nice (I think) – though Nice has a reputation for not being so cheap. K, just looked – Cannes, not Nice. A 1-month course there is now like 695 euros – around 900 bucks because of the exchange rate. School is “College Internationale de Cannes”.</p>
<p>One more word of advice – Do Not go to a French univesity to learn French unless the program is an intensive course for foreigner, i.e., 15 - 20 hours/wk minimum. I made the mistake of doing that at the University of Montpellier once and I only had like 3 or 4 hours of class a week. It was terrible.</p>
<p>PS. The cheapest of all the programs was the one in Germany – for some reasons there seem to be a lot more German programs and less expensive, too.</p>
<p>Hope this helps! Sorry I didn’t respond earlier!</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Hey Evildad,</p>
<p>Totally cool that you did that! The times I spent studying languages abroad, I rarely met other students who went independently like me, and if they did, it was usually him or her that came up with the idea, and not dad! I looked at the German program you mentioned, pretty cool that you found that too! From what I have seen, US universities send students in their programs to schools like the one you mentioned, but then they charge regular US tuition for it, so it ends up costing $10,000 a semester for tuition (for example) instead of 500 euros…oh yeah, and the 30 euro registration fee. What do they do with all that left over money anyway? Best thing for me was that I avoided student loans and I got to study abroad. </p>
<p>By the way, did your daughter like the homestay? I’ve known a lot of people who did that but I always got a room in a student apartment – mostly cause its cheaper, but I don’t know, I think sometimes also cause theres probably more freedom in a student apartment. Did she complain that all the food was fried! lol</p>
<p>Hey Sarah,</p>
<p>Crud. I just saw that you mentioned advanced German. How do I miss this stuff? Better brush up on my reading skills. Let’s see if I can make this short, cause there’s a lot to say about the German school I did.</p>
<p>School name: Sprachenkolleg fuer Auslaendishe Studierende. You sign up for 3-month courses that start at specific times. I think that the cost now for tution is around 800 euros – for 3 months! </p>
<p>The school was no-frills, and a lot of work. I got more handout sheets for homework there than at any other school I’ve been to! The school is in Freiburg, Germany, just north of Base, Switzerland. Freiburg was absolutely postcard/picture beautiful! Has a university, plenty of restaurants, you name it.</p>
<p>I had to arrange my own housing – that was difficult and you’d have to do it in advance. I stayed in a Catholic Student Dorm (you don’t have to be catholic to stay there, nor do you have to “practice”). The dorm was called Alban-Stolz-Haus. They have a website: [Katholisches</a> Studentenwohnheim - Alban Stolz Haus - Freiburg](<a href=“http://site.albanstolzhaus.de%5DKatholisches”>http://site.albanstolzhaus.de) You have to apply in advance. (There are other dorms, contact the school to see if they can give you info.)</p>
<p>As I write this, I can still here the names of the Strassenbahn stops being announced on the speakers of the Strassenbahn. Go to Flickr and check out pictures of Freiburg.</p>
<p>Also, after 6 months I took the Pruefung nach deutscher Sprachkenntnisse – and I passed! So I extended my stay in Germany and enrolled at the University of Freiburg as a guest student for semester. The whole thing was great!</p>
<p>PS – I actually met a guy at the school from Ohio who didn’t know where to go in Germany, so he got a map of Germany, closed his eyes, twirled the map around a few times, and then (without opening his eyes) put his finger on the map. “Wherever my finger landed, was where I was going” he said. His finger landed on Freiburg. I just think that’s so totally cool!</p>
<p>Ok, fingers falling off again!</p>