Pros and Cons of Online Graduate Language Degree

The popularity of online courses has never been higher. Just about every school, from community college to prestigious Ivy League university, offers distance learning. At the same time, companies like potential employees with foreign language skills. In today?s global economy, having the ability to speak several languages can advance one?s career. Many of us took a foreign language in college and now want to take that ability to a higher level. A wonderful solution is to take graduate-level language course online.

Taking a language course online is a great way to brush up on previous but rusty language skills. Sites such as Word2Word.com offer languages ranging from Abenaki to Yiddish. This site is free. Another free resource is Omniglot.com. For a casual traveler who wants to learn a few phrases, these free websites will enable you to catch a train, check into your hotel and order a meal.

If paying for some lessons appeals to you, then Mangolanguages.com is one website to try. If you want to be website-free but learn using a computer, Rosetta is the software people buy most often to learn new languages.

Berlitz, known for decades as the source of handy books for the travelers, offers language courses developed for the individual, corporations, governments and institutions. Whatever your native language is and whatever language you want to learn, Berlitz has a language course for you. The web-based live lessons are conducted in a virtual classroom using Berlitz?s proven method for teaching language. Berlitz also offers private instruction that?s as flexible as your schedule and goals require.

For more intense language courses through the graduate level, enrollment at a university or college is the way to go.

The University of Wisconsin at Madison, for example, offers French and Italian as distance learning programs. French is offered at the beginning through advanced levels, whereas Italian is offered at the beginning through intermediate levels. Each course is worth three or four credits towards a baccalaureate degree. The Introduction to French course, first semester, requires an Internet connection and computer, a textbook and a dictionary.?

The big advantage of an online language course is flexibility: you attend the lesson and do the homework on your schedule, though it will be due by a certain date and time. Depending upon the college and course, you might be able to revisit the lesson before going on to the next one, something not possible with live courses.

Disadvantages include not being able to converse with your teacher and fellow students in real time. This means that you don?t have the same opportunity to develop your ear for the sound of the language, nor do you develop your ability to think in the new language to the same extent.?

Most people find that the advantages of online languages outweigh the disadvantages. If you want to try out a new language or brush up on your skills, there?s no easier way than with an online language course.

Source: http://education.ezinemark.com/pros-and-cons-of-online-graduate-language-degree-7d33e988d5e5.html

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