9 signs you’re ready to study in another country

 

Studying abroad is the best way to learn a new language, but how do you know if you’re really ready to start this adventure? To help you make this difficult decision we’ve put in a list of signs that will make you see if you’re really ready to start the process.

 

1. You have an obsession with music/series/movies from a country

Watching TV shows or movies and listening to music in the language you’re studying (or want to study) is one of the best ways to learn. But if little by little this becomes an obsession, it’s time to pack up and experience what you feel while in the country itself.

 

2. You’re hooked on learning

It may sound kind of weird, we know it, but it’s more common than it looks. You are not able to take a bus or subway trip without advancing any other level in your language app, or without reading a chapter of a book in that language. You have a mission to improve every day and spend as much time as you can honing your knowledge and accent

 

3. You dream in another language

This is usually a privileged thing that only happens to those who master a language, but if you are very prepared to study abroad, that language finds a way to sneak into your dreams.

 

4. You resent speaking only one language

Someone once said that the limit of a person’s language is the limit of their world, and there is no greater truth. So if you’re already tired of your world in one language and the limits that communication imposes on you in it, it’s your time. There’s a huge world out there, and it’s time for you to talk to him.

 

5. You love food from a given country

Few things allow you to get into a country as much as its food. Your taste buds feel like experiencing what it’s like to eat that food you love so much, in their home country. Track! When the restaurant staff already knows by heart what you’re asking for, it’s time to go.

 

6. You are a curious and open-minded person

Knowing the world makes you passionate, intrigued by other cultures and you keep asking yourself questions about places, sounds and flavors from all over the world. Getting lost in an unknown city sounds great and you can no longer wait to be in a city where no one knows you. You want to know every corner and learning a language is the step before you become a globetrotter.

 

7. You know what excursions and activities you’re going to do

Google has become your best friends. Thanks to the you have discovered subway maps, urban excursions and an immense list of things not to be missed. You already have the itinerary for the first week at the destination you want to visit so much and it is the perfect time to give way to that research.

 

8. Everyone knows your plans to study abroad

You’re so excited about your curriculum, you share it with everyone. Your friends, your family and even your neighbor know you’re going away. There’s nothing wrong with sharing it!

 

9. You want to know what it’s like to live in another country

Language classes, apps, movies, podcast… you find them super interesting and amuse you. But you know that total language immersion is only possible by practicing it 24 hours with people from that place. Worrying about progressing as much as possible only shows that you are a mature and fully prepared person.

 

So it’s time, seize the opportunity and travel with Ynsitu to the country you so want to meet. Our courses abroad will help you improve the language and live a unique experience. Cheer up to fulfill your dream!

How to See Rome in Less Than 2 Hours

How to See Rome in Less Than 2 Hours

Rome, Italy, is one of the most sought after tourist destinations in the world. Its history dates back more than 28 centuries, and it served as the center of the Roman Empire, Europe’s ruling force, for more than 400 years. Its globally-recognized landmarks, like the Colosseum and Vatican City, attract more than nine million international tourists each year, making it one of the top tourist destinations in Europe.

 

Unlike major cities such as New York City, London, and Paris, Rome is exceptionally compact and walkable. You can walk to and see five of its most famous sights in less than two hours. Here’s how:

 

Vatican City

Of the five landmarks on this route, Vatican City is the furthest west, so that’s where you’d start your journey. Since it became independent from Italy in 1929, Vatican City has been the smallest country in the world by area and population. It is home to religious and cultural sites of St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, the latter serving as home to Michelangelo’s famous ceiling mural. The Vatican also serves as the Pope’s official residence, but he’s not there too often.

 

If you don’t want to view the world’s smallest country from outside, you can purchase a 17 euro ticket to the Vatican Museums. There can be, however, as many as 20,000 visitors a day in the summer, so it’ll likely be a bit crowded.

 

Pantheon

Walking from Vatican City to the Pantheon brings you over the River Tiber and should take around 30 minutes. Unlike the heavily-barricaded Vatican, tourists can walk up to and inside the Pantheon without buying a ticket or worrying about security. The Pantheon is described as “one of the best-preserved monuments of Ancient Rome” by History.com and includes the tombs of former Italian kings.

 

If the scene isn’t too crowded, head inside the Pantheon for some amazement. There are no windows inside the ancient structure — the only light source is through an oculus at the top of the concrete dome that shines through during the day time.

 

Trevi Fountain

Just a 10-minute walk from the Pantheon is one of the most magnificent sights in Rome, Trevi Fountain. Because of its beauty, it will almost always be surrounded by tourists waiting to sit on the edge and throw a coin, or three, in the fountain. An estimated 3,000 euros are thrown into the fountain each day. 

 

Towering above the crystal blue water are several sculptures, the most prominent one being Oceanus, the Greek god of the sea. The backdrop for the brilliant white carvings is the Palazzo Poli, a palace with white symmetrical pillars and windows, adding to the already breathtaking aesthetic of the fountain.

 

Spanish Steps

If there’s one thing missing at this point in the journey, its a place to sit down and relax for a bit. The Spanish Steps are just another 10 minutes away from Trevi Fountain and allow tourists to do just that. The Trinita Dei Monti church overlooks the steep steps, which are spacious enough for visitors to sit on without disrupting people scaling them. Take this time to recharge for another 30-minute walk to arguably the most famous monument in all of Rome, the Colosseum.

 

Colosseum

For most people, when you think of Rome, you think of the Colosseum. Other than Vatican City, this is the only other stop in the journey that requires tickets to go inside. Otherwise, you’re limited to just walking around the world-famous structure. Tickets range from 16 to 22 euros, depending on which “experience” you opt for.

 

Don’t underestimate the size of the Colosseum just because half of its south side was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th century, resulting in the monument’s now-iconic look. When it was in use, the Colosseum could seat 80,000 people, more than all but five professional sports stadiums in the United States. Its circumference is more than a quarter-mile wide.

 

Complete this sub-two-hour journey on foot, and you can say you’ve seen the sights of Rome. Of course, there is more to the Italian capital than just its famous landmarks, and some tourists may not want to deal with crowds around the aforementioned spots. Luckily, seeing all of them takes up a mere fraction of your day, leaving plenty of time to explore other parts of the city. Happy traveling!

David S. 

______________________________________________________________________________

As you can see there is a lot to visit in Rome, do you want to start a new adventure? Look what Ynsitu can offer to you such as many Italian courses in Rome.

Learn languages with these board games

Aprende idiomas con estos juegos de mesa

Learning a language doesn’t have to be boring! If you like board games, it’s the perfect time to have fun while reinforcing or learning a language. You want to know how? Here are 4 fantastic board games to do it.

Guess who?

This classic board game consists of two players have a board with the same images of 24 people, one of them is assigned to each and through questions to their opponent, they must discard those photos until they finally keep one. The first one who manages to guess that person’s identity wins.

This game will go great for practicing vocabulary by asking questions and descriptions. You will see that it will be very useful because you will practice to take an official language exam.

In addition, its rules are common to all languages and there are no differences when it comes to playing. Eit’s the perfect way to improve fluency and enrich your vocabulary.

Scrabble

If we talk about word board games, Scrabble is the winner par excellence. You’ll have to try to form words with different letters, so it’ll be easy to do it in the language of your choice. At first it will be a bit complicated, but you will see how little by little you will flow and improve.

Did you know that there are world Scrabble competitions for a foreign language? Want to know the key to winning? Memorize words from the dictionary of the language you’re going to play in. No one can take you down!

If you want to add a point of difficulty, you can try defining each word that you are managing to form.

Apples to Apples

Players start with seven “red apple” cards, which feature nouns. A player is chosen to be the first judge and the player plays with a “green apple” card, which contains an adjective. The round is won when the “red apple” card that the judge determines is the one that best matches the “green apple” card. The role of judge is rotating and the number of rounds is determined by the number of players.

If you are looking to improve your vocabulary, this is definitely a perfect game to learn a large number of adjectives and nouns. The harder the word, the more excitement the game will have!

Scattergories

It is a traditional board game in which a player says one letter and another selects a category. The objective of the game is to try to say or write in a given time as many possible words related to the category that start with the chosen letter. You can play in any language!

If you’re looking to win, you’ll need to put the first words that come to mind and the rarer and harder the better, as you’ll add more points. Also, you’ll have to be very quick so your rivals don’t have time to put words in and add fewer points than you do.

To practice more, you can add rules such as describing each word or translating it into different languages.

If you want to learn vocabulary in a fun way, you will definitely get one of these games.

However, if you’re looking for the full domain of a language, we recommend taking
language courses abroad
 and fully immersed yourself in the language. It will be an amazing experience! Don’t think about it anymore and discover all the types of courses
you can take abroad and all the destinations and languages available to you inYnsitu,your marketplace of language courses abroad.

How to write a perfect cover letter

 

Interested in looking for work in an English-speaking country? If yes, you should make sure you have all the tools you need for this path. You’ve probably already prepared your resume and updated your LinkedIn page, but have you thought it’s the first thing they’ll see when reviewing your candidacy? Normally, your cover letter. That’s why in today’s post we’re going to teach you how to describe a perfect cover letter.

 

What is a cover letter?

 

A cover letter, as your name suggests, is a document that is sent along with the resume when you apply for a job. This should explain why you consider yourself the perfect candidate for the position. Please note that you cannot use the same cover letter for everything, but must adapt it to each position you present yourself.

In the letter you have to explain what position you are interested in, because you are the perfect candidate and share your contact information. It’s the perfect opportunity to talk in detail about yourself, your skills and your interests. It’s probably the first thing the person who has to evaluate you reads, so it’s critical to make a good impression if you want to stand out.

 

How to write the perfect cover letter

 

An introduction that leaves its mark

Once you’ve written the name of the person you’re addressing, don’t just fill in the space with a boring introduction. The first few sentences are the most important! They catch the reader’s attention, so it must be something original and then continue to talk about the reasons why you’re interested in the position.

 

All about you

Now that you’ve explained why you’re applying for the job, start talking about yourself. In this device you should talk about your skills and your previous experience, butwithout making a copy and paste of the resume. You have to highlight your most important achievements and those that have to do with the position you are presenting to. This way the company will be able to see how you can be useful to it.

Before you start writing, it is advisable to review the job offer. This allows you to select the skills that best correspond to the job description.

 

You and the company

In this section you must prove that you know the company, so you must do a research job. Talk about why you’re interested in the industry and that particular company. If you identify with its values, if you fit with its culture… You have to prove that contracting them are going to help them grow.

 

Conclusion and contact

To conclude you must repeatyourself, repeat why you are interested in the position and why you are the perfect candidate. It is also important to say goodbye by inviting the recipient to contact you. Remember that the main purpose of this letter is to be interviewed.

Finally, finish the letter with a formal farewell that follows the English conventions:

  • If you know the name of the person you’re addressing, end up with a “Yours sincerely”.
  • If on the contrary you do not know his name, close with a “Yours faithfully”

 

As you can see writing a cover letter takes time, but the person who reviews it will see the effort and interest you’ve put into preparing it. When you’ve made a couple, you’ll see how everything is easier.

Now that you have the tips to write the perfect letter, just get to it and get the job you want. At Ynsitu we offer you the opportunity to take courses abroad that allow you to work while improve your language level. Cheer up and travel with us!

 

 

5 easy steps to speak English without a foreign accent

 

You travel to a new country and when you start talking to native people they discover your nationality just because of your accent when speaking English Has it ever happened to you?. Although some accents have a lot of charm, if when you try to speak another language it bothers you, today we bring you 5 simple steps to speak English more naturally. This way you’ll have more confidence in talking about it and you’ll be able to put it into practice in your next experience abroad.

 

1. Choose your accent

 

Think about which accent you like best or which one sticks with your personality. There are many types of accents (British, American, Australian…) and you can choose according to your preferences.

Once you choose your favorite, you must stay true to him and be consistent in speaking. You should use vocabularies according to the selected accent and try not to mix words that are used in with others.

 

2. Go and listen to everything in English

 

It’s one of the most typical tips when you’re learning a new language, but when you try to improve your pronunciation it’s one of the most useful. Force yourself to watch all YouTube shows, series, movies or videos in English. Learning new words will be of great help to you, but your accent will mostly appreciate your hatred getting used to always listening to English. (Not forgetting the type of accent you’ve previously chosen, remember point1!)

Seeing things in their original language instead of the dubbed version is a different and very enriching experience. You can start watching videos or movies you already know in English. It may cost a little at first, but if you lean on subtitles (logically) it will get easier and easier.

 

3. Listen carefully

English is a fairly musical language, so it’s important to perfect the right sounds and fluency if you want to talk like a native. In Spain, for example, we pronounce all the letters of words, so for us English can be somewhat complicated. Listening to how different the words spoken by a native sound can be of great help.

It is worth paying attention to the way in which certain words are said (burger, spaguetti…). Even if the changes are minimal to your language, you’ll make a difference.

 

4. Say it all out loud

 

The more you practice your English, the better. You don’t need anyone to talk about it, you can do it with yourself. It may sound kind of weird, but it’s tremendously useful. One of the things that can help you practice the most is reading aloud (books, magazines or what you like the most). If you like a phrase from a movie, try repeating it as you do in it. Learn the lyrics of your favorite songs and repeat them over and over again aloud. It really works!

 

5. Take every opportunity to talk

 

Try to relate to strange people and look for opportunities to speak English. Introduce yourself to volunteers to read in class, look for academies or even erasmus and practice bars or meetings. Any time is good to improve,the more active you are, the faster you will learn and develop your accent.

 

And since it couldn’t be any other way, the best advice we can give you is to travel. Moving around an English-speaking country will force you to practice and help you lose your foreign accent. That’s
why in Ynsitu
we offer dozens of
language courses,
for better your language and pronunciation at the same time you visit a new place Encourage yourself to travel with us!

10 basic rules of French pronunciation

 

The pronunciation in French is one of the aspects that most resists the Spaniards when we are learning this language. Something quite rare considering that, like Spanish, this language comes from Latin. French is the second most studied language in Spain (only followed by English), so we can’t let this continue to happen.

To fix this, in this article we’ve put together 10 basic pronunciation rules that will help you speak better in French. These rules will help you perfect the language, even more so if you put it into practice by talking to someone native, either on your next trip or taking a language course in France.

 

The 10 basic rules of pronunciation

 

1. First rule: “The E”

 

This letter is the cause of many of the problems of pronunciation of French. It has 3 different shades:the bass accent ( s), the circumflex (A) and the treble (é). They are pronounced similarly to the Spanish “E”, but depending on whether the accent is severe or sharp, the pronunciation must be more open or more closed respectively. On the other hand, there is also the “E” without an accent, which is mute at the end of the words and if it is at the beginning or between it sounds like a mixture of “E” and “O”.

 

2. Second rule: “The C”

 

This letter doesn’t fall behind either. The third letter of the alphabet has a crumb, and it is that when it is before the “E” or the “I” (or when it bears the “A” box)it sounds as if it were an “S”. Also, the CH in French has a softer sound than in Spanish and must be pronounced more or less as sh in English. All this except when preceding “L”, “N” or “R”, in such cases should be treated as if it were a K.

 

3. Third rule: “The R”

 

I’m sure you’ve ever tried to imitate the French accent and pronounced the “R” as if it were a “G.” Well, keep doing it! That’s what it should sound like.

 

4. Fourth rule: The “G”

 

This letter has the same sound as in Spanish, except when it goes in front of “E” or “I”. In this case it transforms and sounds like the French “J” (something similar to our “LL”. It is also important to know that the form “GN” is pronounced as our classic letter “A” (Espagnol, for example)

 

5. Fifth rule: The “PH”

 

This is one of the easiest rules to memorize. Just remember that this combination is pronounced as the letter “F” (Photographie, philosophie…)

 

6. Sixth rule: Vowels

 

In the first of the rules we went ahead with the “E”, since it is worthy of its own section, but the truth is that when speaking French you must pay attention to all vowels. The “O”, “AU” and “UAE” are pronounced as the vowel “O”, while the combination “OU” has the same sound as our “U”. “OI” should be pronounced as “UA” and “EU” and “OEU” as if you were pronouncing at the same time the E and the U. Special mention to the vowels that are followed by “M” and “N”, since they should sound as if you have your nose covered.

 

7. Seventh Rule: Terminations

 

The vast majority of the “E” and “S” are not pronounced. Also, the ending “-ENT” (third plural person), is also mute. And also some consonants!

 

8.Eighth rule: The dieresis

 

The French dieresis is used as in Spanish to destroy combinations between vowels. In this way, each will be part of a different syll and sound independently.

 

9. Ninth Rule: Acute Words

 

In French all words are sharp,so the tonic accent falls on the last syllroom. Although there are always some exceptions… As we have mentioned above, if the words end in “E”, it does not have to be pronounced so the accent falls on the vowel that precedes it. This also affects words that are modified by verbal endings or by the form of the plural.

 

10. Tenth rule: Liaison

 

This is how the words that link his last syllable to the first of the next are known in French. In these cases itmust pronounce as if it were a single word. This happens whenever one word ends with the silent “E” and the next one starts with the “H”, which is also mute. In this way, “Les amis” will sound like “Lesami”

 

There are many other aspects to consider, but these are the main ones. Now that you know them, it’s time to put them into practice. And what better way to do it than traveling to France with Ynsitu. Don’t miss out on our language courses abroad!