Scope of Japanese Language

Japan is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and it also prominently features, among the top 5 largest economies in the world. This is mainly due to the technological prowess and manufacturing capabilities of the country. Japan is also one of the leading source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in many growing economies around the world including India. Most of the leading Japanese MNCs (especially in Electronics and automobile sectors) have a presence in India through joint ventures or local subsidiaries in the country. Sustained presence, growth and popularity of Japanese brands have made learning Japanese language a very common phenomenon across the country. There is a persistent demand for workers as well as qualified professionals who possess working knowledge of Japanese. This trend has prompted many leading universities and foreign language training institutes to offer degrees and diplomas in Japanese Language. Fluency in Japanese language can not only help an individual in securing a career opportunity as a translator with foreign embassies or corporate but also in something as creative as writing.

Any individual who wishes to master Japanese must clear the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). This exam is conducted by Japanese Government all over the world on first Sunday of July and December every year. It tests the proficiency of disciples over the language at 5 levels – N1, N2, N3, N4 and N5; where N5 is the basic level while N1 is the most advanced level of exam. An individual can take the exam based on their level of learning and kind of career opportunities each level can provide. N5 level proficiency means that a person has language skills and they can communicate or respond to Japanese words and greetings. This kind of proficiency can come handy in jobs which require basic interaction with people in the language like in tourism industry. This level assumes that the disciple would know approximately 800 words of vocabulary and 100 number of kanji. While N1 level assumes that individual has advanced Japanese language courses and skills and he/she can communicate fluently in the language. N1 level expects the disciple to know at least 10,000 words in vocabulary and 2000 number of Kanji. This level of proficiency would help a person in securing translation based high profile jobs with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) or Embassies. Such profiles would require a person to speak or write in Japanese in real time with utmost amount of accuracy and a JPLT certificate of N1 level tests and ensures the same.

Symbiosis Institute of Indian and Foreign Languages (SIFIL) provides exhaustive courses in Japanese language with proficient faculty, advanced curriculum and updated course material. Any individual who wishes to develop command over Japanese to pursue a fulfilling career can avail these courses. These courses are well equipped to train a person for all 5 levels of the JLPT. SIFIL is part of renowned Symbiosis International University (SIU), Pune and it offers a wide range of courses in Indian as well as foreign languages at its Pune campus.

URL – https://www.sifil-symbiosis.org/japanese-language-courses.html

Learning Chinese: Tips and Tricks

China’s meteoric rise as world’s next superpower has opened up multiple avenues for people around the world. Most of the product based businesses like Apparel, electronic products, equipments, machinery etc today outsource their product manufacturing to China, mainly thanks to their massive manufacturing abilities while many others source their raw materials like steel, fabrics, plastic etc from China. And this global flux of businesses has also created need for Chinese proficient professionals who can act as bridge in connecting people all over the world for smooth conduct of businesses. But developing proficiency over Chinese is far more challenging than mastering other common global languages like French, Spanish, Arabic, Latin etc.

The fundamental reason why Chinese is considered more difficult than other languages is because Chinese writing system is completely non-alphabetic and consists of thousands of pictographs which are commonly known as “Characters”. Developing familiarity so many similar looking characters and memorizing them takes considerable amount of time and effort. But one of the biggest strengths of Chinese language is its simplistic grammar. Sentence structure is very similar to English i.e Subject + Verb + Object. Verbs are always expressed in single form without any conjunctions. Chinese has its way to express tenses but it does not have gender or plural nouns. Overall, complexity of characters coupled with simplicity of grammar need to be studied and practiced intensely for few months to master the language. Any person who wants to master the language should pursue a Chinese speaking course which focuses on consistent intense learning schedule like 5 day a week or so. Unfortunately many language institutes teach Chinese like any other language i.e couple of classes or hours a week, which doesn’t help the cause at all. Course scheduling should be intense with 2-3 months duration to deliver desired results for the seeker; otherwise it is a common sight among new language learners to quit the language course after trying for few weeks.

Another important factor which needs to be considered while learning Chinese is about picking up the apt system and dialect of the language. Chinese has two major writing systems which are used across the world – Traditional and Simplified. Traditional Chinese system has evolved over thousands of years and consists of thousands of beautiful characters which have evolved from ancient Chinese pictographs and it takes years of effort to learn and memorize them. On the contrary, Simplified writing system has far lesser number of characters as it was introduced by Chinese government around middle of last century to uplift the literacy rates in the country. Today simplified Chinese is the official language of China and Singapore. It is also widely used for official communication, media, education and all major utilitarian purposes. This system is relatively easier to adapt and learn. Most of the language training institutes around the world train the students in simplified Chinese system only. Another major concern for adapters of language is regarding which dialect to choose and focus on. China is a vast country with classical history and this has created thousands of dialects of the language. However, Mandarin and Cantonese are the two major dialects spoken globally. Historically Cantonese was spoken by majority of rural population, from which many migrated to western countries in last few centuries. However recent influx of mainland population has increased the popularity of Mandarin globally and any new learner should ideally learn Mandarin only.

Learning a new language is always a rewarding experience and specially mastering a rich language like Chinese always comes with lot of gains in terms of knowledge and exposure. Undoubtedly learning Chinese is challenging but it increases the employment opportunities by many fold for the individual.

URL – https://www.sifil-symbiosis.org

Learning French: Not so romantic, yet Classy

French is one of the most sought after languages for new language learners in the world. The allure of French culture is quite irresistible and it often acts as a catalyst in motivating more and more youngsters to take up French classes. In metropolitan towns of India, most of the foreign language institutes offer French as one of the flagship courses to the seekers. Symbiosis Institute of Indian and Foreign Languages (SIFIL) is one of leading institutes who offer French classes in Pune. It should be noted that learning any new language comes with its own set of challenges as well as advantages. For all romance and pleasantness French entails, developing proficiency over the language is not a cake walk and it does involves sincere and substantial effort from the learner.

All the people who have learnt French agree unanimously on one aspect of French i.e it is very challenging to develop fluency in pronunciation and accent. For example, the usage of nasal ‘r’ in words like ‘frere’ (means brother) often tends to drive the English speaking learners crazy. This problem can be easily handled by memorizing the letter combinations for different words. Learner also should deploy extra emphasis on accent over the ‘e’ to be able to pronounce the phonetics of the words perfectly. French is often considered as a very inconsistent language when it comes relationship between word spellings and pronunciations. Usually, words would always have some alphabets appearing as silent while pronouncing but they do come along as compulsive part of the spellings. This usually creates lot of confusion for the new disciples of the language and tends to create havoc between their reading and speaking capabilities. This challenge needs to be handled by devoting dedicated effort on building vocabulary and developing sound understanding of how word formation and phonetics work in the language.

Another commonly challenge faced by English speaking learners while learning French is Gender differentiation. Much like Hindi or many other languages, French addresses both masculine and feminine genders with differentiated syntax and it requires substantial amount of understanding of French culture to decipher the same. Unfortunately there are no shortcuts or tricks to master the same. English is primarily a Gender neutral language but French is very much like Hindi where one needs to know Gender of object beforehand in order to get the phonetic sound and syntax right. Comfort level over this can only be achieved by consistent practice over a period of time and it does get better as level of fluency over language improves. Another commonly observed challenge faced by new learners is regarding the expression of facts about self or own feelings. Most of the French courses introduce the learners to ‘etre’ which is commonly used to express regular things about self like place you hail from or what is your profession. English uses ‘to have’ or ‘to be’ for variety of feelings or states of being. But French does not follow any thumb rule for the same set of expressions. Learners should memorise each expression and get habitual to expressing it in the prescribed manner.

Overall consistent practice and discipline is required to develop proficiency over a new language. And on top of these, one needs to persist with the tribulations which will be caused by above mentioned issues and persist till complete proficiency is achieved over the language of romance – French.

URL – https://www.sifil-symbiosis.org

Advantages of Learning Japanese

Moment we here about Japan anywhere from any source, our mind immediately visualizes few things like an island nation, Mount Fuji, Earthquakes, World War II, Sushi, latest Electronic gadgets, economical Cars, animation characters etc. Undoubtedly all these things are integral part of Japanese culture and history but in today’s context Japan has much more to offer as a country to the world. Today Japan is one of the largest economies in the world and it is also among the largest bilateral trade partners with most leading economies around the world. The evolution and progress made by Japan post Second World War has also led to tremendous popularity of Japanese language around the world. This is the main reason why all leading foreign language institutes around the world have started offering Japanese Language Courses.

Developing proficiency over Japanese offers advantages and career opportunities like no other foreign language. One of the biggest advantages of learning Japanese language is the inside peek it can provide into mystical Japanese culture. One of the most common misconceptions about the Japanese culture is that it is perceived to be full of cults and weird practices. While from layman’s point of view, it might appear that ways to any westerner or European but the truth is it is a beautiful deep rooted culture which zillions of nuances and a strong belief system. Learning Japanese provides an opportunity to deep dive into the colorful as well as peculiar Japanese culture which is dominated by myriad of things. Another plus point about mastering Japanese is that a person proficient in the language would get a sense of accomplishment like no other. Japanese language is one of the few Asian languages which are considered as most intimidating in terms of learning. This is primarily due to the fact that each character in Japanese Kanji has multiple pronunciations. Although phonetic sounds in Japanese pretty much fall into the same range as of English but nevertheless it takes considerable amount of persistence and effort to develop the command over phonetic pronunciation of characters. Mastering Japanese language follows a sharp upward trajectory and many people give up at first sign of challenge. However mastering language provides great boost in confidence to the learner and helps in self improvisation. Proficiency in Japanese can easily pave way towards learning other Asian languages like Chinese Mandarin, Vietnamese or Korean also.

Apart from these advantages, learning Japanese also provides gateway into notoriously infamous Japanese job market. Generally whenever one tries to use Japanese translation or even transliteration, software tends to throw up funny translations which don’t make any sense at all. This primarily happens due to complexities of the language which makes the translation platforms redundant. This is where human ability to learn, adapt and improvise helps them in emerging triumphant over software platforms. An individual with good command over Japanese would always have advantage as Japan is a reasonably challenging place to do business for non natives and he/she can serve as an in dispensable asset for the businesses. Besides above mentioned plus points, there are many things around the world which can be expressed in much better flavor than in English language. Hence, learning an Asian language with beautiful characters and wide range of phonetics can serve as great enabler of interesting conversations with the people from the most unique civilization in the world.

Url – https://www.sifil-symbiosis.org

Incentives of mastering German Language

Human civilisation has come a long way in last few thousand years in terms of communication and connectivity. And especially last couples of hundred years have witnessed massive evolution of human race because of rapid advancement in transportation and communication. Humans are no more bounded by the barrier of physical distance to speak with or meet each other. However, languages which help each of us in connecting with each other have remained consistent through many centuries. Some of the most prominent languages across the planet include English, Chinese, French, German, Latin, Russian, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic etc. Among all these languages, German language holds a unique place in Etymology domain mainly due to historical and economical prominence of its country of origin, Germany.

German is among top 15 most spoken languages on the planet and is currently known, spoken and understood by over 120 million people. Although German is not one of the most popular languages among seekers due to its challenging grammar and pronunciations but there are many advantages of learning German language. First and foremost, it opens up a whole new world on Internet for the blogger and knowledge seekers. German natives have strong presence on internet and approximately 6% of websites on World Wide Web are in German language i.e. it’s a whole new different world out waiting to be explored. Secondly, Germany happens to be Europe’s largest economy and it’s size is equivalent to all Spanish speaking countries put together. Thus having good know how of the language enhances the job prospects for an individual as he/she can be easily employed by a German MNC or any other company across the world who deals extensively with its German business partners. Thirdly, German is close to English in terms of many common words which used by both languages. Although mastering grammar and nuances of German language takes sincere effort and time but having proficiency over English is always helpful in learning German.

Another very important incentive for learning German is the education system of Germany. Higher education in Germany is primarily funded by taxpayer’s money which has ensured that cost of education is literally zero of most of the leading universities for native as well as international students. Primary reason behind low cost of education is that majority of youngsters don’t pursue higher education in Germany and this has prompted the Governments to keep cost of education low, so that more and more youngsters get encouraged to take up higher education. And lastly, most exciting reason to learn German language would be the love for music which we all have within us. Sounds strange, right? But if we look at it, many of the historical music maestros like Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Bach etc al hailed from Germany. And even some of the biggest names of current generation like Rammstein, Kraft work and Milky chance have originated from Germany. Music brings people closer and understanding the language it has been inspired from and composed in will always establish deeper connect. Apart from this, having fluency in German also acts as great motivation for Bibliophiles as there are almost a million new books get written and printed in German every year but very few get translated into other popular global languages. Learning German opens a whole new world of reading for the book lovers.

People who want to develop proficiency over German language can join the Symbiosis Institute of Indian and Foreign Languages (SIFIL) which is one of the most prominent German Language Institutes in Pune. SIFIL is part of renowned Symbiosis International University, Pune.

URL – https://www.sifil-symbiosis.org

Challenges in Learning a Foreign Language

According to the statistics, a growing child possesses the ability to learn dozens of words every day and can comfortable master any language in few formative years of his/her life. But as it grows, child’s ability to learn new words wanes down to maximum of few words per day only. Similar trend is often reflected when youngsters or adults embark upon the journey of learning a foreign language. They all tend to stumble across with a basic inertia from within, for which sometimes reason can be psychological or sometimes it might be because of linguistic background of the person.

One of the most common challenges faced by learners is with respect to keeping patience during the course while pursuing it. It is very common to lose patience and give up specially when one is trying to learn words and grammar of a language as vast and complicated as Chinese Language. It is utmost important to keep patience and seek consistent help from competent faculties to overcome the challenge.

Another common challenge faced by learners is the fear of failure. They often feel very conscious about usage of grammar, correct pronunciation or phonetics too. This often creates a mental block for them and restricts the learning process. And as progress slows down, it also results into learner’s waning interest in the language course. The easiest way to overcome this challenge is to be fearless in approach and accept the fact the mistakes are part of learning process in every sphere of life. Learner can try different words or sentence combinations to develop accuracy and proficiency in the desired foreign language.

Symbiosis Institute of Indian and Foreign Languages (SIFIL) helps the learners in overcoming all the above mentioned challenges with the help of its refined teaching methodology and expert faculties. Learners who want to pursue foreign language courses in Pune rely upon the expertise of SIFIL to attain complete fluency in languages. SIFIL conducts weekday as well as weekend classes for all prominent languages like French, German and Spanish in Pune. SIFIL is part of renowned Symbiosis International University and it is also a leading institute to conduct Japanese Language Course and Chinese Speaking classes in Pune. Institute offers excellent faculties and focused study material which helps the learners in overcoming the common linguistic, habitual and psychological challenges. SIFIL moulds them into confident individuals with multi linguistic capabilities who are ready to take in the ever changing globalized world.

URL – https://www.sifil-symbiosis.org/

Scope of European Language Courses

All the major metropolitan cities in India like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Delhi NCR etc have emerged as a thriving destinations for IT, Banking, BPO, manufacturing, automobile and many other industries in last couple of decades. Pune happens to be one of the fastest growing cities and multinational companies like Allianz, Bayer, Volkswagen Infosys, Wipro, Mercedes, Accenture, IBM etc have set up their base in the city. Most of these companies have clients baaed out of Europe also. Therefore there is a growing need of corporate professionals based out of Pune who are proficient in European Languages like French, Spanish, German etc. This is where Symbiosis Institute of Foreign and Indian Languages (SIFIL) steps into the picture which offers variety of Foreign Language Courses including European Langauges in Pune.

Spanish is one of the most prominent and widely spoken language of planet. Many Spanish companies have strong presence in India and similarly leading Indian IT companies have operations in Spain too. This has resulted into need for Spanish Language institute in Pune. Symbiosis Institute of Foreign and Indian Languages (SIFIL) offers Spanish Classes in Pune for those who want learn and master the language.

French is another foreign language which is spoken and admired across the world due to it’s rich cultural heritage and relevance. English as a language derives lot of words from French which really adds lot of texture to the language. Multinational companies across industries including travel and hospitality which are based out of Pune have the growing need for professionals who are fluent in French. SIFIL caters to this need by offers French classes in Pune at its campus.

Germany is one of the most economically strong and fast growing countries in the world and penetration of other languages including English is relatively low in the country. Some of the most renowned automobile brands hail from Germany and they keep recruiting talent from other countries. Therefore it becomes pertinent for the students as well as professionals who are seeking education as well as jobs in Germany to learn and master the German language. SIFIL is one of the best German Language Institutes in Pune which offers a comprehensive course on German Classes.

Symbiosis Institute of Foreign and Indian Languages  (SIFIL) is part of renowned Symbiosis International University, Pune. It offers multiple  Foreign Language Courses in Pune for students as well as working professionals. You can always check out the details for the same at http://www.sifil-symbiosis.org/.