Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Italian
Schools vary from the very large to very small, each with its own character and range of
courses in Italian, Italian culture, history, art, cooking and other subjects. As in language
schools across most of Europe, the language is often taught in the morning with extracurricu-
lar activities in the afternoon. If you want to do a course from March onwards it is advisable
to get in touch with them at least two months in advance, as courses and accommodation get
booked up early.
Most schools can fix you up with accommodation before your trip, either with a family, bed
and breakfast, half-board, or even renting a studio or flat. If you're part of a small group,
you might prefer to arrange accommodation yourself through a local property-letting agent,
but this can be tricky unless you have someone on the spot to help.
Japanese
If you can get to the Japanese Embassy in London you can look up a comprehensive guide
in its large library called Japanese Language Institutes (based in Japan). The library also has
material on learning Japanese and stocks Japanese newspapers including the English-lan-
guage
Japan Times
, which runs information on jobs in Japan.
There's information about studying in Japan on the embassy website, with guidance on the
type of visa you will need if you want to teach English as a foreign language or do other
types of work there.
Japanese Embassy, 101-104 Piccadilly, London W1J 7JT
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7465 6500
Portuguese
You don't have to go to Portugal to learn Portuguese - it's the main language of Brazil too,
so if you're heading for Latin America on your gap, try:
www.esl.co.uk/en/learn-portuguese-
Russian
We suggest you check with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office before making any plans
to travel to Russia to study.
That said, both ESL and Live Languages Abroad offers Russian language lessons in Russia:
