Food For Thought!

When you start learning a new language, it inspires you to delve further into the culture of the country. Most people start by trying the different kind of food and drink that is associated with the country. People ALWAYS associate Japan with sushi. Sushi has gained immense popularity all over the world. People often make the mistake of assuming that sushi is raw fish. Raw fish is sashimi. Sushi mainly comprises of vinegar rice that is wrapped in seaweed and sticky rice with fillers like lobster, crab, shrimp or cooked fish.

Sushi making is considered to be an art and a great sushi chef is highly revered because it requires the chef to possess really great knife skills. The perfect accompaniment to good sushi is sake – a Japanese wine made out of rice.

Remember – embracing a language by learning about the food, the people and the various cultures is extremely important to learn it in its entirety. It helps you understand certain illogical rules that the language possesses much better.

So, have you enrolled yourself at SIFL-ELTIS yet? Batches starting on the 21st of February! You can grab some lovely sushi at the after!

日本語 Nihongo!

Japan

Capital - Tokyo

Population - 127,360,000

Currency - ¥ Yen

Religion – Buddhism and Shintoism

The Japanese language is by far one of the most interesting languages. Investing two hours a day in this language and you can deem yourself an expert. The various scripts that this language possesses, is often what scares people away. The pictorial script or kanji is something the Japanese restructured from the Chinese in order to create their own script. Thus, every Japanese character possesses a story behind it.

The Japanese are known to be very devout to their culture. They consider it blasphemy to converse in anything other than Japanese. A piece of advice if you ever go to Japan – learn the basics! They might just shun you off and throw dirty glances your way if you attempt to ask them a detailed question in English – especially the senior citizens!

One of the most challenging things about the Japanese language is their obsession with respect! They respect money, food, drink and a lot of other inanimate things – sushi too! Hell hath no fury if you mix up the various levels of politeness that they are very particular about. You might just end up giving yourself more respect by using the wrong chronology of words. Bottom line – you’re supposed to make yourself out to be the pauper and the other person the prince! The level of politeness differs on the basis of a person’s age, status, experience and is taken very seriously!

ELTIS has interactive programmes and presentations in addition to the Japanese language classes. They have well known Japanese personalities deliver speeches on the culture of the country of Japan. In addition to this, they have reading skills.

ELTIS – The English Language Teaching Institute of Symbiosis

Learning a different language is not everyone’s forte. People often choose to learn a new language in an attempt to try and learn the different cultures and embrace all they can learn from it. Languages like French, German, and Spanish are now considered to be part of every layman’s vocabulary. People are now testing the waters with much more exotic languages like Mandarin, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese. 

The scope languages like Mandarin and Japanese have now is mind boggling! Business translation is a hot new job up for grabs for those that can handle it. However, learning these languages as a mere hobby is always an asset. You never know when your multi-lingual skills may come in handy. 

ELTIS also offers a short-term and long-term English language course for foreign students. The timings offered are flexible and can suit the needs of working professionals and students. They also offer a "Speakfast" course module which has rapid training sessions that skims through the basics of the English language which enables foreign students to communicate better.