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Am I Too Old to Learn a Language? By Christina Cappy, PhD | 5-minute read Introduction “Am I too old to learn a language?” This is a question that I have heard time and time again. Popular sayings such as “children’s brains are like sponges” are used as justifications that there is a certain time of life to learn another language, and once past that point learning a language is a lost cause. Older adults tell me that they are interested in learning new skills and travel, but they believe that acquiring a new language is not in the cards for [...]

Fall Classes Are Open! We have a number of classes in German, Italian, French, American Sign Language and Spanish and would love to see you there. You can dip your toes into language learning with a travel essentials class, or master your language skills with more advanced classes. All of our classes have a maximum of 10 people to ensure individualized language learning and ample room for conversation practice. See our list of fall courses below and don't hesitate to reach out for a free language level evaluation to find the best fit for you! German: Introductory German I (COCC credit option) [...]

Join Us For Multilingual Mondays Starting this winter, we will be hosting Multilingual Mondays at Midtown Yacht Club the first Monday of every month from 5:30-7:30pm. This will be a free event for anyone to stop by and practice Italian, French, Spanish, and possibly Arabic or Japanese with a teacher. This venue has tons of food delicious carts, fire pits, and a tent/indoor space so we will have plenty of room to find our language groups and connect with members of our growing multilingual community. Because this Monday already flew by, we will meet for the first time next Monday, January 10th [...]

Winter Courses Are Open The time has arrived to get ready for more language learning this winter! Winter term starts January 10th and we have a number of interactive, small group classes that you should check out. Meet new people in our classes or learn with a friend -- either way it's always best to learn with others. Language classes make excellent gifts too and can motivate people to prepare for upcoming travel. Spanish Accelerated Introductory Spanish I, Spanish II, Past Tenses of Spanish French French I, French II Italian Accelerated Introductory Italian I, Advanced Italian (Drop-In), Italian Travel Essentials  Japanese [...]

Fall Classes Start September 27th Join us for interactive, small classes starting September 27th! This fall we are offering a range of in-person classes in Spanish, German, Japanese, Italian, French and English. Click the links below to browse our classes, or give us a call at 541-728-3022 and we'd be happy to help find the course that best fits your language learning needs. Spanish Accelerated Introductory Spanish I, Spanish II, Spanish III French French I, French II Italian Italian II, Advanced Italian (Drop-In), Italian Travel Essentials  Japanese Introductory Japanese for Youth I (ages 11-17) ESOL Everyday English German Introductory German I [...]

Connections in the Workplace People often ask us, who is your most popular kind of student? Why do they want to learn another language? The answer to this question is a hard one to nail down. Many of our students are learning another language to prepare for upcoming travel, connect with family, or join our growing multicultural community. Yet more and more we are seeing another type of student – those looking to connect with others at their workplace. We’ve had small, local business owners jump into our Spanish classes to learn to communicate more effectively with some of their employees. [...]

How Effective are Language Apps? If you’ve been asking yourself this question, you are not alone. This is one of the most common questions I have received in recent months, along with questions about the best language learning apps, limitations of language apps, and how best to use them. In this article I will explore some of these topics with perspectives from researchers, language teachers, and our students. Benefits of Language Apps When a student asks me if they should practice their language skills through a language app, my answer is always YES. But why? It is because learning a language [...]

Join Us for Virtual Happy Hour! Ready to meet some new faces and brush up on your language skills? Join us for virtual happy hours next week! This is a great opportunity to connect with your language community in Central Oregon in a fun and relaxed environment. You can invite your friends, meet native speakers, teachers, and language learners from the comfort of your home. Bring whatever beverage you like and jump on Zoom. This is a drop-in event and open to anyone. Italian Happy Hour will be on Wednesday, December 16th from 5-6pm Spanish Happy Hour will be on Friday, [...]

Ready to help your kids learn a new language? Recently a lot of parents have been interested in language classes for groups of 2-5 students. We've been having them all outside or remotely and it has been really fun! This fall we are organizing more small youth language groups to meet for outdoor learning. We are planning groups of 3-5 students according to their language level and age. If you are  interested in joining a group or forming your own with your child's peers or siblings, please send us an email at bendlanguageinstitute@gmail.com. Please send the grade/language level of your child and [...]

Do you remember being in school and trying to convince your teacher to have class outside? Well now the teachers are coming together to give everyone the opportunity to learn in the open air. We’ve set up an outdoor classroom just around the corner from BLI on a quieter street so we can practice our language skills when the weather is nice – so basically 90% of July and August in Bend. Learning outside is a fun and safer way to take an introductory class in Spanish, Italian, French or Japanese or meet one-on-one with a teacher. And don’t worry, we [...]