Back in 2003, Evening Standard journalist Sarah Richardson joined us for an intensive course. Read her review of BSL below.
Perhaps you have been given two weeks' notice that you are relocating to Germany. Perhaps you are giving a presentation in Milan next Wednesday and you need an Italian refresher course and more specialist vocabulary. For you, leisurely conversation classes over the next three months are not an option.
Step forward BSL Interlenguas, a London language course provider that offers intensive 12-hour sessions of one-to-one tuition for the cash-rich and time-poor.
"This is the most effective way of mastering a language in the shortest time", says BSL course administrator Hugh Stewart. "The course can be taken steadily for as many days as you choose, enabling you to explore everything in depth. The 12-hour day which starts at 9.30am, is spent with two qualified native-speaking tutors."
Stewart stresses that not all BSL's students are corporate clients. "In the past couple of years we have been getting an increasing number of people who have bought a house in Spain, France or Italy, for example. Some need a grasp of the language to help them do up the property. Others just want to have a chat with their neighbours. You can do all the tapes and evening classes you want and get the vocabulary, but if you're not using the language you won't commit it to memory and be comfortable with it in the same way."
- Sarah Richardson, 2003