Cactus Language Training Blog - Cactus Language Worldwide
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Avatar fans learn to speak Na’vi
- Wednesday, 24th February, 2010
With James Cameron’s science-fiction epic Avatar taking global box offices by storm, fans everywhere are learning the Na’vi language to help them get closer to the action. Professor Paul Frommer from the University of Southern California was the brains behind the alien language and developed it over four years, making sure it would have an authentic but exotic feel.
The result is a unique language which currently has about 1000 words and a distinct Polynesian feel, although other people claim it’s more like German or Japanese. Professor Frommer designed the language so that it could be spoken by human actors, and then spent hours on set helping the cast perfect their pronunciation to really bring the language to life.
The incredible success of the film has created a groundswell of interest in Na’vi, with numerous blogs and forums dedicated to learning the alien language. Professor Frommer hopes that one day, Na’vi could be as popular as Klingon, sci-fi addicts’ top alien language.
Cactus is interested to hear from anyone wanting to learn Na’vi in the UK. So avid Avatar fans - get in touch!
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Cactus awarded gold standard in Quality Management
- Wednesday, 24th February, 2010
Cactus Language Training is delighted to announce that its Quality Programme has been approved by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance to ISO 9001:2008. Cactus passed the in-depth auditing process with flying colours, illustrating its commitment to consistently meeting and exceeding the needs of its customers around the world.
Operating a quality management system is crucial for businesses who want to understand their customers’ needs and meet and exceed those needs effectively and efficiently. The Cactus Quality Programme ensures every aspect of what Cactus does can be looked at in depth to ensure it meets the required criteria, quality objectives and outcomes, to ensure the best possible service to its customers, from enterprises to individuals.
Richard Bradford, MD of Cactus UK, comments: “The decision to be audited by Lloyds Register was critical to our commitment to making a genuine difference to how we deliver language training in the UK and worldwide. The auditor went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that not only our systems and processes all worked, but also that we had academic integrity and strong procedures in place to deliver top quality courses.
We’ve worked hard to make sure that Cactus is a customer-focused organisation, and what makes it special for me is that everyone at Cactus has been committed to attaining this international quality standard, from the team in our Brighton office, to our trainers and partner organisations around the world.”
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Cactus and The Independent celebrate Spanish podcast success
- Tuesday, 12th January, 2010
12 January 2010: Cactus, the world’s leading language training specialist, today announced that downloads of its new Spanish learning podcasts - ‘Language Minis’ – distributed through the Independent newspaper’s online presence at independent.co.uk have exceeded 300,000 copies. The specially designed language packages have proved so popular for Independent readers and iTunes users that Cactus is now looking at developing a follow-up series of French podcasts to be rolled-out later in the year.
Cactus’ team of language experts created the podcasts for Spanish learners of all abilities, from beginners through to advanced Spanish speakers. Each level contains 10 lessons with audio, dialogue and vocabulary tracks, as well as a PDF-format workbook with vocabulary lists, grammar points and quizzes.
The podcasts are designed to complement Cactus’ five and ten-week evening courses, available across the UK and in the US and Canada, as well as its international Spanish language holidays. They feature a mix of Spanish and South American Spanish, avoiding regional forms of speech, enabling users to apply what they learn anywhere in the Spanish-speaking world.
Jimmy Leach, editorial director for digital at The Independent said: “This is shaping up to be our most successful podcast series ever. Cactus’ approach to language learning is to equip people for independent travel, a notion which has been the hallmark of our own approach to travel writing for many years. We’re very pleased with the outstanding success of this project - the quality of the podcasts, the numbers of downloads and the way it complements our own editorial approach.”
“The phenomenal popularity of the podcasts confirms just how many people want to get to grips with another language”, comments Richard Bradford, managing director of Cactus in the UK. “At Cactus we believe that the best way to learn a language is through a blended approach, so we’re delighted to be adding podcasts to our extensive range of language learning options, offering language learners even more flexibility.”
Cactus teaches over 30 languages in 60 countries and at 500 locations around the world. For further information, please visit http://www.cactuslanguagetraining.com/en or call 0845 130 4775.
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AARP The Magazine
- Monday, 7th December, 2009
This article, written by Laura Daily, suggests various creative and inspiring vacation ideas for those bored with the recent trend for staycations. The full article, which features Cactus Language Training’s language immersion vacations, can be read here.
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Cactus at the Language Show 2009
- Thursday, 5th November, 2009
Over the 3 days of the show, which took place at Olympia, London, from 30 October until 1 November, our team answered thousands of queries from language learners and teachers alike.
20 Cactus staff worked at the show and events, and even more in the run-up to and follow-up after the show. We received more than 800 competition entries to Win one of 50 Language Courses and Win one of 3 Teaching Courses, and gave out over 700 course catalogues to enquiring visitors. Our team of teachers and academic staff ran the Learn for Less Seminar, 3 Language Tasters Classes in French, Hindi and Russian and 7 Intensive Language Courses in French, Italian and Russian.
Thank you to everyone who came to see us on the stand, or attended one of our tasters or intensive classes. We hope you enjoyed the show as much as we did.
Thank you also to everyone who left language learning tips on our wall! Read more about those here…
The competition winners are published here, so check back soon… and don’t forget our next start dates are:
Weekend Crash Courses - 7 Nov, 5 Dec
5-week Fast Track Courses - 9 Nov
1-week Intensive Courses - 16 Nov
10-week Courses - 11 Jan
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Your top language learning tips
- Monday, 2nd November, 2009
Thanks to everyone who contributed to our ‘Cactus wall’ with the following hints and tips for successful language learning:
1. Don’t just rely on the lessons – do something outside them, even if it’s just watching a movie with subtitles.
2. Put vocabulary onto post-it notes, coloured by gender, and stick them up around the room. Change them regularly too.
3. Sing, sing, sing! Learn to lose your inhibitions and immerse yourself in the target language.
4. Read newspapers and watch the news in the foreign language.
5. Get a foreign boy/girlfriend.
6. Take exams.
7. Get lots of speaking practice.
8. Have fun whilst you learn.
9. A glass of wine before you start.
10. Learn one at a time, or at least don’t try to pick up all the basics at the same time.
11. Be disciplined.
12. Podcasts are awesome!
13. Don’t be afraid to make a fool of yourself.
14. Earworm raps (and other online learning games).
Got anything to add? Feel free to add your own hints and ideas in the Comments box below...
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