Learning a language or improving your existing language skills can sometimes be tedious and tedious. Sitting in a classroom at a language school once a week, even though you're already exhausted from the working day, or studying in your room and adding an hour or two of self-study time to your school day every day, when all your colleagues are enjoying their free time at the swimming pool, is clearly not for everyone. The perfect alternative: a language study trip to an English-speaking country.
Why not use your vacation to improve your language skills during a few hours of the day, whether for work, school, study or private purposes, and enjoy an unforgettable vacation during the remaining hours of the day and evening? Why not do this during a language study trip to the USA in a country that is more than 237 times the size of Switzerland? A country that is so diverse, contradictory, vast, patriotic and charming. The land of the once 4,000-kilometer-long Route 66, of cowboys, BBQs, football, basketball and baseball, of burgers and megastars.
But where should you go on your trip? And is the USA even the right destination for your language study trip? Wouldn't a trip to nearby England perhaps make more sense? What makes the USA so special?
The United States of America, with its megacities such as New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles, offers an incredible selection of places worth seeing, making it difficult for language travelers to decide on a region or city. But does it necessarily have to be a city with over a million inhabitants?
Can't it also be a somewhat smaller city with "just" 340,000 inhabitants, such as New Orleans with its French Quarter, the steamboats on the Mississippi, the Saint Louis Cemetery and Mardi Gras? Or Miami, with Miami Beach, miles of white sandy beaches, the Everglades and its alligators, Ocean Drive and the impressively beautiful people. Or would you prefer San Francisco in California, the city with one of the oldest gay neighborhoods in the world (Castro District), the cable cars, the infamous Alcatraz, the shopping paradise Union Square, Fisherman's Wharf and of course the Golden Gate Bridge? Perhaps you would prefer smaller towns in the heart of the country, such as Cheyenne in Wyoming or Yankton in South Dakota? Or would you actually prefer New York? Denver? Or Boston? Washington? Santa Barbara or Hawaii?
An almost limitless number of incredible destinations are available to language travel enthusiasts who need to think carefully about where they want to go before their language study trip to the USA.
For a language course in America, or more precisely in the USA, prospective language students sometimes have to travel a long way. A flight from Zurich to New York takes almost nine hours, and more than 12 hours to Seattle with a stopover. In addition, there is a time difference of six hours (New York) to nine hours (Los Angeles). This means you need to plan around one day, which will be used exclusively for your return journey.
Due to the long duration of the journey, short language courses lasting less than two weeks are not recommended for the USA. You should be able to stay in the country for at least three weeks, four to six weeks would be better, three months would be ideal to improve your language skills fundamentally.
There is no one best time to travel to the United States. If you are planning an English language study trip to the USA, the best times to travel vary depending on the region. The east of the USA is best visited in May, June, September and October, as is New England, which delights visitors with its Indian summer in October. The southern west of the USA is best visited in spring and fall, while the northern states of the west are best visited from early summer to fall. The southern states and California, on the other hand, are best avoided in summer, as it is often too hot and humid at this time of year, making November to April the ideal time to travel. Winter in Alaska and Yukon from January to March is perfect for skiers, but can be a little icy for everyone else. June to September are therefore the better times to travel in these regions, although July and August are mosquito season. The best surfing time in Hawaii is from December to April, but this is also the most expensive season.
If you want to combine surfing in Hawaii with a language course, many language travel providers offer special combination courses that consist of a language course and a selected, guided leisure activity, such as surfing. Movies, yoga, cooking, snowboarding, sailing, culture and other activities can also often be combined as "language plus" in the USA.
If you are looking exclusively for an English course to improve your language skills, the USA is the right place for you. The range of different language course options is immense and offers tailor-made language courses for beginners and advanced learners in a wide variety of intensities. Business courses for general business English or industry-specific requirements, such as for HR professionals, sales and management, lawyers or medical professionals, are also offered in many places, both for individuals and for companies.
Diploma language courses are extremely popular during a language study trip to the USA, as they certify the language level of the participants. Whether Cambridge certificates such as the First Certificate of English (FCE) or preparation courses for the TOEFL test (Test of English as a Foreign Language), the USA offers a range of recognized language certifications that can be completed during a language trip. However, it should be noted that preparation courses for language diplomas often have fixed course times, which means that they cannot be booked individually according to your own time preferences and usually have a minimum duration of six to eight weeks.
Swiss citizens who wish to attend a language course with no more than 20 lessons per week for no longer than 90 days can enter the USA visa-free with an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) permit. The authorization can be applied for online at least 72 hours before departure and printed out directly.
If you would like to study English more intensively during your language study trip, you must apply for a visa to enter the USA. The F1 student visa must be applied for at the American embassy in Bern and allows language travelers to enter the country up to 30 days before the start of the course and to remain in the USA for up to 60 days after the end of the course. The American Embassy provides information on these and all other visas (B-1, B-2, J-1, J-2, etc.) for Swiss citizens and citizens of other nationalities.
The US Department of Homeland Security points out the possibility of terrorist attacks, but the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) considers the USA to be a stable country (July 2017), so that travel to the USA is possible without any problems.
Natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, forest fires, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are not uncommon in the USA, but are often difficult to take into account when planning a trip. The East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico experience hurricane peak season from May to November, with severe flooding in some areas, while earthquakes are a regular occurrence in California, Alaska and Hawaii, and volcanic eruptions can be expected on Maui and the Big Island.
A language study trip to the USA is certainly not the cheapest way to go on vacation, but it is an extremely attractive destination, especially for young people, due to the wealth of opportunities. Apart from New York City, life in most US cities is considerably cheaper than in Zurich. However, as people tend to treat themselves to more on vacation than in everyday life at home, this price advantage is usually quickly made up for.
Of course, it's not just life itself that costs money during a language study trip, but also the language course, travel and accommodation. For a stay of four weeks, you can therefore expect costs (flight, room with a host family, half board, intensive language course with 30 weekly lessons) of CHF 5,000 to CHF 6,000, plus the remaining meals, excursions and leisure activities, visas, transfers, local mobility, examination fees, booking costs, etc.
Due to the high cost of a flight, a language study trip to the United States of America is usually not worthwhile for short language vacations of two weeks or less, but the USA is an ideal language travel destination for longer stays of up to three months. For short language study trips of one to two weeks, England or Malta are excellent alternatives that are inexpensive, easy to reach and no less attractive. Here at Ausbildung-Weiterbildung.ch we also provide you with information about these and other destinations.
Linda, deine Weiterbildungsfinderin