Learn foreign languages in just a few weeks with language courses – complete step-by-step guide

During a language trip, you will not only get to know the foreign language, but also the country and its people. And maybe love.

A language trip is an excellent way to make huge progress in no time. Within a few weeks, you have so much contact with the foreign language as you often do in normal life in a year do not have.

You have daily language courses, speak with native speakers, hear the foreign language everywhere, read it everywhere and otherwise have all contact in the foreign language. Provided you do it right. Therefore, you can make a successful language journey like the briefly ignited turbo in language learning imagine.

What makes this a successful language trip, how you choose a good language trip and especially how you get the most out of this, you will learn in this post.

This post leads you through the whole process. You will learn everything you need to know, from research to preparation to follow-up. Therefore, the contribution is also very comprehensive. In the following overview you can see everything you will learn in the post (click on a headline to get there directly):

Let’s get to the first step, the research:

Step 1: The search

Where, with what organization, for how long, what kind of accommodation and especially what kind of language course ? All important questions that need to be clarified before you book your language study trip. In this chapter, you will learn everything you need to know to make the right decisions in this regard.

Which country should I choose for a language study trip??

You probably already know which language you want to learn. This makes the selection of a country much easier. Here you see the most popular destinations of German language travelers (according to Statista, source). It is important to distinguish between student and adult travel, because the differences are enormous:

Great Britain (adults: 24%, pupils: 63%)
Malta (adults: 18%, pupils: 10%)
USA (adults: 10%, pupils: 1%)
Spain (adults: 11%, pupils: 1%)
France (adults: 7%, pupils: 3%)

Here you can see the most common destinations of German language travelers. Divided into language courses for adults and students.

The 4 European goals Of course, this is the easiest way to get there, and the easiest way to organize a language trip is by doing so. When choosing a destination, you should ask yourself the following questions:

Which dialect do I want to learn??

Should your language trip be in a big city or do you rather prefer the cozy village life in the countryside??

Although many language travel providers offer many countries in Europe and worldwide, but have in each
Land only 1 or 2 destinations. Therefore, you should postpone the decision in which city you want to go first. Have a look at the destinations of the voice hero partner Sprachcaffe:

Which format of language trip should I choose?

There are many different formats and you should choose the right one according to your personal goals and preferences. Whether you are a student or you want to brush up on business English for your job, it leads to 2 completely different language trips. Alone, because your budget is different.

In the second case, the business context should always be set. This means that you should not only learn the business language in a language course, but also surround yourself with business contacts in everyday life (eg other language students or network events).

Here are some popular formats of language courses and courses:

Student and student language trips: Especially for pupils or students. Adapted to their needs and usually also coincide with the holidays.
Family Courses: A journey for families with children. There is often a childcare service.
Exam preparation courses: If you want to prepare for a language exam.
Intensive courses: Less free time at the destination, but more language course.
Individual courses: Costs more, but much more effective than a group course. In a special variant, you live in the teacher’s house, in order to have in everyday life only contact with the foreign language.
Business courses or special courses for professional groupsIf you want to improve the language for a professional context. It covers topics such as business correspondence, telephone training and presentations.

What kind of language travel and course format should I choose?

Of course that depends on your goals. However, I have some recommendations for the language course for you. General is the best language trip, the one where you use only the foreign language if possible. That means you learn them in the language course and outside you talk to the locals and otherwise you are only in contact with the foreign language (newspapers, TV, radio, etc.).

Be as active as possible during your language journey. Do as much as possible and above all have a lot of contact with locals to get the maximum benefit.

So, if you plan to be active, go out and talk to a lot of people, you choose a language course that is less extensive than the number of hours. If you plan to do less, then you can treat yourself to an intensive course.

In any case, the should Number of participants as low as possible his. The fewer other students in the class, the better. In no case should the number of participants exceed 15. Especially effective is a language course with 5 visitors or less and most effectively, of course, if you have a private teacher.

From a private teacher you always learn the most and fastest. Also on a language trip.

You also have to decide beforehand, Which level Your language course should have. Sprachcaffe offers you a free Online test to determine your language level (Affiliate link). So you will find the optimal course for your language level.

Which accommodation should I choose on a language trip??

That is, of course, among others depending on your budget.

Would you prefer to live in a hotel or private accommodation during your language study??

As a rule of thumb, however, I would recommend you to make a type of accommodation especially dependent on who you share your accommodation with. In no case should you be in the same room or building as other German speakers. The temptation in this case would be too great to speak German, and you would get less practice in the foreign language. What is the meaning and purpose of such a journey?.

With many offerers you have the possibility to indicate explicitly that few or no German speakers to be in the accommodation (usually for a surcharge). It is also possible to share accommodation with other language learners who do not speak German as their native language. However, with these less you have the opportunity to practice and improve your foreign language skills, because they also do not speak the foreign language.

But that is at least once better than with German speakers. If you do not study English, you should be careful not to speak English. Because otherwise you have almost as little of it as if you were staying with other German speakers.

The optimum is to be with native speakers in an accommodation. That would be z. For example, if you live with a host family or in the home of your tutor. It is also possible to be accommodated alone, z. In a hotel or apartment.

However, you should pay attention in this case, To be as active as possible and to do a lot outdoors. To surround yourself with native speakers, for example at events, sports or in a bar.

After the language course, you will also have leisure time during a language study trip. Use this to do as much as possible, where you have to deal with the foreign language.

How long should the optimal language trip last and when should I travel??

The longer the stay lasts the better. In any case, I would recommend you at least for 2 weeks to travel if you want to get good results. Most providers offer language courses only from 2 weeks on.

Even if you only travel for a week, you will of course see results. But usually you need
a few days to get used to the new situation and to switch as far as possible to the foreign language.

So if your language trip is too short, you have to go back shortly after the conversion and have a weaker effect. Most people travel in the summer months. Accordingly, these months are the strongest and most expensive. This applies equally to language courses.

We therefore recommend a trip outside the main season. But if only the summer months are for you, you should book as early as possible to get a reasonably priced offer.

Which language travel provider should I choose?

There is an unmanageable variety of language travel providers. I especially recommend the voice-cousin partner Sprachcaffe. Together with Sprachcaffe we also carry out the language travel scholarship for a language trip for 5 students over 2 weeks.

Here are the reasons why I especially recommend Sprachcaffe as a provider of language courses:

A large selection at countries.
Own language schools on the spot, so no middlemen.
This makes Sprachcaffe itself the consistent quality, both accommodation and lessons, in all its locations.
Personalized language courses and communicative teaching methods.
You can decide for yourself, if you prefer to stay in an apartment or host family and if you share a room or not.
extensive Recreational.
Many different formats also apart from classical language trips: language trips for pupils, students, adults, school trips, educational holidays and much more.
Over 30 years Experience.
Certified quality as a member of the Association of German Language Tour Operators.
Protection according to german travel law– When booking through Sprachcaffe Sprachreisen you enjoy the protection according to German travel law. A protection you in the case of a booking via a non-German tour operator is not entitled.
Over 50,000 satisfied students from all over the world every year.

But of course, Sprachcaffe is not the only good organization. Here are still some more organization, offer language courses and have many positive references:

Education First (EF) Language Travel
ALFA language holidays
ESL Language Travel
Dr.Steinfels

In any case, the provider should be a member of Association of German Language Travel Organizers his. Here you can find the members of the Association of German Language Travel Organizers. The association has quality standards which its members must meet. This includes the European Language Travel Standard EN 14804.

Look at you too References and testimonials on. So you can get an insight into the experiences of former participants. Such reviews of language travel and language travel providers you can find on www.sprachreisen-bewertung.de and www.sprachreisen-test.de.

How much is a language trip and how do I finance it?

A language trip can be expensive. That’s why you can find here Information on the financial conditions.

We do not want to hope that you will have to pay for your language trip with the coins from the piggy bank? Nevertheless, it is important that you inform yourself well in advance and also plan everything well to get the best possible offer.

A two-week language trip to a European destination usually starts at around € 1,000, the cheapest option. Here are the factors on which prices depend:

Aim: European goals are more favorable. Some countries are cheaper.
Accommodation: Apartment, single room or host family?
Getting there: Bus or plane?
Language course: Only a few lessons per day, intensive course or private teacher?

If your budget is limited, you can use the following Tips and Tricks as much as possible at the language trip save up:

Aim: Depending on the country, the cost of living varies. Ireland is z. B. cheaper than the UK. Here you can find the cost of living in EU countries. Of course, life in a big city costs more than in a small town or village.
Accommodation: The more people share a place, the cheaper it will be. In each
However, you should be careful to only be accommodated with native speakers or at least without other German speakers.
Getting there: By bus, it is usually the cheapest.
Language course: The less language course, the cheaper. You should replace it with as much as possible exchange with native speakers.
Self-organizing: The most money you can save, if you put together the language trip yourself. Of course, that makes the whole thing far more complex and you can not complain about problems on site with a German contract partner.

For many language study there are also scholarships. This includes z. For example, the Sprachheld Scholarship, which we organize together with Sprachcaffe and Uniturm. In this we offer 5 scholarships for students over 2 weeks with intensive course (30 lessons per week) to Malta, Brighton, Nice or Málaga.

Under the following links you will find a few more scholarships:

Checklist: Have you decided on your optimal language study trip??

Here is an overview of the most important decision criteria for your language trip:

Holiday destination: Which country and which city? Consider the different accents and living costs in larger cities and more expensive countries.
Format: What format do you choose for the language trip? What language course? What kind of accommodation?
duration: How long should your language trip last??
Organization: Which company should the language trip organize for you or do you prefer to organize it yourself??
Period of travel: When are you on vacation and can travel? Remember that most is going on in summer.

Everything ready? Then you can now book your language trip! A language trip is not the right thing for you? Then you find here …

Alternatives to language travel?

Of course, an organized language trip is not the only option, to improve your foreign language skills abroad.

Here are some Alternatives to language travel and further information:

AU Pair: Spend some time with a host family and help with taking care of the children. You get a free accommodation and a small monthly salary.
Student exchange: Spend 3, 6 or 10 months in a school abroad while living with a host family. I have z. B. spent 10 months during the eleventh grade in Australia.
Internship: Just like the internship, only at a company abroad. This is especially easy if you are a student. Alternatively, you can do an internship in an educational institution. That’s often easier to get. I have z. For example, I did my bachelor’s thesis as an internship at a university in Toulouse in France, followed by an internship in a company in the same city.
Semester abroad or study: You can also study abroad during your studies. Either only for 1 or 2 semesters or you immediately complete the study abroad. I have z. For example, I completed my two-year master’s degree in Atlanta, USA. How to do a study abroad, semester or internship best, you will find out here.
Self organized language trip / vacation: You do not necessarily have to have an organization or company behind it to organize a language trip. You can also individually compile your own. In the simplest case, that would simply be a holiday abroad. If you then have daily contact with the foreign language, you will also benefit greatly. I regularly go abroad for a while to practice my foreign languages. How to best practice your foreign language on holiday, you will find out here.

In the end, every stay abroad, where you use the foreign language, will help.

Have you made your decision and are you ready to book your language trip? Then it’s time to prepare your language trip:

Step 2: The preparation

Here are the facts:

Your language travel will be significantly more effective if you make the necessary preparations.

Even before the start of your language trip, you should prepare yourself as well as possible and purposefully.

You know what language course you want to do and have already booked your trip? Then it goes now to the preserves! In order to benefit as much as possible from the language trip, you should prepare yourself as best as possible.

Of course you could just wait for your trip and do nothing else. But then you do not get the maximum out of your language trip. It would be like driving into a football training camp but not playing soccer the whole months before. Would not bring so much, or?

How should I prepare for the language trip??

The most effective will be your language trip, if you only use the foreign language on site. Depending on the language level, this will be easier or more difficult for you. In any case, however, you can increase your level by a few levels compared to before the language journey.

After booking the trip, you have one big advantage: Your motivation is increasing. You know, you will / have to use your foreign language soon. This increases the motivation to master them in the best possible way (learn here how to motivate yourself more to learn a foreign language).

You use this motivation to increase your language level before the trip. The most important question is, what do you want to achieve with your language journey? Dependent on this will be your preparation. Here are a few ways:

You want to speak the foreign language better? Then you should have as many conversations as possible before your trip. This is z. For example, with tandem partners, online language teachers, meetings of native speakers and soliloquy. Lead as many as possible before you drive. In any case you should have at least 3 talks a week.
You want to pass an exam better? Then you will be able to do many exercises that occur in the exam. Are it z. B. Listening exercises, you can search the Internet or in a textbook for such exercises and perform as many as possible. The same applies if you want to take a language certificate afterwards.
You want to get along better on vacation? Then simulate as many holiday situations. That is, in the soliloquy you can play both parties as you check in the hotel or order something. You will miss a lot of vocabulary and that’s exactly what you learn.

Therefore, carry out activities in which you approach your concrete goal.

How to quickly improve your language skills, you will learn in the article “Everything you need to know to effectively learn a foreign language”.

If you use the lead time, you benefit much more from your language travel and improve yourself significantly more as if you just let the journey come to you and do nothing.

Many language travelers believe the language trip will turn it and therefore you do not have to do anything before and after. A language trip can be very helpful. However, this attitude will take you a lot less forward than you can.

Step 3: The language trip on site

Everything is ready and your flight is coming. In this chapter you will learn, how to get the most out of your language trip.

No matter how you get to your language travel destination. Already at the departure you should be well prepared for the coming days and week.

Some people come after a language trip and have improved a bit, while in others the knowledge has jumped up several levels. Here you will learn how to belong to the second group.

How do I get the most out of the language trip??

The more contact you have during your language study abroad, the better the learning effect. Therefore, your goal should be to have as much contact with the foreign language as possible. That means you should experience your everyday life like a native speaker. The whole thing is called immersion (more about immersion, you can find out here).

Try to speak the language as much as possible. Best with locals. Where you can find native speakers and what kind of events you can visit, we will come to the next part.

To bridge more time, I recommend you daily Self-talk in the foreign language respectively. Here are my recommendations for daily activities in the foreign language.

I also recommend you to make new friends. You can keep these up after your journey and have the opportunity to practice your language afterwards.

You will constantly be missing words or you will not understand words. Write down these words on blank index cards, which you take with you. So you can always learn in between new words. How to effectively learn vocabulary is explained in this article.

The good thing is that you learn only relevant vocabulary. You do not learn any vocabulary given by the textbook, only actual vocabulary you need.

Furthermore, you watch TV and listen to radio in the foreign language. Read newspapers, books and everything that gets under your fingers. The whole package in the foreign language (Keyword immersion). As hard as it seems, I recommend you not a single minute contact with German.

Also limit your contact with family and friends at home to the minimum. Or even better, do it in the foreign language as well. The more you live the foreign language, the faster you will get used to it and the more the language tour will bring you.

What should I do locally?

In the morning and possibly also in the afternoon you are sitting in the language course. But what are you doing the rest of the time? You have completed the language course and can now relax and do not need to continue learning the language?

But that’s exactly what you should not do! If you do nothing now, you have a minimal effect. The language course is only a small component of the language journey. Most of it happens outside the course.

In the language course, you have few opportunities to speak the foreign language. That happens outside the course. For that you are looking for native speakers, with whom you speak the language.

Here are some online platforms where you can find native speakers:

Facebook: This is of course the most popular platform. Search for regularly meeting groups in the city. The topic does not matter. The main thing you get in exchange with native speakers. Enter your city in the search field and search for suitable groups.
Meetup: This is a platform for events and activities. Similar to the Facebook groups, you are looking for interesting activities. So you have fun and at the same time have the opportunity to speak the foreign language.
Couchsurfing: This is a platform for culture lovers worldwide. The basic idea is that travelers in another city stay with a couch surfer for free, so that both can get to know new cultures. Couchsurfing has regular meetings in many cities. You can also find interesting people on the platform who show you the city or with whom you do something.

In my opinion, couchsurfing is the best way to get to know native speakers. For each city there is a group where you can find other culture lovers with whom you can do something. Just make a suggestion for an activity in the city group, eg. For example, have a drink or a city tour?

Afterwards you look directly at couchsurfing for locals. Find some Couchsurfers who share interests with you and meet them. For this you write them directly. Of course you can do that before you go there. So you do not waste too much time searching.

In this way, you have a lot of fun, meet interesting people and make new friends! Therefore, this is an excellent way to complement the language course.

What you can do as well is to ask the language teachers and the local team, what are the possibilities in the city and what they recommend to practice the language after the language course.

In this article, you will learn how to learn a foreign language most effectively on vacation. Technically, when the language course is over, your trip is a vacation. So you can use the techniques in this post to actively experience the language.

Step 4: What do I do after the language trip?

The language tour is over, you had an excellent learning effect and what now?

So what should you do after the language trip to have the greatest learning and benefit?

If you leave everything as it was before, your learning will diminish after just a few weeks, and a few months later you’ll be back to the same level you were before the trip.

Therefore, it is important to continue to practice the language and keep it active.

Do you speak the foreign language fluently?? Then you can start converting certain activities in your everyday life to the foreign language. So you do not need to learn actively, but learn in everyday life.

Even if you do not speak your foreign language fluently, you can continue Immersion in your own city.

These can be films in the foreign language, reading books or even activities such as a foreign-language theater group. The classic immersion techniques, as you have already used during your language journey.

Also pay attention to it regularly Conversations in the foreign language respectively. You can, for example, go to meetings of native speakers, since you can now entertain yourself easily.

Native speakers and native speaker meetings can be found on the same platforms as in step 3, where you searched locally.

If you already have more than one foreign language, you should use all foreign languages regularly. For example, go every week to a meeting of native speakers in one of the foreign languages. You watch films in a foreign language and series in another. Perform various activities in different languages.

In this way, you no longer need to actively learn your foreign language, but you can keep active without major effort.

Conclusion: A language trip can quickly have a big effect

With a language journey you can tremendous progress within a few weeks in the foreign language.

It is important:

to prepare the trip well and to learn already before the trip,
to use every opportunity to apply the language while traveling
continue to actively use and continue practicing the language after the journey

If you are ready to book your language study trip, you can choose a suitable one directly from Sprachcaffe or another organizer.

Have you ever been on a language trip or have you planned one in the near future?? Tell us about your experience in the comments!

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