With New Year resolutions fast approaching, now's the time to sign up to a language course. How many of us who promise to learn a new language ever do? Another year's over and you still can't buy a beer in Prague except by pointing at the draught taps or by speaking loudly and slowly in English. Give it another month and you'll be making all sorts of resolutions, buying language tapes for the car and signing up for classes at night school.
But there's another, better way. Language schools abroad report that keen independent travellers are signing up to crash courses at the start of once-in-a-lifetime holidays. Before trekking to Machu Picchu or tackling the Amazon, fly out a few weeks early for a spell on a language course in situ. The following holiday courses will help you find your legs, linguistically speaking.
Japanese in Tokyo
A Christmas present for the Salaryman with everything - except a sound grasp of Japanese. Could you handle a week of 40 one-on-one lessons in the Far East's most lively city? The intensive classes at the Cactus Language school are coupled with field trips to prominent companies and evenings out in Tokyo, and there's even a course unit to help you get to grips with Japanese fashion sense.
For more information, log on to www.cactuslanguage.com or call 01273 725200.