Inlingua - a nationwide chain of language schools

[ollie 0]

Hello all,

So my better half is now here with me in Germany (we moved recently from the UK) and is now looking to learn the language.

I am aware of Volkshochschule for example, but would prefer a somewhat more comprehensive approach, especially as we can afford to spend a little extra.

I did some googling and found Inlingua (www.inlingua.de) and was wondering if anyone had experiences them?

We're based around Osnabrueck btw.

thanks all

Ollie

[Timmeh 828]

I did a little bit of study there. I think they're OK, but I think you need to know a lot about English language grammar rules and terms for it to make sense, which I don't, so some of the explanations of "it's just the same as rule x in English" don't mean tickety-boo.

[Purple Muffin 265]

Inlingua teach using the PPP method (Presentation Practice Production) and it is all set to fixed materials.

I used to work for them and I think the quality of German teachers was far superior to the English teachers in Frankfurt at any case.

They offer trial lessons where you go go in and sit in on a class so perhaps you should go and try it yourself.

[pootle 94]

I found inlingua in munich to be terrible. When I first moved here signed up for 10 weeks, 3 hours per week I think. in the course of 2 weeks, we have 4 different teachers, the class continually changed with new poeple coming and old people going - there was no structure to the lessons etc. I did my time and then left (I didnt have the confidence to complain at the time). This was over 4 years ago, maybe they've got better now

[Timmeh 828]

Your right about the class always changing, and what seems like little structure, so no it hasn't really changed in the 4 years since you were there

[Raffles 53]

I did 630 hours with Inlingua in ESSEN, and found it to be good value. A lot of emphasis is placed upon grammar which most find difficult, but you must accept that it is an essential part of ANY language. I would say that Inlingua are very good value for your money.

[prilmeie 1]

I don't know their rates, but if you have to pay this yourself, I would consider trying to find some private teacher for 1:1 lessons (which are far more effective).

Check out the classifieds in local news papers or at some supermarkets, eg. Kaufland has an area where you can post for private lessons.

[Mauddib 221]

I am using them to learn german from the very beginning. I find the teaching method great.

First of all they teach the german IN german. Using a series of gestures, expressions, pictures and other indications you get the point of whats being talked about and you pick it up in the "natural" way. Starting from the german for "My name is..." and working up.

No english is used, partly because this is the teaching method and partly because half the class wont speak english either (we have students in my class from Sri Lanka, South Korea, Singapore, Italy, Spain, Japan, China, Dominican Republic and Turkey!). I think this is best though because if you are trying to map english directly to german and learn it that way then you are just going to find it a lot harder. Trust me. Find out how to say "I get on well with my sister" in german, translate it DIRECTLY to english... and you end up with something illegal in most countries.

As said however they are completely hung up on the grammar and you get a lot more of this than vocab. at first. But this is important so its good to get it in early.

They do have a few nice contract points however. For example if you miss more than 3 classes because you have to go on holiday, or are just plain ill, then you become immediately elligible for a 90 minute one on one session with your teacher at a time of your own choosing. This helps you catch up with what you missed at no extra costs.

The pricing is a little more than VS but not much. I pay 150 a month which gets me two 90 minute classes a week in the evening. Thats about 25euro an hour. Thankfully my company pay for mine though.

[Timmeh 828]

My Inlingua class only started using german near the very end of the first level, otherwise is was Engrish Engrish Engrish

[nataras 0]

I am presently a student of Inlingua in Munich and the charges are 160 euro per month and weekly 2 times Monday-wed(5 -7 I think) or Tue-Thu (7 to 9). The duration is 2 sessions of 45 min each. I started with them from beginning but it depends on your objective. If you have to or must need to learn I would say dont do here and prefer something like Goethe where it is a theoritical approach. Here I am now going for 8 months and my objective was the learn and speak little bit on the streets and understand some things around:) It is good for practical. I dont speak any german at work and have no plans to stay here and another very important factor is time. I dont have time to give other than my 2 hours class for german so it is ok! In Goethe where it is more theoritical you will find it difficult to follow if you dont cope up. But here you can consider it practical & it is fine!!!

Anyway you decide how you want it

[peterson76 1]

My little experience with Inlingua

 

I started in Inlingua in Zurich

I wanted B1 but they told me it would be better if I go to A2 (later I knew they did't had enough people for making the B2 course)

 

After 4 lessons it was clear it was too low for me. But they told me there was no B2 course.

I drop the course (paying the 4 clases) and THEY SUE ME demanding that I pay the whole 6 months course.

 

They didn't even try to offer me another alternative, they just asked me to pay 6 months.

I told them that they put me in a lower level and this was useless for me but they didnt care ...

 

My advice, never pay in advance.

Careful with Inlingua they seem to be very money driven.

[JSD 609]

I had the exact same thing happen to me in Mannheim a while back. They kept adding and deleting people to the class every day. We were never able to progress because of all the changes. I dropped out, they sued. I got out of it eventually. They are an evil. Stay away.

[nina_glyndwr 4,748]

Speaking as someone who has taught English since the late 80s, Inlingua is the equivalent of Dante's inner ring of hell.

 

The teachers are underpaid and overworked. Hence they are not motivated to plan lessons. Inlingua messes teachers around with their timetables - they never know what they will be teaching when. Students are never sure which teacher they will be getting when they go to classes. This means they cannot build up a rapport or the teachers do not always appreciate the particular difficulties that a certain person may have.

 

Inlingua used to teach only with their own materials. I once had a student who had had lessons at Berlitz. (Berlitz is similar to Inlingua.) She came into the school I was with at the time and said "I hate English teachers". Apparently, she was not allowed to use any word that had not yet been introduced in the Berlitz books. As she was an art dealer and wanted to talk to her artists in the Netherlands and the US, she was particularly frustrated.

 

You could try Linguarama if you want to have a chain. I've worked for them, too, and they want to be more professional than Inlingua.

 

Or just keep looking for another independent school.

 

I'm not a fan of private lessons as it's too easy to cancel lessons if you are not doing lessons with a contract.

[amy121 5]

well, i guess you can see that things are different by the location of the school. i learned german at an inlingua school in würzburg and i think i did quite well. our teachers didnt change that often and i found almost all of them, besides one i had, to be really good. i took the 6mo. course with them and after 2 years of taking no german people still tell me my german is really good! i dont speak german at home or at work so i am still amazed by this. i think the school you go to is important but i also think that you have to want to learn and work hard, that is what i did. i felt that inlingua was great and i would suggest going to a trial lesson and joining the class if you feel good in it. i cant speak for any of the other locations but my own and all the directors are different. please dont waste money on the vhs, though a fun hobby learning school, i dont recommend it for learning a language. good luck!

[trybefore 6]

Inlingua is a franchised teaching method and the franchise is worldwide, details here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inlingua

Results as always in this type of business are dependant on the individuals, my wife worked for them for a while in England.

[Lexicon 81]

The quality of inlingua schools varies considerably from franchise to franchise. I've worked for several of them over the years and some are very good (Nuremberg, for one) and other (smaller towns in eastern Germany) are terrible. The Berlin school has good facilities, but they only pay their teachers around 12 euros per hour. Just a hint, you don't get much of an educator for 12 euros an hour!

 

If you just want to build up an inventory of words and phrases and structures, the inlingua method is not bad. However they base it on telling you what to say, and hoping you never ask why you say it.

 

Their method specifically precludes explanations of grammar and in fact, teachers are forbidden (under the pure inlingua method) from explaining such things.

 

Most of the basics of German could be learnt online. Start by googling '1000 words German'. You should find a list of the thousand most common words in German (they correspond closely to the thousand most common words in English). Learn those.

 

Also, go down the Mueller and buy some simple white labels. Get out your dictionary and label EVERYTHING in your apartment and office. Just by seeing the name of something when you go to use it, you'll passively learn much more vocabulary than you would in a classroom (if you think I'm lying, what's the word for door? Now if you knew that, what's the word for doorknob??).

 

Do somethings like this, and try to figure out basic grammar online, then once you feel somewhat productive, look for a course. I would recommend the free/subsidized integration courses from the German government.

[swimmer 3,707]

 

Just a hint, you don't get much of an educator for 12 euros an hour!

 

Not sure that's true (any more than paying 50 would ensure a brilliant one). Some of the best "educators" I know have done their stint at inlingua, berlitz and the rest.

 

For a start, money is no issue to a lot of people - 12 or 25, it's just "pin-money" (and I'd say that applies to a lot of my teachers). Others think about non-cash benefits too - convenience, non-cash costs (12 Eur five mins from home often beats 20 an hour away), not wanting desk-based work, the enjoyment etc. Some even do it because of a commintment to supporting immigrants and minorities! My German teacher does it because it gives him a social life that is far better than going down the pub and he meets better people and, what's more, he's given cash for that on top!

 

Conversely, as we see here a zillion times, a lot of highly capable and commited people aren't in the position to earn more, even if they wanted to.

[Lexicon 81]

This is a good point Swimmer, and I didn't mean to say that anyone making that amount wouldn't be a good teacher. But when you pay someone (last time I got a solicitation from inlingua Berlin) 11.50 euros per hour -- freelance, its a sign that company isn't looking for quality.

[gaberlunzi 814]

for easier learning:google "Nuernberger Trichter"

[nina_glyndwr 4,748]

Gosh.. I didn't know that I worked for pin money.

 

I used to teach full time. And yes, I sometimes worked for 13 euros an hour but then I worked in blocks and they were usually just general English refreshers, which I had done many times before, so there wasn't much planning involved. With business courses, I could spend as much time planning the lesson as giving it in order to ensure balance, a bit of repetition and a bit of something new with a certain amount of logical progression.

 

I worked as a teacher because I enjoyed it, because I liked the certain amount of creative freedom (I designed the lessons myself depending on the needs and ability of the student) and because I did not want to work in an office with idiots (been there, done that, got the T-shirt).

 

But mainly, I worked as a teacher because it was a way of earning money all year round. Pin money, my foot! I want to make enough money to be able to have a comfortable retirement without depending on the state. I can only think that the German teacher described is one of the old hippie students that I met in the 80s in Göttingen. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a beard and knitted his own yoghurt.