Do you want to be an efficient multitasker, stave off Alzheimer’s and Dementia, and improve your decision making skills? You should learn a foreign language. If you love traveling and immersing yourself in other cultures – you should learn a foreign language. To add that extra edge to your college application, or your resume, learn a foreign language. Don’t know what to do this summer that’s both fun and useful? We think you can answer this one!

So which language should you learn and where? See below.
 

Mandarin Chinese

Believe it or not you probably already speak some (along with 14.1 % of the world’s population) – gongfu (kung–fu), and taijiquian (tai-chi in popular parlance). So that’s enough encouragement for you to start.

Mandarin grammar is surprisingly straightforward. However, it is a primarily a tonal language. This means that it’s just not what you say but how you say it. Sotang can mean soup or sugar depending on how you enunciate.

Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Jawaharlal Nehru Academy of Languages (New Delhi): Offers a three years intensive course in Chinese. Successful students receive a diploma from the institute after an examination and a viva voce.

India China Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Mumbai, Pune and New Delhi): Offers a course at three levels – I, II, III at varying rates. Students have to complete a certain number of hours and pass an exam to graduate.
 

Spanish

In numbers, Spanish is the second most popular language in the world with 329 million speakers. Since it shares a Latin origin with English and other Romance languages – learning Spanish is not too difficult a task. Think of all the tapas you’ll be able to order! But, more importantly, you will be able to master any other Romance language with greater ease.

Instituto Hispania: The institute has centres in New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Pune. It offers a choice of several certificate and diploma courses – from Basic and Intermediate to Business Spanish and Spanish for Tourism.

Instituto Cervantes: Located in Delhi, this center is part of a larger organization founded by the Government of Spain to promote Spanish language teaching. It offers courses for the Basic, Intermediate and the Proficient User. Apart from that, the center also hosts several cultural events.
 

French

One of the most widely spoken second languages in the world, French was the official diplomat speak until the first World War. It is also one of the six official languages at the UN. By 2050, it is estimated that approximately 750 million people will speak French.

Alliance Francaise (Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Karnataka): The institute offers a range of courses like Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced, Independent, Proficiency and Mastery. The certificates are issued by the Ministry of Education in France and recognized all over the world.

InLingua (New Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore): A global organization with centers in 35 countries, InLingua offers general purpose programs and private classes for students and corporate groups.

Portuguese

It is the 6^th most commonly spoken language in the world with 300 million native speakers in the world. Portuguese is also a working language for most international organisations, and closely linked to Spanish.

Camoes Institute, Portuguese Embassy Cultural Center (New Delhi): Offers Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced language courses. The institute also collaborates with various universities to promote Portuguese language teaching across India.

Instituto Camoes (Goa): A very popular center for teaching Portuguese, the institute attracts hundreds of students. It also conducts exams of International Certification of Portuguese as a Foreign Language.