Exam time is here and the heat is on! Here are some study tips from Bennett Languages to help you:

• Revise regularly! Find 20 minutes every day. You don’t need to spend hours every day. Going over your notes will help to jog your memory. The memory works the same way as when remembering telephone numbers – if you call frequently, you remember the number and it gets transferred from your short term memory to your long term memory.
• What’s your learning style?Are you a visual learner? Use colours to highlight and underline. Be creative with the organisation of your vocabulary on paper – use mind maps and spidergrams. Stick post-its around the house.  Are you an auditory learner? Record your language and listen to it on your Ipod. Go on to the British Council or BBC websites and download some podcasts. If you’ve got a smartphone, download one of the many apps available.
• That’s all for now, we’ll be back soon with more ideas. Watch this space!

What lights your fire? What motivates people to learn another language? Here are some of the most common reasons why people join an English course

• Travelling. If you speak English you can avoid making Neanderthal grunts and monkey gestures to get yourself a drink or find out where the train station is. A phrase book is no use to ask because you might be able to ask the question but you won’t understand the answer you get!) British tourists are often known to try the “speak louder” technique when abroad, ie. If I shout, he’ll understand me. It doesn’t work and just gets on people’s nerves!
• Getting through a job interview (“I need to speak fluently by next Monday”)
• Passing an exam
• It’s a hobby or for personal culture.
• Brain training ( research says that learning a foreign language can stave off senile dementia)
• “Se non sai inglese non vai a nessuna parte” You can’t escape it –it’s on the computer, on the TV, in advertising, in journalism, at work and at home.
• It’s trendy, it’s cool. It’s that panache when you answer the phone saying “Yes?”  and when politicians and journalists spice up their speech with a sprinkling of English expressions like relax or welfare.
• It’s useful

Research into bilingualism has revealed that bilingual people have two personalities. This means that by learning another language we obtain another world perspective or “Another language is another soul.” All the more reason for learning English!

What is a false friend? A false friend is a word that ostensibly seems to have the same meaning in English and Italian. Take, for example, Sympathetic . A hasty, literal translation would give you “simpatico” . However, it doesn’t simply mean “nice”, but rather showing compassion and understanding when someone has a problem. (More like a real friend rather than a false friend!)  Other examples of false friends are: actually, which means in realtà, and not attualemente and annoyed which means infastidito, and not annoiato.