George V had once famously said, ?A man who knows four languages is worth four men.? Going by this logic, India?s population could be a billion, multiplied several times. Reason: Most of us speak more than two languages, apart from English. Also, apart from English, Spanish, French and Chinese are widely spoken in major parts of the world. So what should you do if you are interested in languages but do not have the time to pursue a regular course? Well, you could stop by the British Broadcasting Corporation?s (BBC) language website, for starters.

The well-designed home page gives readers information on different languages and cultures. It offers a beginners? course in languages like Spanish, French, German, Italian. I chose Spanish and soon found myself listening to Kevin Duala who was ready to take me through six stages of conversation. The first stage was ?Finding my feet? which is a short conversation between Duala and a taxi driver on how to get to a particular hotel. It has both audio and video, which helps one to get the pronunciation right as well as get the English equivalent of what is being said. Each discussion is followed by a set of exercises that helps you memorise the words and test your linguistic skills. There are similar short conversations for different situations.

After going through the six stages, one can also sign up for the free newsletter that will offer tips on learning the language for 12 weeks. BBC also offers courses in Portuguese, Greek and Chinese. And for those in love with English, you can also get to learn exotic languages like Welsh, Scottish and Gaelic. Check it out at http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages.

Aparna Harish

aparna@abpmail.com