The festival is officially opened on the first day by the Lord Mayor of Munich at midday. He has the honour of tapping the first keg of Oktoberfest beer. Once the keg is opened, all of the public can have a drink of beer. The beer is then served every day for the entire festival. There are also family days, rides, carnivals and music that run alongside the beer-drinking.

What’s more entry to the event is free to the public although you have to pay for the beer!

The origins of the festival began in 1810 when Crown Prince Ludwig (who later became King Ludwig the First) and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen commemorated their marriage with a great horse race. It wasn’t until 1887 that the large beer tents were brought in for the tens of thousands of festival goers to enjoy. Nowadays, there are literally millions of visitors each year with tourists also coming in from the United States, Japan, Brazil and Australia as well as the neighboring countries. It has become a world famous event with over 6 million litres of beer drunk every year!

Find out how to learn to speak  German >>

Find out more about the German culture  >>

Find out more about the Munich Oktoberfest

Are you going to the Munich Oktoberfest? Send us your pictures and/or comments!

Get the German language advantage! Get your competitive advantage!

Films will be shown from various countries including China, Germany, Sweden, Malaysia, Australia, France, Colombia and the UK.  

This year, many already internationally renowned films such as the acclaimed ‘Broken Embraces’ (dir: Pedro Almodovar) and the controversial ‘Antichrist’ by Lars von Trier will be shown alongside more experimental, shorts and recent feature films. This year there are 19 different programme categories including Contemporary World Cinema, Gala Presentations (high profile international films), Canadian Open Vault (recently restored old Canadian movies) as well as Midnight Madness which screens horrors and chillers at midnight.  

For full details about the Toronto Film Festival, film summaries and other information click here.

To find our recommended foreign language films, visit our World Film section

To buy a foreign language film, browse our Language Advantage World Film shop [UK]

To buy a foreign language movie, visit our Language Advantage World Film store [USA]

July  2009

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www.languageadvantage.com this month

Welcome to the NEW Language Advantage Newsletter! We will update you on what is new and what is cool on www.languageadvantage.com. We will also send you the latest offers and competitions so you can beat the crowds. Get the language advantage quicker and claim your competitive advantage sooner!

Feature of the month

Language Fun in the Sun

The holiday season is here again. If you are jetting off somewhere nice, you’ll get more from your time away if you learn a bit of the local language. We’ve selected the best and most innovative quick holiday courses for beginners. Heard of pay as you go? This is learn as you go! Read more>>

Latest reviews

ipod & mp3 Earworms Rapid French: Volumes 1 & 2

I tried out the Earworms Rapid French courses which were really cheap to download to my ipod and mp3 player. It is an interesting concept – the idea behind the course is to listen to French words and phrases set to the beat of music. Read more>>

Events this month

Take the Bull by the Horns … Learn to Speak Spanish!

The Pamplona Bull Run runs from 6 – 14 July 2009 in Pamplona, Spain. It is known as El Encierro in Spanish and takes place as part of the Fiesta de San Fermín. It is not for the faint-hearted and reports are saying that a Spanish man was killed by a bull this week. Read more>>

Le Quatorze Juillet

Bastille Day, known in French as Le quatorze juillet, is a French National holiday held on the 14 July each year. It was on this day in 1789 when hundreds of Parisians stormed the Bastille Prison in Paris starting the French Revolution. Read more>>

Thank you for forwarding this newsletter to your friends, family and colleagues.

If you’d like some help choosing a language course, please contact us now>>

We hope you like our new newsletter! Look out for our next newsletter in September when we’ll be celebrating the European Day of Languages.

Until next time…
Sarah Carroll
Founder of www.languageadvantage.com

Quick Links

www.languageadvantage.com
www.teachyourselfbusiness.com
www.growglobal.co.uk
www.sarahcarroll.com

Listen to some of the music from European Music Day

The idea for the European Music Day was born in France in 1982, when the then French Minister of Culture Jack Lang and the French Ministry of Culture, set up Music Day (Fête de la Musique) for the first time. The aim was to bring out musicians, of all genres, onto the streets for the public to enjoy for free. As Athens was the first cultural capital of Europe in 1985, the idea for the Music Day was celebrated here for the first time outside of France.   The exclusive rights for representation of the day went to Greece in 1999 and since then, Music Day has been promoted quite heavily in Greece.

This year, the European Music Day has more than 20,000 events happening across the whole of Europe and is recognised as the largest popular cultural event of its kind.

Browse Language Advantage World Music>>

If you are travelling to Greece to join in with European Music Day there, learn to speak Greek and find out more about the Greek culture before you go>>

Find out more about European Music Day>>

Did you know there are 11 official languages in South Africa? They are recognised to be Afrikaans, English, Ndebele (isiNdebele), Northern Sotho (Sesotho sa Leboa), Sotho (seSotho), Swati (siSwati), Tsonga (Xitsonga), Tswana (Setswana), Venda (Tshivenda), Xhosa (isiXhosa) and Zulu (isiZulu). Zulu is the most spoken official language in South Africa, but many South Africans are trilingual, speaking Afrikaans, English and another of the official languages.

If you are one of the lucky ones going over to South Africa for the Confederations Cup, then don’t just speak English!  Why not try to speak a bit of one of the official African languages  and get to know more about the South African culture.

Find out the best and most innovative ways to learn to speak an official South African language>>

Find out more about the South African culture>>

Get the language advantage.   Get your competitive advantage.

We’ve gone all Italian this week! This year’s UEFA Champions League Final will be held in the Stadio Olimpico, Rome on the 27th May 2009. FC Barcelona will play Manchester United FC in what could be an explosive football match.   A five-day celebration of football kicks off in Rome’s historic centre on Saturday 23rd May with the official opening of the UEFA Champions Festival.

If you are making your way over to Rome to watch the match, win over your Italian hosts by making the effort to speak some Italian – don’t just speak English.   English is not understood in all parts of Italy – so you may not be able to get away with just speaking English!! Much more importantly, it will make your trip ot Italy more memorable and enhance your time in  Rome if you learn the Italian language and get to know more about the Italian culture.

Here are a few basic Italian words and phrases to learn before you go out to Italy to get you started:

Buongiorno – Good day
Buonasera – Good evening/afternoon
Arrivederci – Goodbye
Per favore – Please
Grazie – Thank you
Scusi – Excuse me
Parla inglese? – Do you speak English?
Non parlo italiano – I don’t speak Italian
Dov’è il bagno? – Where’s the bathroom?!

But this is just the beginning …

Find out the best and most innovative ways to learn to speak Italian with language courses, books, films, music and language courses abroad from languageadvantage.com>>

Find out more about the Italian culture>>

Get the language advantage.   Learn to speak Italian.   Get your competitive advantage.

This year, the Cannes Film Festival opens with a Disney Pixar animation called ‘Up’. It is a world premiere directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson. Other famous directors will be showing their recent work too:   Quentin Tarantino with his new film ‘Inglourious Basterds’; Jane Campion with her new film ‘Bright Star’; Pedro Almodovar with his new film ‘Broken Embraces’ and Ang Lee with his film  ’Taking Woodstock’.

Most of the world’s attention turns to the films within the ‘In Competition’ event. This is the Festival’s main event where the most prestigious award, The Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) is given for the Best Picture. Last year’s Palme d’Or winner was for the  French film ‘Entre Les Murs’ (The Class) directed by Laurent Cantet.   Some of the biggest films have been the ones within the ‘Out of Competition’ category. Films shown in this category generally do not fit into any other section of the festival and are typically special events or films that the Festival feels deserve the honour of being screened at Cannes. The Chilean director/writer Alejandro Amenabar (‘The Sea Inside’, ‘Open Your Eyes’) will be showcasing his new film ‘Agora’ in this section.

Foreign language films at Cannes

The Cannes Film Festival makes a distinct effort to recognise and award foreign films to make them more accessible to the world’s viewing public.  The jury who will be judging the films includes the French actress Isabelle Huppert (‘La Pianiste’), American actress Robin Wright-Penn (‘State of Play’), South Korean director Chang-dong Lee (‘Oasis’) and Italian actress Asia Argento (‘Marie Antoinette’).

This year, the Official Selection comprises of  20 foreign language films from various countries including France, Spain, Hong Kong, Taiwan  and the UK. One to watch is ‘Los Abrazos Rotos’ (Broken Embraces) by controversial Spanish director Pedro Almodovar which stars Penelope Cruz.

There are also opportunities for new foreign films to make the headlines.   The ‘Courts Metrages’ event features films from around the globe, while young directors can make their mark in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ competition.   The ‘Cinefondation’ selection presents short and medium-length films that have been selected by the Festival from film schools around the world. La Quinzaine des Realisateurs (The Directors Fortnight) was created in 1968 during the strikes that closed down the festival that year. Its intention was to open up the Cannes Festival to unknown filmmakers and national cinemas.This section of the competitions usually has around 18 foreign films which include countries such as Iran, France, Spain  and some Latin American countries. It has some of the best that the world cinema has to offer.

Award Winners at the Cannes Film Festival 2009

The winner of the Palme d’Or (Feature Film) went to Das Weisse Band (The White Ribbon) directed by Michael Haneke (Cache- Hidden). The Palme d’Or for Short Film went to a Portuguese film called Arena directed by Joao Salaviza.

The winner of the Grand Prix went to  the French film Un Prophet (A Prophet) directed by Jacques Audiard.

Other awards for Best Actress went to Charlotte Gainsbourg (daughter of French actor Serge Gainsbourg) for her performance in the film Antichrist (directed by Lars Von Trier). Best Actor went to Christoph Waltz for his performance in the Quentin Tarantino directed film Inglorious Basterds.

The Jury Prize (Un Certain Regard) winner went to a Romanian film Politist, Adjectiv (Police, Adjective) directed by Corneliu Porumboiu.

Learn a Language with a Foreign Language Film

Your next holiday abroad may be a few months away, but why not make good use of the evenings to build up your language skills with a foreign language movie and learn about the culture of the country you will be visiting. With a DVD, you can choose the language for the soundtrack and the language for the subtitles. Always check the DVD has the right region and language combination for your particular country and your particular player … especially when buying on-line.

Browse our Foreign Language Films

To order and to browse English foreign language movies section>>
To order and to browse French foreign language movies section>>
To order and to browse Spanish foreign language movies section>>
To order and to browse Chinese foreign language movies section>>
To order and to browse Hindi foreign language movies section>>
To order and to browse German foreign language movies section>>
To order and to browse Italian foreign language movies section>>
To order and to browse Japanese foreign language movies section>>
To order and to browse foreign language movies in other languages section>>

On the 9th May 1950, what is now known as the European Union, was first proposed. In Paris, the French Foreign Minister of the time, Robert Schuman, put forward the idea for France, Germany and other European countries to work together to put their coal and steel production  as a  foundation of a possible European federation. This proposal helped to ensure that there has been peace and prosperity across Europe for over 50 years. And so the  9th May  is celebrated as the birthday of the European Union and is called  Europe Day.

Nowadays, Europe Day celebrates the diversity of cultures within Europe and gives the people of Europe the opportunity to come closer together and to learn about the European Union.

Many countries within the EU celebrate the 9th May by holding festivities that promote the culture of their own country and of other EU countries. These festivities include quizzes, games, open days, children singing songs in other European languages and parades.

Why not join in the festivities yourself by learning a European language today? Learn  to speak Spanish, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek or Romanian! Or give a language gift and get to know your fellow Europeans!

Learn  a European  language today >>

Find out more about the Declaration of 9 May 2009>>

How do you celebrate Europe Day?

Languages & Business 2009 takes a professional look at the subject of language training for business. The annual event offers a forum for the exchange of experiences and the chance to get up-to-date with best practice. Training professionals from corporate groups, SMEs, schools and universities will show how foreign languages and intercultural competence can be effectively conveyed and aligned to specific target groups. In practical workshops, up-to-the minute presentations and comprehensive plenary sessions experts will cover themes ranging from the challenges of quality assurance to innovative learning tools, methods, tests and current research. In addition, the accompanying exhibition will allow both providers and users to come together to discuss recent trends, exchange ideas and find relevant solutions for their individual requirements. The conference languages are German and English.

To find out more about how to learn a language for business>>

To find out more about the Languages & Business Conference 2009>>

Buy tickets for La Dolce Vita>>

Find out how to learn to speak Italian>>

LA DOLCE VITA **EXCLUSIVE OFFER** Any SEE Tickets subscriber can experience all this for less: Simply quote code SEE01 when you book, and youâ??ll save £9 when you buy 2 standard tickets for £19!