Spanish is the official language of 21 countries and is spoken by around 600 million people throughout the world and by 400 milliion as their first language.
People in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Spain, Guatemala, Equatorial Guinea, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Venezuela all speak Spanish! The Language Machine has Spanish tutors in London and other areas of the UK with teachers from just about all the countries on that list!
Since the language is spoken by so many people in so many countries it is not surprising that it has developed in different ways. The classic division is usually made between Spanish from Spain — Castilian Spanish — and Spanish from South America. There are, however, variations of Spanish between regions and countries.
Variations are not so extreme that speakers from different countries or regions cannot understand among themselves. On the contrary, nowadays, due to the increased use of the internet and other media, Spanish speakers are more used than ever to the different accents and dialects from all around the Spanish speaking world.
Speakers from different countries can communicate as easily as diverse English speakers can and the main difference lies in spoken rather than written Spanish. Accents differ and areas have developed their own slang or colloquialisms. These differences are not huge and can be learned as you need them and are comparable to the type of English spoken in Britain, the United States or New Zealand for example.
The most noticeable difference between varieties of Spanish is in the pronunciation of the letters ‘c’ and ‘z’. They can be proncounced in two different ways — like the “th” in English words such as ‘thing’ or like an ‘s’. The fomer is used in Castilian Spanish while the latter tends to be used in the south of Spain including the Canary islands and all countries in Latin America. So words like ‘gracias’ or ‘zapato’ can be pronounced in two different ways, although both are correct.
Slang words and colloquial Spanish can differ a lot between regions. For example, the word for ‘mate’ in Spanish is ‘colega’ wheras in Argentina it is ‘pata’, in chile it is ‘socio’, in Mexico and Uruguay it is ‘compadre’, while in Panama it is ‘monchi’!
This video from Mundo Espana shows some of the differences in how the clothes people wear are named.

 
A common misconception that arises from having different varieties of Spanish is that one is better than the rest. All varieties are correct! From a practical point of view, a student may choose to learn with a tutor from the country they are planning to visit for example, to help get used to the accent of the area. This is more important potentially when learning Spanish for business where making the right impression from the start is of the utmost importance. Research into particular words related to your business and arming yourself with local knowledge may well swing that big business deal. At The Language Machine we have Spanish tutors in London and throughout the UK who can teach business spanish lessons and cultural awareness training.
Students often worry too much about the nationality of their tutor with many worried that they may pick-up an accent they don’t really want. If you’re a beginner, however, the accent you’ll have will be that of your mother tongue! That is you’ll speak Spanish with an English accent, French accent etc. If you’re lucky enough to live or visit a Spanish speaking country for an extended period then you’ll gradually acquire the accent spoken there.
At The Language Machine, our London Spanish tutors and those throughout the UK are from all over the Spanish speaking world. They are trained to teach standard educated Spanish which is understood wherever you go. If you do need to learn a specific variety of Spanish then we can make sure you are allocated a tutor from that area.
If your pronunciation and grammar are good, you will be understood no matter where you are.
The Language Machine has been teaching languages to the UK since 2000 and can provide Spanish lessons in London or any other part of the country.

Typically we are always on the look out for excellent tutors in Spanish, French or Mandarin. We’re now looking for our first tutors in Dothraki and High Valyrian!
In the book and series of Game of Thrones, Dothraki is spoken by the Dothraki who are a nomadic inhabitants of the Dothraki Sea. High Valyrian is the language of the old Valyrian Freehold located in Essos. When the Valyrians dominated the territory they forced all inhabitants to speak their language. Since their demise, however, High Valyrian ceased to be a living language, only used in lore by scholars. It is, however, spoken by Daenerys Targaryen who is from Westeros.

The Language Machine is the UK’s leading language tuition agency and is currently looking for tutors in Dothraki and High Valyrian.
We look for excellent tutors who are passionate about the language they teach and who can instill that passion in their students.
Typically we look for the following in our tutors:
• A proven track record as a professional teacher or private tutor
• Degree educated
• A passion for teaching and an ability to get the best out of students
• Ability to travel to students’ homes or places of work. The vast majority of lessons take place at students’ homes or their business and you’ll need to be able to get their on time for each lesson.
Working with The Language Machine:
• We aim to offer you a steady stream of suitable students to tutor, with regular lessons typically lasting 1 or 1.5 hours and sometimes up to 2 hours.
• We handle the collection of payments from clients and pay tutors weekly for lessons taught. This leaves you free to teach and you don’t need to worry about chasing parents for payment.
• As a self-employed tutor you’re free to pick and choose who you want to teach. Our online system allows you to view details of possible new students we think are suitable for you and where they are located.
• Log lessons and provide feedback to parents through your dedicated Tutor Zone.
If you believe you have the above qualities and would like to work with us then please fill in our application form at: http://www.thelanguagemachine.co.uk/tutor-application-new.php
 

At The Language Machine we like to encourage pupils to learn languages for love. Cold hard economics, though, can never be ignored so we we’re also quite interested to see which languages would end up earning you the most.
While most schools typically focus on French, German and Spanish research by job search portal Adzuna shows that it’s the more exotic languages that will rake in the cash when it comes to jobs. Job adverts for Japanese and Chinese language speakers had the highest advertised salaries at £32,355 and £31,119 respectively. Moreover demand for Japanese speakers has increased by 15.8% over the past year, while for Chinese speakers the equivalent figure is 22.5%.

Brexit Impact?

It’s quite possible that the vote to leave the EU had an impact on the results with German, which topped the poll last year, dropping to fourth place. Still with 8,154 vacancies German speakers still had the largest number of job opportunities — up 7.9% on a year ago. Russia also made it into the top 10 this time around.
With Brexit looming it seems that many companies are looking further afield to countries like China and Japan for new business opportunities.

Demand for Arabic Down

While Arabic speakers are relatively well paid, demand fell by a sharp 31.5% over the past year with just 856 role currently advertised across the UK.
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We’ve put together a list of some our favourite online resources to help you learn French. There’s a good mix of sites to help with grammar, speaking, reading and writing. Some of our private French students often ask how they can continue to improve their French outside of their private French lessons. Our best advice is to try and immerse yourself as much as possible in the language. Watch French films, listen to French radio and embrace the wide variety of novel online learning resources now available.
(1) BBC French: Stacks of materials for beginners right through to advanced speakers. Grammar, audio, videos and a lot more.
(2) Bonjour de France: Lots of exercises albeit amid quite a few adverts.
(3) Duolingo:  Probably the best free language learning app out there. Practise grammar, reading, speaking all from your phone, tablet or PC. Free forever — apparently.
(4) French Crazy: Great resource stuffed full of all things French.
(5) University of Texas: Award winning online French course
(6) TV5: Videos, exercises, dictionaries and all sorts of great content from the French TV channel.
(7) Forvo: Recordings of French words to help with pronunciation.
(8) LangMedia: Videos produced by students including transcriptions. A really great resource.
(9) French Listening: Lots of French listening exercises with transcripts.
(10) University of Sussex: A link to another links page but very worth it. Lots of multimedia content.
(11) BonPatron: French Grammar and spelling checker.
(12) Zut!: Lots of interactive exercises for French learners
(13) French Assistant: Learn French online with… monkeys!?
(14) Bescherelle: Verb tense guides, games, grammar quizzes.
(15) Didier Accord: A veritable mine of exercises.
All these learning resources are great to help you master the French language. If you need a French tutor in London or the UK then The Language Machine specialises in language tuition at your home or office. Fully qualified native tutors ready to help you learn French.
 
 

Whether you want to speak, read or write Spanish take a look at our list of 15 online resources to help you learn Spanish. They are all excellent to supplement one of our private Spanish tuition courses — the more you immerse yourself in the language the better.
(1) Duolingo: One of the best free resources out there. Use on a PC, tablet or on your phone. Start off by taking a level test and then content is tuned to your level. Practise speaking, reading and listening in an interactive environment. If you’re taking lessons with a private Spanish tutor once or twice a week this is a great resource to boost vocabulary and practise pronunciation.
(2) Spanish Obsessed: Loads of great podcasts aimed at all different levels.
(3) Audiria: Lots of podcasts with transcripts as well as other vocabulary learning resources.
(4) The Spanish Blog: Great resource for beginners with lots of free lessons.
(5) Mi Vida Loca: BBC online series which is essentially an interactive video and Spanish course rolled into one.
(6) Radio Ambulante: Latin American Spanish audio with transcriptions in Spanish and English.
(7) Extra: Sitcom type show a la Friends made to help you learn Spanish.
(8) En Rumbo: For intermediate learners. Podcasts to go along with the Open University Spanish course.
(9) Destinos: Mystery drama to help Spanish learners
(10) Spanish Listening: Great resources with hundreds of Spanish speakers from all over the world along with transcripts and vocabulary scripts.
(11) Easy Spanish: You Tube site with various videos to help you learn Spanish
(12) Study Spanish: Been around for ages and still a good resource for Spanish grammar. Lots of free stuff but also payable.
(13) University of Texas: Lots of Spanish proficiency exercises with videos, podcasts.
(14) Senor Jordan: You Tube videos to help you learn Spanish
(15) 5 Minute Spanish: Lots of audio and video podcasts to improve your Spanish
A private Spanish tutor in London or throughout the UK from The Language Machine is the fastest way to learn Spanish. Learn at your home or office with a qualified, experienced and native Spanish tutor.