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ABC Language Exchange
Categories: Education Tutoring Centers Education Specialty Schools Language Schools Tutoring Centers, Language Schools [Edit]
146 West 29th StSte 6E
(between Avenue Of The Americas & 7th Ave)
New York, NY 10001
Neighborhood: Chelsea
(212) 563-7580
- Nearest Transit:
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28 St (1, 2)
28 St (N, R)
34 St - Penn Station (1, 2, 3)
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 10 am - 7 pm
91 Crosby St, Manhattan, NY 10012
(347) 855-4469
5 reviews for ABC Language Exchange
5 reviews in English
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Review from Joyce G.
Great Neck, NY
2/16/2012
I signed up for a 6 week beginner language course at ABC through a GiltCity deal. I was thinking of taking either French, German or Japanese. I picked French because it fit my schedule (I'm just taking it for fun, not because I need it for work or anything). I've never taken French before. I'm really glad I did though because the teacher, Blaine, is awesome. I think he grew up speaking French and he's spent some time in France and travelling the world. So he always emphasizes proper pronounciation and how to speak it conversationally (vs textbook French). He gives us tips about how a native French person would say something, and it's really useful. If you learn a language, you don't want to walk around speaking it too formally or stiff or sounding like you're talking out of a textbook. I really like Blaine's teaching style, he makes us repeat things a lot to get the pronounciation correct and it also helps us retain a lot of it by going over things. He doesn't waste time on things that aren't that important or that would never come up in a real life conversation. Since the course is only 6 weeks long, he focuses on useful important things. The location is really convenient for me (right near Penn Station) and they offer classes at night and on the weekends. I can't speak to any of the other courses since this is my first class with them but I would highly recommend the beginner French class and I recommend Blaine if you can get him as your teacher. I will definitely look into continuing with the next class level, hopefully he's the teacher for that as well.
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Review from Daphne M.
East Elmhurst, NY
9/29/2011
I came to ABC because of a Groupon deal a few months ago, and it was a good decision (and deal). I even decided to extend my classes, but mainly because I was incredibly interested in the language I was studying.
The lovely Italian woman working at the desk, Alice, is one of the most amazing people to work, uh, anywhere. She is incredibly friendly, warm, helpful, thorough, and her accent is awesome, ha.
I took Japanese with Miki Shimada as the instructor. If you are familiar with Japanese teaching style and culture, I guess her approach is not very surprising. There were many times where we found her explanations unclear. She was definitely strict and pushed the students to work. She encouraged students look up words in the dictionary she had, which people may have different opinions about.
The series of classes involved starting off with the most basic sentence/phrase structure and building more complex sentences off of that. She didn't want students moving ahead until she was certain you fully grasped the basics.
In the end, I know she just did not condone laziness and drove students to independently make connections with words, definitions, and concepts. She was also very accessible via email and occasionally stayed late/came early for extra help.
The class sizes are small and there's a lot of personal attention. The specific class you're in continues until students are no longer enrolled. I was the last student in my Japanese class, and was refunded for the remainder that I didn't attend since no one was left.
Since I only had to deal with 2 staff members (Alice and my instructor) I can't speak for how other instructors teach, but I can say I learned a lot in my time there and would recommend it to anyone interested in learning a language. -
Review from Dr. Brian B.
Manhattan, NY
8/8/2011
I took a 6 week course in Mandarin Chinese with ABC Language. I was living in China for a few months and picked up some on my own. When I returned I decided to continue learning. ABC language was great, and I was able to really refine and expand my vocabulary, grammar skills, and knowledge of the language. If you are interested in learning a language, I highly recommend giving these guys a chance to help. Needless to say it requires a lot of self study and practice, but they laid out a good foundation.
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Review from A. M.
East Elmhurst, NY
8/15/2010
I had bought a Groupon in May for a 6 weeks language course from ABC Exchange. Aside from the great deal, I have learned a lot in the 4 weeks that I have been taking my language course. The classes are small. Ranging from 3-6 students. They also provide the materials for the class, which is great! I am looking to continue after my 6 weeks is up.
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Review from Sophie F.
New York, NY
12/18/2009
The people who work at ABC Language are very warm and helpful and the teacher's been fantastic. I feel I have learned so much in such a short period of time and I appreciate everything both the teacher and ABC's employees have done.
Specialties
ABC Language Exchange is New York City's most popular foreign language school located in midtown Manhattan. ABC offers group and private lessons in over 20 languages including Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Portuguese, German, Japanese, American Sign Language, Arabic, Russian, Farsi, Hindi, Polish, Greek, Vietnamese, Korean, and more.
History
Established in 1998
ABC Language Exchange was founded in 1998 by two language teachers and polyglots who wanted to share their passion and talent for language learning. Their mission was to offer foreign language lessons with experienced instructors in small groups or privately.
