Testimonies


	Lori Shontz (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter) "My journey to Languages by Nicole began on a cold day in February 1998, when I was covering the Winter Olympics for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I was standing outside the locker room of the Czech Republic hockey team, waiting to interview Jaromir Jagr, who then also played for the Penguins. As Jagr made his way to me, he answered questions in two languages. I noticed that some of his teammates had never even finished high school because they put hockey careers first -- spoke three or four languages. I realized that I had an honors degree from Penn State and three years of high school Latin but could communicate only in English. I was embarrassed. After returning home, I decided to learn French, one of the two official Olympic languages (with English). I took a few night classes through a local high school, but I did not advance much beyond counting to 100 and learning to pronounce an array of French cheeses. I wanted more, but I did not know how to get it. For nearly three years, I floundered. Then in January 2001, I heard about Languages by Nicole. The next month, I began taking private French lessons with Carmen. And a year after I started studying here, I covered the 2002 Winter Olympics and was able to understand most of the French announcements and press releases. We, students in Carmen's advanced French group, do not spend all of our time drilling vocabulary and grammar. We watch French movies together, meet once a month for lunch (and to talk in French) and learn about each other's lives during our group lessons, during which everyone tells a story in French from their week. There is no better way to develop a wide vocabulary. When I review my notes, the words have meaning beyond a random vocabulary list, which makes them easier to remember. One Tuesday night in March, for instance, I learned the French phrase for "blackout" because Marion's electricity went out while she was cooking dinner; reviewed the differences among the French words for "to bring" because Liz is moving into a new apartment, which involved bringing both people and inanimate objects into her place; and discovered the French equivalent of "once upon a time" because Kathleen read from a fairy-tale picture book. As I told about my struggles to write a story for the next day's paper, the rest of the group learned the word for "to write." Standing outside that Olympic locker room four years ago, I thought learning a language would be a chore, albeit an important one. But Nicole, Carmen and my classmates have made it an enjoyable journey."
	Donna Stolz (University of Pittsburgh Professor) "Our family decided to take Japanese together, and it was a wonderful decision. We are all learning the language as well as the culture, and we can quiz each other at home and while we are out shopping, traveling, whenever. The classes are really fun and are set up for our special situation. Learning a language this way is a worthwhile family experience. Nihongo wa omoshiroi desu yo! (Japanese is fun!) Nicole-san to Sanae-san, arigatoh gozaimasu! (Thank you Nicole and Sanae.)"
	Debby Dunham (Parent) "...very impressed when my 13 year-old knows French well enough to help her tenth-grade babysitter with her high school French."
	Mrs. Liane Indrihovic (Grade school teacher) "Every lesson becomes a new and enriching experience for my daughters...Languages By Nicole, Inc. is the language school that is providing our children [ages 5 & 7] not only with education in Spanish but happiness also."

Languages by Nicole (LBN), Inc.
Tel: 724-643-5550
Fax: 412-291-1359

languagesbynicole.pgh@verizon.net

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