Language Courses

My recent little obsession (recent by about a year ½), is languages.

What I don't understand, is why so many courses focus on extremely tourist-based formulaic lessons. Most of the courses I've seen focus on travel, going to the doctor, ordering food, souvenir vocabulary and buying tickets.

I'm guessing that most people, when they go on holiday, maybe get a phrasebook to help them when they are in that foreign country, but not much else. In fact, I think a lot of people don't bother to learn anything more than 'hello' 'thank you' 'goodbye', 'help', and 'Do you speak.....'. Therefore, I don't think many people would sign up for a 8 – 12 week language course if they're just going on holiday for a week, unless they're particularly interested in that culture.

Most of my local courses are extremely formulaic, so when you're out of those formulaic situations, you might feel a bit lost. I wish there were more courses which focused on actual conversation. For me, that's what real language learning is about. The ability to ask someone how their day went, being able to express an opinion about films, books, or the news. Telling someone what you're going be doing next week, not just 'May I buy a return ticket to …...'.