Hills Learning, a language learning services company, was created to encourage and facilitate international communication in New York City. Bridging cultures and learning other languages is something that is becoming more and more necessary in an ever globalizing economy.
Its founder and director, Jon Hills, personally experienced the importance of understanding other cultures by living in Japan for four years and traveling throughout Europe and Asia.
His travels and experiences abroad motivated him to start a company that would help bring these experiences to New Yorkers. He also realized for the power the U.S. wields as the lone superpower, we have one of the lowest rates of passport ownership, a mere 25% of the population. Therefore not only does interest propel him forward but also the desire to develop our society into a more internationally minded culture.
Cross cultural experience is what Hills Learning is all about. Their private lessons do not merely consist of language, in fact they strive to recruit cultural representatives for teachers who are passionate about sharing, debating, and elaborating on their experiences. They currently focus on two big Asian languages, Japanese and Chinese.
This focus on culture has pushed them beyond doing individual private language lessons and has refocused their efforts to working with schools in New York City to provide language and cultural courses.
Initially their focus was on schools with existing Japanese language programs, and they thought to just add cultural workshops to established curriculums to create variety. Turns out the main focus is now on schools that do not have Japanese language or cultural programs in place, and in fact their biggest seller is the cultural workshops.
Cultural workshops attract schools that might not want to commit to a full Japanese language course, but at the same time recognize the value in giving their students the opportunity to experience authentic Japanese cultural activities such as origami, Japanese classical dance, a tea ceremony to name a few.
The Business Side of Things
They also have the credentials to work with Japanese companies in New York City to provide on-site corporate training and language programs. However they've met with some resistance. Why?
It seems Japanese companies feel that teaching the Japanese language to their non-native speaking employees does not add value to their bottom line.
This is a continuing struggle. Mr. Hills argues that NOW more than ever it's important to keep and solidify cultural heritage. Japanese culture is still seen as so "exotic" and "different", and part of that is the reluctance to really push education of its language and culture.
Beyond this, non-native speakers of Japanese who work in Japanese companies at the very least wonder what it would be like to travel to Japan, and learn more about its culture. Although the managers of companies have been reluctant, Mr. Hills has found himself teaching receptionists how to introduce themselves in Japanese. If you want to move up in a Japanese company, what better way to speak to headquarters than in Japanese?
Hills Learning will continue to develop services to meet what they see is a continuing demand for cross cultural communication and understanding.
Their main languages are Japanese and Chinese, and if you still don't trust the importance of these two cultures today, just take a look at the size of their economies, and the importance of them on the Obama Administration's radar.
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Hills Learning is a language learning services company in New York City, created to meet the current global needs for cross-cultural communication and understanding. They offer Japanese and Chinese programs.
Your blog is very impressive and interesting. Before going through your blog i didn't know about Japanese. Your blog is very impressive for those who want to learn Japanese.
Posted by: Japanese Learner | Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 02:27 AM