Air France Offers Language Lessons

On 17 of Air France's flights, including some from the U.S. to Europe, passengers can take a language lesson.

Starting in April, Air France will be offering free language lessons on its Boeing 777-300 planes. Forget those bad movies or trying to sleep on a trans-Atlantic flight, now you can learn a little French or Dutch or German ... or 20 other languages.

That’s right, the list of languages available through the pairing of Europe’s largest airliner and Berlitz World Traveller also includes English, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, Cantonese, Portuguese, Greek, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Thai, Hindi, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Tamil, Turkish, Danish, Malay and Tagalog.

I can’t say I really know where Tagalog originates (Africa?), but it sounds exciting. Imagine, hopping a flight to Frankfurt and getting a little German to try out when you get there.

According to a press release from Air France, the system, which is conducted through the individual screens on the seatbacks, features a teacher, complete with tests and games as well as pronunciation exercises. And yes, grades will be awarded at the end of each lesson.

The program is available on 17 planes and destinations in the U.S. and Asia. Language lessons are also available on other airlines, according to the press release, but I couldn’t find any information online about which airlines offer them. Anyone out there know? Has anyone taken advantage of the service, and if so, what did you think?

I’ve mentioned before in an article about learning a foreign language, that becoming fluent is a little more challenging than most people can reasonably do in preparation for a trip overseas. However, I do think that learning a few words – hello, goodbye, help, toilet, beer – is a great idea. If I had a choice between a flight that offered language lessons and one that didn’t, I’d choose the former.

Now, if only Air France flew a Boeing 777-300 which offered language lessons from Nice, France to Boise, Idaho, I’d be set.