Bachelors Degrees

Many people feel the hours of study are the most important. However, students can study for hours on end and retain very little. The more appropriate question is, "how can students study more effectively?" Some issues students must consider are as follows.

• Students need to develop good time management skills. They must realize there is a time to be in class, a time for study, time for family, time to socialize, and time to just be alone. The critical issue is recognition that there must be an appropriate balance.
• Students should acquire a vision; A clearly articulate picture of the future they intend to create for them selves. This will promote a passion for what they wish to do. Passion is critical and leads to an intense interest, dedication, and commitment to achieving career goals and objectives.
• The student must choose the best study schedule, a time they feel is comfortable, and in a place where there is little distraction.
• The student must take notes on the subject matter and rehearse them frequently.
• Students should not study hours on end. One should study 30 to 45 minutes then take a short break. Eat a snack, have a cup of coffee, play with the dog, etc., then return to study. This refreshes the mind, and often issues that may have been confusing before, become suddenly clear.
• The student must develop good critical thinking skills, taking everything into consideration particular to the subject matter.
• Students must not be afraid to ask for help when they have a problem understanding the subject matter. They need to do it immediately and not after days have gone by. They should not feel apprehensive to ask a faculty member, a friend, or go to the academic learning center at the school.

Thus, it is not so much a question of hard study, but how to study in smart fashion. The bottom line is that the student must take responsibility and ownership over their study habits.

If there is anything that is stead fast and unchanging, it is change itself. Change is inevitable, and those organizations who do not keep up with change will become unstable, with long-term survivability in question.

There are things, events, or situations that occur that affect the way a business operates, either in a positive or negative way. These things, situations, or events that occur that affect a business in either a positive or negative way are called "driving forces or environmental factors."

There are two kinds of driving forces; Internal driving forces, and external driving forces. Internal driving forces are those kinds of things, situations, or events that occur inside the business, and are generally under the control of the company. Examples might be as follows

· organization of machinery and equipment,

· technological capacity,

· organizational culture,

· management systems,

· financial management

· employee morale.

External driving forces are those kinds of things, situation, or events that occur outside of the company and are by and large beyond the control of the company. Examples of external driving forces might be, the industry itself, the economy, demographics, competition, political interference, etc.

Whether they are internal or external driving forces, one thing is certain for both. Change will occur! A company must be cognizant of these changes, flexible, and willing to respond to them in an appropriate way.

External driving forces can bury a business if not appropriately dealt with. The question is, how does a business know what changes are occurring so that they can deal with them in a positive way. OK, that's the next issue.

In order for a business to succeed and gain the competitive edge, the business must know what changes are indeed occurring, and what changes might be coming up in the future. I guess you might call this forecasting. Thus, critical to the business is what we call "informational resources." It is the collection and analyzation of data. Some examples of critical information might include the following:

• Competition (what are they doing?)
• Customer behavior (needs, wants, and desires)
• Industry out look (local, national, global)
• Demographics (the change populations, there density, etc.)
• Economy (are we peaking, or moving negatively)
• Political movements and/or interference
• Social environment
• Technological changes
• General environmental changes

The above are just some issues organizations must be on top of. Well it's never easy, but businesses that are successful include all of the above (and more), to develop the appropriate tactics, strategies, and best practices, to ensure successful out comes.

Advantages of learning foreign languages:

To attempt to do something new, many times we need to understand the benefits as well as the advantages of doing it. When it comes to learning a foreign language how quickly we develop our learning skills can directly relate back to how we feel about the benefits we will receive. In this article we want to take a look at a few advantages of learning a foreign language and the benefits of doing it.

1. Depending where you are in your career you may be looking for business advantages in the foreign language that you are trying to learn. If your job requires you to travel overseas then there may be specific languages that you need to learn depending on where you travel.

For example, if you are traveling to Europe, you may need to know the French language. If your business travels take you to Mexico or south, learning Spanish may be important to you. There are many benefits that can be obtained from being able to speak a foreign language in the career that you have.

2. Only one out of 12 people in this world speak the English language, yet, over half of all Internet visitors speak English. For this reason there are many benefits of learning a foreign language if you wish to communicate online.

3. If you are into Internet e-commerce you may need to translate your website into multiple languages. If you do e-mail marketing, and you know that one out of two visitors speak English, you need to become fluid at writing grammatically correct email messages.

4. To realize the advantages of learning a foreign language, you may have to take language courses. This could involve immersing yourself in the language, and culture you are trying to learn. Language lessons are available online for any language that you are willing to learn.

5. If you like to travel there are many benefits to learning a foreign language. Being able to speak more than one language can come in handy when you are in an airport, ordering at a restaurant, asking for directions, or even ordering room service at a hotel in the country are visiting.

• Studying a foreign language develops your oral and written skills - even in your native language. These are among the first skills at which employers look.
• Increased activity in international business, government and tourism has created a need for improved understanding and communication.
• The number of careers that require a major in a foreign language is increasing. Insight into a particular culture and capacity to learn languages will interest employers in a variety of fields including education, social work, health services, business, banking, insurance, advertising, travel, publishing and public service.
• Starting salaries for students graduating with proficiency in one or more foreign languages are at least 20 percent higher than for students who speak English only.
• Training in foreign languages is essential for jobs with multinational companies, in the U.S. Foreign Service and numerous other governmental agencies.

• With a minor in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), you'll be prepared to teach English as a foreign language overseas.

Imagine yourself in a beautiful foreign country, where everything is new to you. You walk along the beautiful streets, and you dine at one of its restaurants. The only thing that is bothering you is that you just cannot understand what the locals are talking about. Baffling isn't it? Despite the wonderful sites of a place, when you do not understand the people around you, you can't help but feel a little lost. This is why you should start learning a foreign language, maybe just the basics. This may take some time and a lot of discipline; however, it can be very rewarding once you know what's going on around you.

Make Traveling More Enjoyable

The best thing about traveling is being able to explore the amazing beauty of various countries and to partake in their festivities. However, your experience will never be complete until you know about the history of the place and a little about their language. A lot of people who speak English think that it is okay to use the language, wherever they may go. Some believe that learning a foreign language has no use. This kind of perception is one hundred percent false. When you know something about the language of the country which you are visiting, you will be greatly benefited with the following:
- You get to communicate with the local residents and make new acquaintances wherever you go.
- You will be able to read the signs on the road and the menus at restaurants.

- You will be able to understand the movies of the country which you are visiting.

Makes Your Work Easier

If your work requires you to talk with clients of diverse nationalities, then you have to learn foreign languages. This will make your work easier, plus, the big boss will see you as a worthy employee. If you know how to speak another language, you may be sent to other countries as a part of your work or you may even get a promotion. Learning another language is a plus when it comes to your work. Meeting with a foreign client does not require an interpreter anymore. And, your client will not feel awkward talking in your language because you can understand his.

Enhance Your Knowledge about Other Countries

If you are the type of person who is interested in learning about the culture of other countries, then it is important for you to learn their language also. Once you are familiar with a country's language, you will be able to understand its literature, its films, music or poetry. You will be able to gain more information about the country without difficulty. It is always nice to learn about the culture and the language of other places around the globe because you will never know when you might end up there.

The Best Ways to Learn a Foreign Language

There are a lot of ways to learn a foreign language and the following are just some of it:

- Self-teaching method - learn the language by yourself with the use of audio cassettes, CDs, videotapes or, vocabulary books. A lot of these are found in bookstores or in libraries.

- Visit foreign sites - currently, more and more sites over the Internet are offering lessons on foreign languages.

- Watch foreign movies or television series - there are a lot of foreign movies from which you can choose from. These movies have subtitles which will help you learn another language. The more you keep watching the movies of a certain country, the more you will learn about their native tongue.

- Take up foreign language classes - the best thing about taking up classes like these is that you will have a teacher to guide you through the course, plus, you will also be able to keep track of what you have learned.