It is also offering a special, nine-month study programme for accelerated “multilingual” learning. The EF Multi-Language Year, enables participants to choose two or three of EF’s 41 International Language Centers worldwide to create their own tailor-made study tour, learning up to three languages in a year.

“For young people today, it’s more and more common to study multiple languages, as many careers require not just one foreign language, but two or even more,” said the company in a statement. “In an increasingly difficult job market, speaking two foreign languages may not only get you a job, but can also substantially increase your salary.”

The four new schools, which open this month, will combine immersive language tuition with special interest lessons, such as Business French or Business Spanish, aimed at providing “the right tools to embark on an international career”.

Capitalising on the “employability” pitch, the schools will help students find internships in local companies in their industry of interest, for example a publishing company in Paris or a hotel chain in Madrid. “Students do these internships in parallel to their language course, in the afternoons or evenings. Students are also offered special interest classes such as resume writing and interviewing skills,” said Anita Hauser, press contact at EF.

The desire to travel and immerse into new cultures will also drive demand

She added that the desire to travel and immerse into new cultures would also drive demand, with language trips abroad seen as a way to combine vacation and learning in a “smart vacation” or as an “in between jobs” solution.

Hauser said the courses reflected how language learning was evolving. “While English will remain the first foreign language to be learnt, we do see an increasing trend to second and third foreign languages… the reasons are globalisation, which requires more language skills, and differentiation, which allows for improved employability.”