Transportation, accommodation, language courses, cost of living... Here is a list of the many factors to consider.
Language stays are an excellent way to improve your language skills. However, depending on your destination and the services offered, prices can vary from simple to double. So, how much should you budget for a language trip? Here are the criteria that come in consideration and some tips on how to save money on your stay.
The destination: an element that heavily impacts the budget of your stay
As you might expect, the cost of a plane ticket to the United States will be much higher than the cost of a ticket to Ireland if you are traveling from Europe. So, when choosing your language study program, take the time to think about the potential destinations and the budget you want to allocate to transportation.
Don't hesitate to visit flight comparison websites to study the prices of tickets to the destinations you are considering.
For example, if you are planning a language course in March, you can easily find tickets from Paris to Malta for less than €150. However, for a Paris-New York trip during the same period, you will need to budget at least twice as much.
Be careful when booking your tickets. Some airline prices do not include checked baggage. When comparing flight prices, make sure that the prices quoted include your suitcase.
Type and number of hours of classes
As you can imagine, language stays usually involve language courses. These can be general or specialized courses (for professionals, teenagers, for exam preparation, etc.).
The general courses are on average less expensive than the others. However, depending on your needs, it may be wise to choose specialized courses to ensure that your language learning experience really makes a difference. For example, if you want to improve your business English, you will need courses that focus on "Business English". For this, you will need to pay an average of 5 euros more per course than for general English lessons.
Note: beware of language schools that offer courses at extremely low prices. Chances are that these (overly) attractive prices are a sign of overcrowded classes or poor quality courses.
Language stay: short or long?
The longer your stay, the bigger the budget. However, a longer stay can be more advantageous! In fact, you should know that some expenses are degressive. This means that the longer your stay, the less expensive the services will become.
A good example is the price of language courses, which we mentioned above. Depending on the language school, the price of the lessons may be on a sliding scale. In other words, the more hours of lessons you take, the more the price will tend to decrease. For example, a school may charge 22 €/lesson for 20 lessons, but 17 €/lesson for 40 lessons.
The same goes for accommodation, which can be cheaper for the month than for the week. If you are not sure whether you want to stay for 3 weeks or a month, do not compare the cost per week, but rather the total price of the language stay. Generally, the difference between the two will be quite reasonable.
Accommodation: the first expense for a language stay
Accommodation is often the most expensive part of a language trip. Prices vary significantly depending on the type of accommodation chosen.
Hotels or furnished rentals are flexible and comfortable solutions, but they are also the most expensive. In order to save money on accommodation, language schools generally offer packages of courses + accommodation. Three solutions are commonly suggested:
- accommodation in a host family;
- student residence;
- shared accommodation with other students.
In addition to being the least expensive option, homestay has the advantage of fully immersing you in the culture of the country in which you are staying.
For more information on this subject, see our article: Which accommodation to choose for a language trip?
Good tip: to save money on your language stay, choose to go in the "low season" rather than in the summer. Prices for accommodation and transportation are usually cheaper.
Meals and cost of living
When you book your language trip, you often have several options for meals:
- without any meals included ;
- with breakfast;
- half board;
- full board.
If you choose full board, the cost of living will have less impact on the overall budget of your stay. However, if you have to buy your own food, you will have to take this into account.
In some countries, you can buy groceries for very little money, especially if you buy local products. In Malta in example, the cost of living is lower than in France: -25% on average on food. But in other places, such as Scandinavian countries, buying food can be very expensive (+34% for Norway). In this case, full board is often the best solution.
In the end, how much does a language stay cost?
As you can see, this is a very difficult question to answer as there are so many parameters to take into consideration.
The budget for a language stay in Malta can be as low as €1,500 for one month (excluding transportation), while for a stay of the same duration in London it will often cost more than €2,000.
Want to know the best cities to study in Malta? Follow the guide! 👉Which city should you choose for a language stay in Malta?
The easiest way to find out the exact price of your language stay is to use a comparison platform like Worddy. Thanks to our search tool, you can immediately find out the prices of the language stays that match your criteria. If you have any questions, our team is at your disposaland will advise you free of charge.
