Poland's accession to the European Union (EU) on 1st May 2004 heralded a new dawn for the country. It also opened Western Europe to its thirty eight million citizens enabling them to travel freely to the other 24 states that were members at the time.

Of course, as is the case when moving between any country, one of the biggest barriers is language. Europe has 200 indigenous languages, with 23 of them being official languages of the EU ... which is rather a lot for a continent as small as Europe.

However, language barriers are never impenetrable ... all that's ever needed is a willingness to learn. And it also helps if you live in a country where the language is spoken natively - having to know the tongue just to get by in every day life means you will learn a lot quicker.

Figures vary, but estimates speculate that there are anywhere between 300,000 and 1,000,000 Polish people living in the UK and Ireland. Whatever the true figure, it is certainly a lot, which means there is a significant demand for English classes.

Naturally, there has tended to be a gravitation towards the bigger cities, meaning that there are more Poles learning English in London than in Swindon, for example.

Besides its status as one of the world's true global cities, the main appeal of London is its sheer wealth of cultures - every nationality imaginable is already represented somewhere in the city. It's against this backdrop that has led to there being countless language schools set-up in the city, long before Poland entered the EU.

Indeed, competition is a good thing. It helps keep prices 'competitive' and makes searching for the most suitable English course London has just that little more easy. Given that language schools will want to stand out from their competitors, they will be more visible and, ultimately, they should present better value for money.