preparing to leave - language learning
If you’ve already found a family and made your travel arrangements, its time to get serious about making the move overseas. If you’re an experienced traveler, you’ll know what to prepare for and what to expect. Traveling isn’t exactly rocket science. But - if you’re new to the country hopping scene, there are a few ways you can prepare.
The most important part of getting ready to leave is make sure you have at least a basic working knowledge of your target country’s language. Even if you only know the basic greetings before you go, some is infinitely better than nothing. The more you can learn beforehand, the better off you will be. You will welcomed more openly by the locals, will be able to get around on your own better, and will save yourself the embarrassment of being just another “typical American” who speaks only English.
Of course, you have to be realistic - no matter how you prepare, you will not become fluent in the weeks (or even months) before you leave. The reality is that no matter how much you know, you will feel like a newbie once you reach your country and begin speaking with natives. But don’t worry - if you work hard and are willing to brave mistakes, you will learn a lot by the time your contract is over.
Even if you aren’t a language buff, you’ll find it isn’t only important, but may also be necessary, to get a good handle of the basics down. If you’re new to the language, start by finding a basic CD language course your comfortable with. There are many on the market that will help you learn the fundamentals of almost any language you would want to learn. Try to learn as much as possible before you leave. The preparation may or may not seem worth it, but anything you learn ahead of time will help you manage better once you reach your destination. Reaching a country with even a minimal amount of language knowledge will help you feel less awkward, and may even help ward off homesickness and culture shock.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Hi there!
Knowing the language is going to help you out tremendously while abroad. As you said… even if you do have basic knowledge of the language before hand; that will all change once you get there. That is because speaking the language in the country it is spoken, especially with locals, is completely different from learning it back home.
It is not impossible, it just takes practice, patience, and the ability to laugh at yourself a little while you make mistakes! Language learning is actually really fun! While learning Spanish in Spain I realized how much I could pick up, how quickly I could understand what others were saying, and how my conversation skills grew immensely! It does take some time to be able to be completely “fluent” but after being completely immersed in Spanish, all day long, for just a few days, I realized that I was well on my way! It was such a great feeling of accomplishment to be able to converse with the locals- and dreaming in Spanish proved to me that I was really understanding the language!