subject: What is the Best Way to Learn a Language? [print this page] What is the Best Way to Learn a Language?
Spending time abroad - where the language is spoken - is one of the fastest ways to learn, but isn't a possibility for many people.
For those who are fortunate enough to study a language at degree level, you will spend a period abroad as part of your course, but for most would be linguists this is too expensive.
There are, however, other ways to benefit from time abroad. For young people still at school, an exchange with a family in the foreign country is a good and inexpensive choice. Your teenager spends part of the summer with them and their son or daughter stays for a while with you.It is also possible for adults to do something similar - either to stay with a host family and attend a class or to book a holiday which involves staying with native speakers.
Another possibility for the whole family is to do a holiday exchange, where you stay in the house of a family abroad and they stay in your house. This has the advantage of being very cheap, but the drawback is that you will tend to speak English.
Despite this, you can make sure you all do some language learning. Since you are swopping your home with a family, ask them to give you information about local activities which you and the children will enjoy, preferably with groups of locals. You can tell them about what is on offer where you live.
Another way to find out about activities abroad is to chat to people on social networking sites. They can be a great source of information about local events and opportunities for visitors. You can ask about cheap hotels, hostels or self-catering accommodation, as well as getting tips about the most economical ways to get around and where to shop for food.
If cash is tight, a period of work abroad might be the solution. Students can often find a good holiday job in one of the countries in which the language they are learning is spoken. One of the most popular ways in which adults manage to travel a lot is to teach English abroad.
Generally speaking, it's best to complete a short training course in TEFL before you go, but if you work with private students being a native speaker can be enough for conversation classes. Although the pay isn't great, it is an excellent way in which to see another country. You will have to make an effort to speak the language, as you'll be speaking English at work and there will be a temptation to socialize with other teachers.
It takes a bit of effort to organize a language learning opportunity abroad, but not only will you improve your grasp of the language, you'll also have many new experiences and make new friends.
