For
the language learner, there are two underlying questions:
1.
Are those offers really worth the investment?
2.
Should I hold back learning until the opportunity of a stay
abroad opens up?
I have
personal experience just with one summer course of Portuguese in Portugal. I am
grateful to have won a scholarship by the Camoes Foundation which covered part
of the fee/expenses. Other participants, however, were paying fully for the
one-month course. Of course, it is dangerous to extrapolate just from one
single incident. But here is my experience:
·
Four weeks several hours a day
with one teacher. Basically, the same experience as if I had stayed in Germany;
just more lessons per week.
·
Conversation with my fellow
students from all over the world mostly in English, never in Portuguese. Most
participants stayed together in their free time: shopping, going to the beach,
and, most importantly, partying almost every night. So, I tried to keep myself
separately and look for learning opportunities with natives alone.
·
I went daily to the university
library to photocopy books and to peruse journals and reference materials. You
might have guessed it already: I never met any fellow participant (I think
there were at least 40 of them, at different levels) in the reading room there.
They had a computer corner with internet, though, so I would bump into some of
them there, ocassionally.
·
At that time, I was more on the
timid end of the personality spectrum, so my conversations with natives during
an entire month can be reduced to, at the most, 4-5 hours of net talking to
„natives”.
Is this a
good investment?
For me, it
was a personal retreat for meditation and recollection. I bought and copied a
lot of books, saw as much historical sites as possible, and got a feeling about
living in the South of Portugal, its people and culture. For me, that was worth
it (taking into consideration the scholarship). Otherwise, I would have just
booked a shorter stay without the course. Because, 99% of my progress in
speaking Portuguese came from effort at home.
Will the
situation be different in your case? – Most probably, yes. However,
„structural” problems remain.
Typically,
„natives” do not wait for groups of foreigners to come along and have lenghty
discussions, just to help the first improve their language skills. That may be
possible in very rural, calm areas, or in countries where people almost never
had contact with foreigners: say, former Communist countries in the 1990ies.
However, even there, seeing tourists and foreigners has become a normal
experience, so do not expect somebody just wanting to chat for an hour with you
just because you are a Canadian, Swede, etc. Just think about yourself: you are
on your commute to or from work, university or doing errands. Imagine a foreign
language students stops you to improve his English. Would you really say: „Let
me invite you to the local coffee shop and chat in English!”
So, what are
the alternatives?
For Germany,
I always recommend the following options:
1) Choose a
nice city with a university and with affordable accomodation (not always easy,
nowadays, especially after a big influx of migrants). Go to university lectures
everyday and establish contact to students before and after classes. Most
universities do not control the entry to big lecture halls, and even at smaller
seminars, most professors will be delighted to let you sit in. Check out the
lecture catalogue for the current semester from the university website and plan
your schedule in advance. Choose topics that have always intrigued you. Why not
combine learning German with your passion for archeology, history of music,
psychology, chemistry etc.?
2) Find
affordable accomodation in a small town and register at the local sports club.
Typically, membership for 3 months will be around 30-60 Euros (now compare this
with the hundreds of Euros for language courses), with the possibility to train
all available sports. This is an optimal opportunity for establishing contact
and hanging out with natives.
3) Do as in the
previous option, but participate in local clubs - for different kinds of
hobbies (model trains, fantasy role plays, stamp or coin collectors, flower
lowers, etc.) – or groups (amateur/church choirs, orchestras, marching bands,
religious groups, etc.). Much of this may be even completely free.
Remember,
the critical variable for your success is maximizing
net speaking time with educated native speakers.
If you like
the attitude of these articles, please check out my onlinecourses : at the moment, German for Russian- and
Romanian-speakers, as well as on goal-setting.
If you are interested in improving your English in the area of business
presentations, I know of no better address than Tom Antion. Please check him out
following this link.
Stay tuned!
Gerhard
About the
GO Method
The GO Method applies research
in psychology as well as principles of quality management to the language
teaching process. It conforms to key elements of the ISO 9001 standard, while
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About me
Psychologist and polyglot from
Hamburg /Germany (*1979). Married with children. MA in psychology from the
University of Hamburg. More than 15 years of experience as a university
lecturer in psychology as well as a consultant for UNICEF, Terre des Hommes,
IOM, the EU and private companies. Coordinator of the GO Method network, with
representatives in more than 90 countries worldwide.
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