In-country experience and second langauge learning By Candy

In-country experience and second langauge learning

In the last blog entry, I was talking about the benefits of learning a second language. In today’s blog entry, I will talk about the relationship between in-country experience and languages by using my own experience.

There is always a statement in the debate of second language learning, “Is in-country experience essential while learning a second language?” Some people say no but some people say yes. In my points of view, I surely think that in-country experience is very important to every second language learner.

I have been studying Japanese for nearly two years. I started studying Japanese while I was in Australia taking it as one of my high school subject. The teacher was Australian and there was only one Japanese exchange student in our school each year. Most of the time in the Japanese class was spoken in English as well. Therefore, I could not really get many chances to speak Japanese or to make use of the skills I learn from classes to practice in daily life. Even I have been studying for two years, I could not speak fluent Japanese.

After I came to Japan, there is an obvious change in my Japanese skills. I could not really communicate with Japanese before I came here. But in here, I am forced to use Japanese every day and this help to improve my skills. Since the Japanese classes are all teaching in Japanese and the teachers could not really understand English, Japanese become the only language we use in classes. Also, in here, I hear and see Japanese almost most of the time, which help me to consolidate what I have learned in class every day. I am quite surprised that I can actually communicate with Japanese now, even though sometimes I still do not understand. I think this is all because of immerging in the country of the language.

Another advantage of in-country experience is I can also understand and learn the culture of the language better. While I was studying Japanese in Australia, we were asked to do a research homework based on one of the traditional martial arts of Japan. I chose tea ceremony as my topic. However, internet and book is the only method I can use to get information at that time. What I have learnt about tea ceremony was just what is written in there. I did not know much about it at the end. Now that I am in Japan, I was asked to do another presentation on tea ceremony again few weeks ago. However, what I have learnt this time was so much more than last time. I did not know there were so many types of tea and sweets for tea ceremony. I did not know wearing a kimono is also part of tea ceremony. But because I am in Japan, I am exposed to all these information everyday and it is so much easier to get access to tea ceremony, it helps better understanding. Also, while I was researching the information from my friends, or on the internet, it is also helping me to learn more Japanese words. Therefore, in-country experience is a very special way of learning a new language.

The example of myself having an in-country experience while learning a second language is to show you this in-country experience is an important part of learning a new language. What you can get back from there is something you cannot imagine. Being in the language’s country not only helping you to consolidate your language skills, but also to understand the language and its culture better. Thus, in-country experience is essential for second language learning.