Alone in a Foreign Country: Quick Tips to Gain Fluency Abroad
The views expressed in the Fulbright U.S. Student Blog do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of State, the Institute of International Education or the Fulbright Program.
For those of us who have lived for periods of time abroad, there is a rough acculturation routine that we undergo in order to cope with a different cultural context. As I am now a Fulbright ETA in Indonesia, this means I have decided yet again to throw myself into a new country and this time I have decided to document the experience in ways that can be interesting or useful to individuals in my life. The purpose of this article is to explain my linguistic background and offer tips for others seeking to spend some time abroad in maximizing their efforts for learning the local language as fast as possible. Based on my experiences living in Poland, Ecuador and Indonesia I have gathered a list of three important factors for language acquisition: passion, confidence and mental immersion.
A little background…
My bilingual background is going to color my reflection of language adoption. However, I would argue that it is not the most important factor in language ability but merely one component. The reason is because I did not always believe that I was naturally inclined towards learning languages. Though Polish was my first language and the language of my whole family, I rejected my native tongue as I began kindergarten realizing it would not serve me in the context of the American education system. I was incredibly rigid against my parents’ desires to converse in Polish, complaining, “It’s too hard!” “I don’t want to speak Polish!” And my mother, raising three children, gave into my tantrums and our relationship since then has been inflexibly an American one. It becomes more difficult maintaining an attachment to culture, particularly in a country where officially, linguistic diversity is rarely celebrated professionally and mostly seen as unimportant in the growing presence of English globally as a language of commerce.
So, it was difficult as a Polish-American born on US soil to maintain the language and my relatives were more or less disenchanted with my inability to speak proper Polish throughout my childhood. I received much scolding from my grandparents about how my parents were raising us wrong, how we should be fluent in Polish, we should be communicating with Polish family abroad more frequently, etc. It was humiliating, in a word and for a long-time I avoided occasions for using my Polish out of shame for my poor competency.
That began to change when I was exposed to new languages. I began taking Italian in high school and this was a language I was very excited about. I had romanticized the language for the gondolas, the films and even my own father’s personal experience, starkly immersing himself in Italy for two years, without prior language study in order to work. This began to lift my passion to take on more languages, as multi-lingualism was highly encouraged by my own father. So, I did very well in high school taking Italian. Then I took a summer from college to travel to Ecuador and take on Spanish successfully. After that I thought it was time to tackle my (once) native language and returned to Poland for an exchange program and I finally began to feel comfortable in my skin, and finally feel a bit more Polish…
Some thoughts on language immersion
So that’s my story. The process of retaining languages left me hungry for more, naturally fueling my motivation to continue trying out new languages. So now it is time for some tips on language acquisition and I’ve made this with the experience of living abroad in mind:
1. Confidence
a. The first roadblock to most people in attaining language skills is just attempting to speak it. Many people are shy to use the language and therefore have little opportunity to have their speech corrected. Even the act of speaking is already a step towards fluency. Given the disappointment with my previous Polish skills, I think I have developed thickened skin and have no qualms about trying to use a language without knowing the proper grammar for producing that vocabulary. It’s important when learning a language to allow everyone (including yourself) to laugh at you.
2. Passion
a. Learning a language is an exciting prospect. I think of it as an opportunity to open yourself up to a world that was previously inaccessible. You can understand the words in their original context, like the privilege of reading your favorite international novel in all of its intended subtext and glory. In addition, the more you begin to think about how much you can learn about an individual by the language he/she produces, the more motivation you will develop for gaining fluency. It’s also amazing to crawl back from mental childhood as a non-native speaker in a foreign country, finally being able to engage in activities you had previously taken for granted, like navigating public transportation or buying groceries.
3. Finding Occasions for Using the Language
a. This is arguably the most important step and the secret to my quick language retention. When I arrive in a new country, I immediately dive in, trying to write down as many words as possible, particularly those high frequency words. Set yourself up to be learning every single day. When you go to the bank, the supermarket or any time you are on the road, pay attention to street signs and storefronts for new vocabulary. You’d be amazed by how much information and free lessons are passing you. Pasting the words you catch into Google translate is a great way to be constantly improving your understanding. In addition, try to then pick out those words when you have interactions with non-English speaking locals. It’s very fun to see the immediate payoff of learning a word just a day prior.
4. Drilling Relevant Vocab
a. Another great method for developing skills throughout the day is to prepare an arsenal of relevant vocabulary before an event that you know you will partake in that day. Whether that is playing badminton with your co-teachers, swimming with your host family, baking with a teacher from your school, prepare some vocabulary that you know will be relevant to the activity and that will continue to propel you forward in your vocabulary retention.
5. Tricks for Memorization
a. A useful skill in language acquisition is the use of associations, which is more helpful if you’ve learned other languages before (hence the idea that learning languages opens you up to learn more languages). A common theory in psychology on working memory is the rule of 7 +/- 2. That in any one moment a human can memorize up to 7 different chains of information, so it is important to lengthen those chains rather than thinking about words in a solitary context. I use this to my advantage in ways such using my previous languages to help me in Bahasa Indonesia. Ex. Suka (to like) is well… not a nice word in Polish; easy to remember. So, there is a benefit to having greater sets of vocabulary to work with. However, this can also be done simply using English, just in creative ways. For example, langan (arm) can be thought of as long arm, with the -rm switched with -n.
6. Mental Immersion
a. Finally, the last thing that I find myself doing when attempting to gain fluency in a new language is to take a moment in the day to mentally quiz yourself. I talk to myself a lot, in languages I am already fluent in, in languages I am currently learning. It keeps the process of language attainment constant, which in my experience is more effective than taking an hour-long class a day and then pushing the lessons from your brain once the time is up.
Most of these tips involve self-agency in learning rather than using pre-disposed capabilities. For everyone, learning languages is difficult but not impossible. It is easy to get discouraged and decide to live through translations throughout your stay in a foreign country, but let me repeat to you that it is truly worth your time, studying the language. Your experience will be richer and you will feel more in control of your life abroad. Homesickness, in my experience, is in many times compounded by the helplessness one can feel when they are surrounded by people talking in a language they don’t understand, effectively feeling alone. Noam Chomsky coined the term “Language Acquisition Device” in reference to an innate human ability of acquiring language, mostly fluid in children but still present in adults. “I’m not good at languages,” is an easy way to discredit yourself and slow the process of language acquisition. Tell yourself that it is okay to sound like a 5-year-old at the beginning. If you can give yourself that confidence to practice your language skills and put yourself outside of your comfort zone, you will find that the feeling of successful language retention is the most satisfying in the world and it will inevitably strengthen your confidence and leave you readier to take on other worlds.
