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How to use a city to learn a language? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| jessikt Triglot Groupie Austria ichestudiolangues.co Joined 5836 days ago 98 posts - 102 votes  Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: SpanishA2, Swedish | Message 1 of 8 18 May 2009 at 8:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm in Madrid for two more months and since I will be studying Translation in October I'd like to take in as much of
"real Spanish" as I can while I'm here instead of just sitting at home and learning it from books all day! For those who get the chance to live in or visit for an extended period of time in a country which a language that they are learning is spoken, what are the best ways to take advantage of this? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zerothinking Senior Member Australia Joined 6374 days ago 528 posts - 772 votes Speaks: English* | Message 2 of 8 18 May 2009 at 8:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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um... go... out... and... I dunno... hmm
*thinks hard* uh... meet some people and like... talk to them? in Spanish, maybe? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jessikt Triglot Groupie Austria ichestudiolangues.co Joined 5836 days ago 98 posts - 102 votes Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: SpanishA2, Swedish | Message 3 of 8 18 May 2009 at 9:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have of course done that ... I was looking for help with thinking of more inventive ideas that some people might
be able to come up with, like certain outings revolving around studying and picking up the language. Being out and about will of course involve speaking to people, but I was looking for less obvious ideas! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5768 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 4 of 8 18 May 2009 at 10:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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You could just pick up a clipboard and walk through the streets in the city centre, using it as an excuse to ask the people really odd questions concerning any topic you want to learn more about. (Well, if you are an extraverted type of person, that is.)
=D 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5840 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 5 of 8 18 May 2009 at 10:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you are a woman - sit down alone at a cafe (or a bar if you feel brave). Wear something attractive but you don't want to overdo it. You'll have plenty of offers for conversation from Spanish gentlemen before you've even recieved your order... I guarantee this will work.
For a woman it is always 10 times easier to make male friends in a foreign country than making female friends; this can be frustrating after a while, but if you just want language practice the gender of the person doesn't matter... Other than that there is no obvious tip unless you want to risk being pushy. If you were going to stay for a longer period the comment would have been join and organisation and make friends. If you are a Catholic - start going to mass and get involved in church work there. Or you could join a homeless charity or something like that. You are guaranteed to come into contact with lots of regular locals either way. Edited by cordelia0507 on 18 May 2009 at 10:38pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6661 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 6 of 8 18 May 2009 at 10:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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What are your hobbies? Do some of the things you would do for fun at home, and learn the vocabulary for them by doing them in a foreign city.
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| FuroraCeltica Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6867 days ago 1187 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 7 of 8 21 May 2009 at 11:33pm | IP Logged | ||
When I went to live in Brussels, I found small talk is the best way. For example, you know the (target language) words for "can I have a coffee", but then try "nice weather today isn't it" as the store keeper makes it, and just see how the conversation goes. Taxis are good too. If it goes well, keep chatting. If you struggle, stop, because its only small talk anyway, so no one gets offended. Trust me, it works! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5996 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 8 of 8 22 May 2009 at 6:28am | IP Logged | ||
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I've had a few good conversations with Taxi drivers, the guys sit in a box all day and are alone. They usually want to talk. Just start, then listen, and contribute,then say that Sarkozy is a nob, and continue ;).
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