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Tips for Immersion w/o Host Family | ||
Tags: Host Family | Immersion | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Immersion, Schools & Certificates |  | |
| lecorbeau Diglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 5830 days ago 113 posts - 149 votes  Speaks: English*, French Studies: Serbo-Croatian, Turkish | Message 1 of 10 20 August 2010 at 5:07pm | IP Logged |
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Hey all,
I moved to Croatia for a year so that I could learn the language. I had very little Croatian ability upon arrival, and now that I've been here for almost 2 months, my progress is not satisfying. I spent a year in France 6 years ago and lived with a host family, and I feel that my language skills improved much quicker in two months' time with French than they have so far with Croatian (granted, I was much younger then and French is waayy more similar to English than is Croatian) and I can't help but think that it's because I am not immersing myself enough (considering I am not in a host family environment, only a roommate in a very big apartment). My year so far has consisted of an intensive program (6.5 hrs/day) that ended in late July, and now I'm meeting with a tutor 3Xweek for 2 hrs at a time while I wait for the start of a yearlong language program that starts in Oct and ends in June (which is 3 hrs/day). I also study the language on my own (with Ronelle's popular BCS textbook), watch Croatian TV all the time, and even when I watch American films on TV I am reading the Croatian subtitles throughout. I finally made one Croatian friend, but his English is absolutely perfect and my terrible Croatian has invariably driven our conversations to English by the end of our hang-outs. I have a Croatian roommate, but he is never home and when he is, he speaks in the Kajkavski dialect, which I don't understand, so he gets frustrated and switches to English. To add insult to injury, I have an internship starting next month with an international organization where the working language is English. Anyway, sorry for the long message, but I just really want to learn this language and I feel like it's not coming to me as quickly as it has for me in the past! Any suggestions for getting myself out there and immersing myself more effectively? Edited by lecorbeau on 20 August 2010 at 11:00pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5191 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 2 of 10 20 August 2010 at 6:24pm | IP Logged |
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It's not surprising you would have progressed faster with French than Croatian. It would have been surprising otherwise.
I'm not sure this would help much, but when I went to Japan earlier this year for 3 weeks, I arranged to meet with people my Japanese friends here knew over in Japan. I made a point of saying how I wanted to meet Japanese people, practice Japanese (and how my goal was to speak Japanese only the whole time), and I encouraged people to bring along their friends, so I could meet more people. My contacts might very well have spoken English, but under these conditions, they tried to help me. Moreover, the friends they brought along often did not speak English, which made it all the better. Had I been there longer, I can only imagine the domino effect this would have created in the long run. In other words, as you alluded to, I would strongly urge you to meet Croatians through whichever innovative means you can think of. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| The Real CZ Senior Member United States Joined 5459 days ago 1069 posts - 1495 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 3 of 10 20 August 2010 at 8:24pm | IP Logged |
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You're doing everything you can do on your own, so like others said, start mingling with some other Croatians. There are bound to be some with bad English.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Danac Diglot Senior Member Denmark Joined 5158 days ago 162 posts - 257 votes Speaks: Danish*, English Studies: German, Serbo-Croatian, French, Russian, Esperanto | Message 4 of 10 20 August 2010 at 8:26pm | IP Logged |
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This was a very interesting post for me. Within half a year or so, I'll probably end up
studying in Bosnia, so I'm having some of the same thoughts as you are... I've been studying the BCS languages full time at the university close to where I live for a year now, and I still feel like I have problems communicating. Like most university courses, we've been drilling a lot of grammar, and it was a struggle to begin talking in the language although we do have a Croatian conversation teacher who tries to make us speak the language. Still, it's not perfect :\ Understanding spoken language is still a problem for me. Although I'm not a beginner any more, I think about what I could have done differently or what could have helped me in the beginning. For the conversation part, I wish I'd tried out Pimsleur when I started learning. There is a 30 lesson Croatian Pimsleur out there, and I'd try to see if I could get it somehow. I know it's expensive, but maybe there's a library that has it or something... There's no Michel Thomas Croatian/Serbian course, but we'll have to take that up with them... I think many professors are against these kinds of materials, but maybe something like a phrasebook might help. I would have liked to know some of these practical phrases when I started instead of some of the more crazy texts in Alexander. There's one about cats and dogs talking to each other which is just absolutely crazy... Also, I'd check out other materials as well. Alexander is loaded with grammar, and the way it progresses might not fit everyone. I was looking at Colloquial and Teach Yourself also, and I felt Colloquial looked good. Many words, etc. Maybe it's something to consider... Something that might be nice as well would be to find a language exchange partner. Many people want to learn English (or maybe French?), so if you could find someone to practice your Croatian with in exchange for another language, that might work as well. You should probably have a 50/50 agreement or similar, so you spend equal amounts of time on each language. I often see people looking for language partners at the university, so maybe you could try that? Also, you could start a language log here, writing small messages in Croatian for other people to correct, and also detailing your progress so far. I've seen other people do it, and it might help you practice... I thought of doing it myself, but we'll have to see... Watching TV sounds fine, since you'll get more used to hearing the language. I'd wish I had TV from that area where I live... Also, if you have any questions about grammar, feel free to ask... I would do my best to answer any questions I know the answer to, as I'm sure others would... Pozdrav iz Danske! Edited by Danac on 20 August 2010 at 11:20pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Adrean TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member France adrean83.wordpress.c Joined 5978 days ago 348 posts - 411 votes Speaks: FrenchC1 | Message 5 of 10 20 August 2010 at 10:54pm | IP Logged |
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I thought I could offer some tips on some things I have actually done.
First of all I know of this website which is free and gives you a chance for language exchanges. I have met quite a few people this way. Although I haven't looked up if Croatia is available. Another thing to do would be to find some part time work. Perhaps a voluntering job for the rest of the summer or something. Maybe you could ask for jobs in a restaurant. You could earn a little money and learn at the same time. These things I have tried and can recommend them to you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6360 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 6 of 10 21 August 2010 at 2:12am | IP Logged |
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I'm going to echo what another has said - you are doing enough on your own, and assume what you really want is
conversation practice. I don't know about your level, but understand in the first 100 hours or so of studies, it's going to be really hard on a conversation partner to try to converse with you 50/50 in your target language. I'm going to assume you have had at least that much training. Since you put "homestays" in the title of the thread, l'll just say a few words about them first. I've stayed in many language learning homestays (perhaps a dozen) in my life but can only remember 2 where I actually felt immersed/accepted as a family member. Generally, the difference between a homestay and a hotel are a handful of greetings and a few minutes of conversation at dinner every day. If you are a bit of a recluse like me, this and the fact that they are usually cheaper often make it worth while to stay in one. Some places are hard or even impossible to find homestays in, especially for short stays. That's unfortunate in a way, but it has forced me to come up with better ways to meet language partners. 1) Find a language exchange service in the town you are staying and post a request for a partner. I think there is such a center in every major city in Japan, for example, that is not affiliated with schools, etc. Every time I go to Japan, I find the language center, post my ad, and have as many partners as I want. 2) Post your request on any bulletin board in a uni, especially one that has an English department, where you are staying. Every time I go to China I do this, and get tons of language partners. Some unis have language exchange bulletin boards too, so practice your skills and find out where it is. 3) Approach students, or people who look approachable and interesting, and tell them that you are interested in language exchange. I've had great luck with people lying out on lawns, peacefully reading books. Or just walk down the street and greet some random person who interests you in their native tongue. If they pause to smile, take the opportunity to ask them for language exchange. This is how I met my girlfriend in the Shanghai subway. And if you like bars, this is the perfect excuse to approach someone with. Usually I try to make language exchange appointments on these excursions, so I'm always be ready to trade cell phone numbers/emails. It also helps to have your schedule with you. On the other hand, some will want to talk right away, so having some free time and a little flexibility is a good thing. 4) Use the internet to meet partners. Just because you are in your host country, don't discount this method. I've found that most internet partners want to stick to skype, msn, etc. And that's ok too. But occasionally I meet people in their host country after finding them on language exchange websites. I suggest you use this as more of a last resort, mainly because it is harder to get people to meet in person, and it doesn't "bring you out of your shell" as much as the other options. I'm going to suggest that you be picky with your language partners. Beggars can't be choosers, but the above options should get you plenty of partners. Find people who you are comfortable talking with. For me that means people who concentrate on communication instead of correcting my grammar all the time. Also, I like people who are willing to let me talk 50% of the time. I don't like aggressive partners. For those reasons, about 90% of my partners over the years have been female. Other things to consider - is their accent standard, or not unnaturally difficult to understand? Is he/she interesting? Do you have fun together? Meet lots of partners, get picky, and just hang out with the cream of the crop. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| lecorbeau Diglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 5830 days ago 113 posts - 149 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Serbo-Croatian, Turkish | Message 7 of 10 25 August 2010 at 10:38am | IP Logged |
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I posted my ad for a language partner and received a FLOOD of responses. I couldn't believe it. I've met with two
people already (though in both cases their English far exceeded my Croatian, but that was to be expected!) and will be meeting with people throughout this week and next. I am really hoping these develop into long-term arrangements. Thanks for the advice, everyone. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| lecorbeau Diglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 5830 days ago 113 posts - 149 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Serbo-Croatian, Turkish | Message 8 of 10 28 September 2010 at 11:28am | IP Logged |
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Any other pearls of wisdom? My language partners are dying off one by one (with a few notable exceptions) and my internship with an international NGO (meaning the operative language is unfortunately/necessarily English) has begun. Gulp! I have Croatian classes every day for 3 hours for the rest of the year...but I doubt that's enough.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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