Learning a foreign language abroadGo abroad and you will speak the local language. For the vast majority, this statement is completely true. Not sure how to do it? This article can give you an idea.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Vacation in a Spanish-speaking country.............................................................................. 3

Internship in a Spanish-speaking country............................................................................ 3

Language course in a Spanish-speaking country.................................................................. 3

Work and travel in a Spanish-speaking country................................................................... 3

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Only a few people are able to learn a foreign language the “old”

traditional way, meaning by studying from vocabulary lists and

grammar rules. But what happens with the rest almost 100 percent?

Most of them try it the traditional way, but do not have success.

Still, the best way to learn any foreign language is to move to a

country where people speak it as a first language. However, this

might seem to be a huge step for only learning a foreign language. A

cheaper alternative is to visit the country for a specific time.

This article describes shortly some possibilities of learning a

foreign language abroad by using Spanish as an example.

Vacation in a Spanish-speaking countryMany countries in South America have Spanish as an official first

language. If you live in the United States, it is often quite cheap

to visit Latin America. If you have more money to spend, or live in

Europe or Africa, it is probably cheaper to visit Spain in Southern

Europe. During a vacation you get familiar with the sounds of the

Spanish language. Furthermore, you can speak with native speakers –

at some point you have to try speaking Spanish, since not all

Spanish people speak English. In restaurants, many menus do not

offer English translations, so you will find out soon what “meat”,

“food”, “ a glass” and so on means. You will start reading

billboards, street names and the map. In any case, you can either

start learning Spanish during a vocational visit, or enhance your

knowledge and practice what you have already learned.

Internship in a Spanish-speaking countryDo you have to do an internship during your education? Why not going

to Latin America or Spain and work there for some months? You would

have the advantage of getting to know another country, culture and

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language. It is fairly easy to start speaking Spanish when you have

to use it daily at your workplace. Your colleagues are surely happy

to help you mastering the language. Even when you work for an

American company where many employees are able to speak English, you

will need to use some Spanish words during your workday. Also, you

for sure will hang out with your colleagues during your free time,

where you will learn the one or the other Spanish word.

Language course in a Spanish-speaking countryIf you have some money to spend and don´t know what to do for your

next vacation, a language course in another country may be a perfect

alternative to a bathing vacation on the sea. Many agencies offer

their help in finding a suitable language school and offer packages.

Most of the time, you can choose between a language-course-only

offer, a course and culture package and so on. Many times the

schools also offer lodging at a local family. This is the best

option ever. This way you get professional lessons at school (mostly

4 to 5 hours per day), plus you can practice what you have learned

after school, because you stay with a Spanish-speaking family. This

way you would learn Spanish the fastest way.

Work and travel in a Spanish-speaking countryThis is also a good way to learn Spanish abroad. However, you need

some time and foremost flexibility. By working for different

employers and traveling through a country, you will get to know

people from the countryside that may speak special dialects of

Spanish and don´t speak a word of English. Typical jobs for work and

travel people are fruit picking or farm work. For sure, those

employers only speak Spanish, but are happy to help you out with the

language and probably teach you something new.

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There are many possibilities to learn a foreign language abroad. The

list is certainly not complete. However, you need to be aware that

learning a language this way requires financial import. For sure,

there are other language learning approaches that are far more cost

effective than going abroad. Many of them are also effective. For

example, many language schools offer private one-to-one or group

lessons. Furthermore, one can learn a language by him- or herself by

making use of a language learning book or language learning program.

Many language software programs exist that are very effective and

efficient. But be careful in choosing, since some programs focus too

much on learning vocabularies or grammar rules by hard instead of

really understanding them.

Learning Spanish abroad is the best way to learn the language.

However, also language programs like the Birkenbihl Approach can be

the best way to learn Spanish.

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