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Mentor Advice

Question

Were you able to learn a new language when you studied abroad and how?

2 Replies from Mentors

  • mentor picture Marie
     
    Marie
    Senior Year Student
    Loyola Marymount University
    Yes, I was able to improve my German a little bit by staying with a host family and practicing my...
    Yes, I was able to improve my German a little bit by staying with a host family and practicing my German in places like restaurants and shops. I highly recommend staying in a home where the native- language is spoken most of the time with very minimal-to-no English.
  • mentor picture Amelia
     
    Amelia
    Senior Year Student
    University of California, Los Angeles
    When I studied abroad in Turkey for four months, I was able to learn manageable Turkish. In other...
    When I studied abroad in Turkey for four months, I was able to learn manageable Turkish. In other words, I took a class that helped me learn Turkish grammar in writing, but other than that, my best classroom was my travels themselves because I met tons of different people and had tons of conversations with them that forced me to speak Turkish. Since the majority of Turks don't speak English, I carried a small pocket dictionary around with me at all times. It becomes especially useful if you are looking for something specific and you need to learn the word for it; for example, if you are shopping for a belt, you would learn the word for "belt."