Language learning: proficient . . . or not

I was an adventurous teenager. Compared to my peers in small-town Wisconsin in the late 1980's, I was downright trailblazing. I lived for a summer in Peru at the age of 17, and I studied abroad for a semester in Spain at the age of 20 (finishing up the experience by backpacking across 7 countries in Europe before going home).

Do you notice what these two experiences have in common? Both of these countries that I lived in are primarily Spanish-speaking countries. Not coincidentally, Spanish is the one language I had studied in high school and college. I'm not sure I would have been brave enough to live for a year in any country where I hadn't previously had some exposure to the language.

Today, programs that travel to Spanish-speaking countries are extremely popular because Spanish is still the #1 second language studied in the USA. Everyone wants to go to a Spanish-speaking country. We were warned by the Rotary Youth Exchange that getting a placement in a Spanish-speaking country is difficult since it is highly competitive. If your child is considering traveling with YFU or another organization, they are almost assured a spot but the scholarship options are not as attractive. If your child really wants to go abroad and needs a scholarship, he/she may need to consider a less "popular" country and learn the language from the beginning.

I have huge amounts of respect for the teenagers who go to a country with a language they have never studied before. We spoke to one young lady who had been to Bulgaria for a year. She lived with a family and went to school . . . all in Bulgarian. She had never studied Bulgarian before. We were told over and over by students, "It was easy! People are so nice and patient. Don't worry; you will be speaking the language by Christmas."

I think memories of the first difficult months get fuzzy once students return home. My daughter had studied German for 3 years in high school, and she struggled in the beginning with the language. Native speakers speak more quickly, and the vocabulary is much more extensive, than in the typical American foreign language classroom.

In retrospect, I think we could have prepared her more for the language barrier as there are some options, ranging from free to expensive, that could have given her a more realistic expectation of the language demands.

$ Free options for learning another language

Your child can use the internet. For beginners, Duolingo is one website that has lessons in 21 different languages. For students who have had a few years of language instruction in an American classroom, I recommend looking for TV shows or videos posted on Youtube in the target language. Watching these videos will give them a more realistic idea of what to expect.

$$ Inexpensive options for learning another language

Babbel is a website that offers free introductory lessons and then charges for full access to the course. Online reviews for Babbel are not good as many reviewers claimed that the introductory lesson was great, but the content they paid for was just glorified flashcards. The Rosetta Stone is another online resource that offers free introductory lessons in 30 language and then the opportunity to purchase full access to the course. YFU offered a special price on a Rosetta Stone package to their students in the months before they left. Reviews on Rosetta stone are mixed. Some people felt like they learned a lot; some students went through the whole course and felt like they learned how to use the Rosetta Stone - - not another language.

$$ More expensive options for learning another language

The one option that I wish we had taken advantage of is the Concordia Language Villages (CLV) near Bemidji, Minnesota. They provide full immersion summer camp sessions in 15 different languages. CLV have been doing language immersion since 1961 and have hosted the children of many famous people (Chelsea Clinton for example). Staff are fluent in the target language and trained to work with beginning campers all the way to fluent campers. Campers come from all over the USA, so staff can assist you with transportation to Bemidji (whether by plane, bus, or car). Scholarships exist; some language scholarships are more competitive than others. I think if my daughter had attended one week at the German CLV, her confidence in her language proficiency would have been more grounded in reality.