Language Learning Through Travel

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here again to talk about language.

And you know, I've been thinking about a number of things and language and

people and life, and I wanna do a series of videos where I talk about

sort of the human side of language, how important language is to our being.

And so I'm gonna talk about language and travel.

I'm gonna talk about language and history because history is a big part

of my interest in language learning.

I'm going to talk about ChatGPT and the role of the teacher in the classroom.

And I'm going to talk about, uh, Elon Musk's Neuralink, and I'm gonna do

this in four separate videos, but today I'm gonna talk about travel.

One of the reasons is that I'm going to be traveling.

I'm going to be in, uh, Denmark from the six...

17th to the 19th of May.

Southern Sweden, the 21st, 22nd or so.

Stockholm, 24th, 25th.

And then I'm going to be in Poland for a week, sort of 26th, seventh

through the 2nd of June, 1st of June.

So it would be great if we could, uh, if I could meet some of my, uh, viewers there.

We could talk about our interests and our enthusiasm,

hopefully for language learning.

Travel is kind of interesting when it comes to language learning

because first of all, language earning is a form of travel.

So every time I've learned a language, I've explored other countries.

Uh, I may not be in those countries, but I go there in a way.

I get interested in the countries, I look up the map of the

countries, I look up pictures.

I get into the history of a country.

Uh, it's a form of traveling.

You're, you're traveling although you're staying at home, you're

traveling to another world, another world in time, another world in place.

So language learning is in itself a form of travel, in my opinion.

Second thing about travel is the idea that you might travel to the country.

Having that as a goal is a tremendous motivator.

Uh, now, for example, I'm gonna be in Denmark and Poland, so I, I went and

bought some audiobooks and eBooks.

I'm going through a history of Denmark right now.

At some point, I'm gonna switch over to Polish.

Uh, I'm not gonna be fluent when I get to Denmark or Poland, but I'll have a much

better understanding of the language.

I'll be able to understand things that are happening around me.

I will try to speak.

Um, it's gonna be difficult, but I don't mind.

But having this level of understanding is gonna make it more comfortable for

me to be in the language, to be in the country where the language is spoken.

Also just listening to the audio book and reading this book on Danish

history is again, as I said, a form of travel, uh, traveling in the language.

And of course, the third thing about travel is as many people point out,

you know, if you can be in the country where the language is spoken, that's

the ultimate learning environment.

Assuming that you have a good enough level in the language so that you

can take advantage, people are often disappointed and it has happened to

me, that you go to the country...

I mean, I can think back to the first time I went to Portugal.

I put a fair amount of effort into learning Portuguese and I had Spanish.

And, uh, my Portuguese was not very good, but everyone that I tried to

speak to spoke to me in English.

Uh, so I was unsuccessful.

But then I went back again and studied some more Portuguese.

We, my wife and I, went to Portugal the second time and I was able to

speak to people in Portuguese, so I, I often mention this, it's important

to get your language up to a level where it's good enough that people will

actually speak to you in that language.

And don't get discouraged if people answer you in English because

random people in stores or on the street, they are not your teachers.

And, uh, if they feel that their English is a more efficient way of

communicating then that's what they will in many cases, use, even though

you would like them to humor you in the language that you are learning.

So, but still, even if you go there, as I did in Portuguese and I failed,

I was unable to really find many opportunities to use Portuguese.

And probably my Portuguese was not very good despite the effort I had put in.

Nevertheless, I came away saying, geez, I better improve my Portuguese so

that when I go again, I'll do better.

So to summarize, you know, travel language learning itself is a form of travel.

Traveling in time and space and language space, uh, language

learning can be a goal, a motivating goal for learning a language.

You're planning to go to Mexico, you're planning to go to China, you're planning

to go to Germany, Japan, so you're gonna work very hard on the language.

And third of all, when you are there, it can be an opportunity to use the

language and to improve in the language.

It may be difficult if your language isn't up to the level that is needed in order

for people to want to communicate with you in the language, but then that should

be additional motivation to improve.

So for all of those reasons, travel to me is a big part of language learning.

I've, I'm sure that many of you have had similar experiences.

Thank you for listening.

Bye for now.