Language Barrier: The Biggest Anxiety For Students Planning To Study Abroad

Language brings people into an unprecedented bond. With globalization at its peak, today’s world holds a great demand for polyglots, say experts at inlingua New Delhi

Studying abroad is often considered a bright prospect by youngsters and their parents alike. However, foraying into a new, unknown country with a foreign language can be quite a struggle if you go unprepared.

If you are studying in a place where they do not speak your native language, chances are high you’re going to run into language barriers. Regardless of how long you’ve studied your host country’s language, walls will arise in the form of local nuances, slang, forgotten vocabulary and more.

Learning English language is often considered the most sureshot way to cope up with language barrier. “Fluency in English could be developed under the right guidance and with the right amount of efforts. Now, some students are taken by fear at the prospect of speaking in English due to lack of confidence, while the others find learning a language quite boring. I believe that both these hurdles can be overcome, given that an adequate method of teaching is adopted,” says Mr Pankaj, an instructor at inlingua New Delhi.

He added, “For Indians, English is not our first language, and hence a lot of people suffer with lack of confidence while conversing in the language. However, English is undoubtedly an important language to learn, given its ‘lingua franca’ status. I firmly believe that through activity based teaching, we can facilitate language learning at a greater pace.”

The inlingua New Delhi instructor also stressed upon the value of learning other foreign languages by saying that while English is a widely spoken language and is understood in most parts of the world, there are countries which prefer the use of their own language. This makes it imperative for a foreign student in these countries to learn the language spoken by common people there.

One might feel like they have the language skills of a local five-year-old, but there is no other way to improve fluency. “Speak up and have thick skin because you won’t always be understood, and that’s alright. After those first successful interactions, your confidence will skyrocket and you’ll be comfortably speaking in no time,” says Ms Anushree, another instructor at inlingua New Delhi.

She adds, “At inlingua, we believe in promoting a holistic approach to language learning, be it English, French, German or Spanish. We believe that the best way to learn a language is to learn it the natural way, i.e., by listening, adopting and speaking, and that’s what we encourage our students to do. Grammar rules are secondary if we aim at fluency.”

If you are getting cold feet at the thought of studying abroad just because you think the language barrier might be a trouble, fret not. Enlist some help from language schools of good repute like inlingua New Delhi, learn the basics of the language, practice a lot, and you are good to go!