Learning the Local Language
 

I was wondering how many people speak the language where they live?

Although I realized early on that the more Korean I could speak, the less stress I would have venturing outside of my apartment, I really have not learned enough compared to the number of years I've lived here.

For anyone interested in studying Korean FOR FREE without venturing beyond the computer, I recommend Sogang University's website. Not all of the activities work on my Mac, but all of the reading and listening activities do, as well as the scroll over translations, vocabulary and grammar lessons with good English explanations. My favorite game is the "dancing sentence game" where you are flashed parts of a sentence while a stick man dances to music, when the music is over and you choose a matching sentence.

Anyway, it is a great site that starts with the alphabet and teaches through to intermediate level. Try it! You'll like it! ;)

I've been living in Japan for 6 years now and have studied enough to have regular conversation no problem. It has been invaluable and open all kinds of doors for me.

I know that many people teach abroad just to travel and for the experience but this is a great chance to learn a foreign language and before you go back home and wish you had listened to that guy's post, ... study, learn the language and make use of your time.

Maybe, you'll never need it and maybe you'll forget all you learned once you returned, but maybe it'll lead you to all kinds of wonderful places and provide you with various opportunities.

It has also been a great help in the work place and given me some respect amongst my Japanese peers.

Anyway, I speak the language where I live.

Mark

I'm still embarrassed about my level of language after 5 years. I've picked up enough to get by da-to-day but havent broken the "conversational" barrier by any means.

In regards to the poll question: Can you speak the local language where you live? Sometimes I feel like I live on the computer and I have picked up a few of the computer's languages while living overseas.

Kudos to everyone who embraces the languages of their locales! It is my 1 regret...

Re: Learning the Local Language
 

Thanks little sage, I have been informally studying Korean for the last two years and, like Eric, I haven't broken the conversation barrier too. The site you recommended is helpful. I can read and write Korean, but I don't know enough vocabulary and grammar to have a running conversation. The site helps me in these areas. Thanks a lot for recommending the site.

Re: Learning the Local Language
 

I came to Japan on something called the JET Progamme, which basically has young uni graduates come over to "teach" English. The emphasis, however, is more on internationalization. My third year in a small town was totally different from my second year. And my second year was totally different from my first year. I have to say that the huge differences were due to my ability with the language. So much more opens up to you when you can hold conversations in the local language.