A Beginner’s Guide to Traveling for Language Learning

Most language teachers agree that immersion is the fastest way to fluency, but there’s only so much that you can do within a classroom. When you opt for an overseas language-learning experience, you will have plenty of opportunities to practice your new vocabulary and conjugation skills in the real world, whether you’re shopping in Istanbul or eating through Beijing.

While chatting with shopkeepers can certainly help, actually staying in a local home is one of the best ways to throw yourself into the fire. On my first language trip to France, I stayed in student accommodation run by a local convent. That meant that if I needed anything, I had to speak in French, which was extra challenging as smartphones weren’t yet a thing.

In Guatemala, I stayed with a host family who refused to speak English to me (though I’m not even sure if they knew it). Every morning and evening, we would share meals around a communal table, chatting about our day. Sure, I made tons of mistakes, but the point isn’t to be perfect—it’s to practice.

Studying a language abroad can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. While you’ll naturally encounter higher costs in expensive cities such as Paris and Tokyo, Japan, smaller cities often have excellent language schools with lower day-to-day costs (and tuition fees) than what you’ll find in capital cities. Many schools offer group lessons, which can be just as useful as one-on-one study, and they’re usually significantly cheaper, too.

While some language schools suggest about four hours of classroom instruction per day as the sweet spot for learners, travelers on a budget can always opt for part-time study and then supplement it with independent learning. Language cafes, where learners “trade” time practicing one another’s languages, are also popular. For example, in Tokyo, you can practice your conversational skills and help local students improve their English at a language exchange in Shibuya. I also make a point of only speaking to fellow students in the host language, even if we both find communicating in English easier.

The best countries to learn a language abroad naturally depend on what language you want to learn. While your options will be a bit more limited if you want to learn Italian or Hungarian, you’ll have more options if you want to learn languages that are spoken in multiple countries, such as Arabic and French.

Spanish is one of the most popular languages to learn, and because it’s spoken so widely, it can be hard to narrow down where to start. For people already based in Europe, Spain is the obvious choice for taking Spanish lessons, but remember that the Spanish spoken there is quite different from some of the dialects spoken in the Americas.

When I decided to study Spanish, I posted a request on social media, and most people suggested I set my sights on Central or South America. Some people suggested Mexico because of the cultural dominance of Mexican Spanish, both in Latin America and elsewhere in the US. Others suggested Colombia and Peru, claiming that the Spanish in those countries was easier to understand. One friend told me to go to Chile, where Spanish is notoriously hard to understand; her idea was that if I could learn Spanish there, I could understand Spanish anywhere.

I ultimately chose Antigua, Guatemala, both because it was relatively easy to get to from the US, and because there are a lot of great schools there. My choice was risky: Because Antigua has a well-developed tourist industry, a lot of residents speak English. However, because I had some background in Spanish, I didn’t encounter situations where people spoke to me in English, and everyone I spoke to was quite forgiving of my many mistakes.

Reputation is an important factor for picking a language school. While my initial study abroad trip to France was coordinated through my university in the US, I did my second round of language study at the Sorbonne because it has a good reputation. In India, I attended Landour Language School near Mussoorie because it’s the oldest in the country, dating back more than a century.

While my friends helped me narrow down where I should learn Spanish, finding the school that was right for me was challenging all on its own. I ended up relying heavily on reviews, looking for schools that got high ratings on Google to narrow down my list of contenders.

It’s also wise to look at what individual schools offer. While reviews helped me ultimately choose Don Pedro de Alvarado Spanish School in Guatemala, I also liked that they would help arrange things such as airport transfers and accommodations.

While taking a language class (or doing a bit of app-based self-study) can help you gain confidence before departing for your language-learning getaway, plenty of language courses are designed with true beginners in mind. While more advanced students often opt for one-on-one instruction tailored to their specific skill sets and needs, true beginners can start with a clean slate by joining fellow students in a group class. I’ve had instructors tell me that students are actually better off starting from scratch, as students who teach themselves without initial guidance from instructors sometimes end up learning incorrect pronunciation or grammar, which can be difficult to correct later.

While I’ve always done a bit of pre-class learning, the next time I go abroad to learn a language, I might show up as a blank slate.