Scribd
Upload
84 views2 pages

Overcoming Language Barriers Abroad

While living in a country where you must speak a foreign language can present some challenges with communication, there are also ways to overcome these challenges without being fluent in the local language. On the one hand, not knowing all the nuances of a new language can lead to misunderstandings and arguments. However, on the other hand, people can still communicate effectively using body language, picking up the new language from constant exposure, and relying on other shared languages when necessary words are unknown. Overall, with alternative means of expression, individuals can live in a foreign country without being perfectly fluent in the local language.

Uploaded by

Maria Fachiridou
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
84 views2 pages

Overcoming Language Barriers Abroad

While living in a country where you must speak a foreign language can present some challenges with communication, there are also ways to overcome these challenges without being fluent in the local language. On the one hand, not knowing all the nuances of a new language can lead to misunderstandings and arguments. However, on the other hand, people can still communicate effectively using body language, picking up the new language from constant exposure, and relying on other shared languages when necessary words are unknown. Overall, with alternative means of expression, individuals can live in a foreign country without being perfectly fluent in the local language.

Uploaded by

Maria Fachiridou
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Some people think that living in a country where you need to talk in another language provoke not only

social, but also practical problems. I absolutely disagree with the statement since there are different ways of
communication as it will be mentioned in this essay.

On the one hand, when individuals have to speak a foreign language, they can face challenges when
communicating with others especially if they struggle with the language. Apart from that, when people
don’t know all the details og the languages as natives do, they sometimes misunderstand eachother that
can lead to an argument. For example, once I was on a lesson and my teacher was a foreigner. While doing a
task in groups, he was explaining the details and in a moment we started to laugh because remembered a
funny story about our groupmate. Since he didn’t know our native language, he thought we laughed at him
which led to an awkward situation. Therefore, living in a different country without knowing the language as
good as the mothertongue, can lead to different misunderstandings and arguments.

On the other hand, from my point of view, people can communicate with different languages including the
body language which makes it easier to understand eachother. Moreover, living in the country means
hearing the language consistently so this makes it trouble-free to learn the speech without even studying.
For instance, my mum moved to greece two years ago and did not know the language well. However, she
managed to get a job and never struggled with communication since she used other languages like Russian
and English to express herself whenever she did not know the right word or phrase in greek. As a result, she
learned a language without even studying it with the help of her friends and the environment. Thus, I
believe that it will not cause any serious problems if individuals do not speak the foreign language as their
native, even though they live there.
To sum up, when people living in a different country have to speak a foreign language they will face some
difficulties however, I still believe individuals can communicate with eachother without even knowing the
language well, as it was mentioned above.

(2 more minutes)

You might also like