Learning languages abroad - Alex Rawlings at the Polyglot Gathering 2015

[@nathanpiazza9644]

Alex is such an enthralling speaker - so humorous and informative. His presentations always have a narrative line that is easy to follow and conducive to re-listening.

[@julesboudin]

I don't know if the speaker meant it, but this is real therapy for me. If there are any other videos on this kind of topic, please share people...

[@gintaiwan]

I did aikido in Taiwan when my Mandarin wasn't all that great. But with a sport, u don't need to understand every word, just imitate the move. Of course, you do get a little listening and speaking practice during the class. Often after class, one or two of the students would go have dinner or a snack with me, and we mainly spoke in simple Mandarin. It was great. One other thing is that u're tired so you're not as nervous after the physical activity. Doing an art or handicraft class might work too.

[@spacemonkey68]

Thanks for this talk Alex. I've been living in Japan for just over a year now - learned more Japanese before I arrived (somewhere around A2/B1 level) and could very much relate to your talk. Especially the fact I teach English and have those everyday conversations in the supermarket everyday. I was pondering over my plan to up my level ... I've been reading Star Wars in Japanese, which immediately gives me some amusing phrases to throw into my daily conversations (ie. ask somewhere where the escape pod is instead of the elevator etc).. Of course, that often throws me into situations where native speakers think I speak better Japanese than I do ... and the thing I've really got to get better at is saying, "sorry, I didn't understand" rather than saying, "yeah". Next year, I'm planning to spend between three and six months couchsurfing around Japan. I've continued growing my vocabulary the whole time I've been in Japan, but if feels like I need to activate it through immersion. Anyway, cheers for the talk; it resonated with my experiences.

[@novikmish]

Watched that at 2015 when it was published and now when I having a similar adventure with Latvian (living in the country and all that) I decided to watch it again. Excellent talk Alex, very motivational and instructive for those who wanna try this kind of experience.

[@JonandEva]

Great talk, Alex! Thanks!

[@stephaniecorwin6438]

So true; I had B1 Japanese moving to Japan but barely A2 Russian moving to Kazakhstan and things are Different (not just language and culture).

[@annmax7786]

very interesting! thanks!

[@bostonrules222]

danke!