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Is it a good idea to trade time speaking
English for time learning the target language?
Lonna J. Dickerson, Ph.D.
Native-English speakers often have many
opportunities to help others in their pursuit of the English
language. With the increasingly high demand for English, many
speakers of other languages either want to learn English or polish
up their speaking skills.
If you're a native- or near-native speaker of English, you may
wonder if it's a good idea to trade time spent helping someone
learn English for an hour or more each week in exchange for the
same amount of time spent working on your target language. Before
you agree to do this, you should consider the advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
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It may open doors for building meaningful friendships--something
that can be especially valuable if you are new to the community
and have few relationships.
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It may put you in contact with individuals (e.g., university
students) who would make good language helpers or conversation
partners for learning your target language.
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Some speakers of your target language may prefer help with
their English over receiving pay for their services.
- It involves no financial outlay.
Disadvantages
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Time spent speaking English takes time away from your learning
of the target language—a severe disadvantage if you do
not have sufficient free time. Keep in mind that a full-time
language and culture learner should be giving about 30 hours
per week to the learning process. If you're giving it less
time than that, your overall rate of progress will be more
slow.
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If you have several friendships with people who want to speak
in English when you are together, your exposure to the target
language may be reduced considerably, possibly making it more
difficult for you to learn your new language.
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If you have a tendency to avoid speaking the target language
and/or integrating into the culture, you need to be careful
not to allow relationships with those who speak some English
to isolate you from the broader community of native speakers.
© Lonna Dickerson, Ph.D.
Director
Institute for Cross-Cultural Training (ICCT)
Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL 60187
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