Another significant issue for people coming to live in any new culture is the natural desire to surround yourself with a few familiar things and to gravitate towards other people from back home. This reduces the number of opportunities you have to tune into the natural rhythms and cadences of the new language.
We find that many of our clients speak their native languages at home. How better to celebrate and maintain your connection with your motherland than by speaking your mother tongue? Whilst there is nothing wrong with that per-se it does mean that you have an English free holiday every day.
The secret is to immerse yourself in English. Read English language newspapers; listen to English language talk radio; watch English language TV; swap Bollywood for Hollywood (or whatever your national film industry is called). Even if you’re still speaking your mother tongue at home have an English Language radio station going on in the background.
Make a family date to watch the early evening news and agree to speak English together while you’re watching it. Read some local newspapers regularly. Every region has its local papers: just ask at your newsagent to find one that suits you.
