Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World

When You Should Go to the Country
After hearing about all the distractions, you may think I’m about to tell you
to avoid altogether the country that speaks your language and, instead, stay
home forever. Quite the opposite. Being in a country and using its local
language is such a wonderful experience, I cannot express it well enough in
words.
Because I spoke the local language during my travels, I’ve listened as
an old Czech lady told me about her experiences during World War II. I’ve
eaten Easter dinner with four generations of Italians. I’ve appeared on TV
and been interviewed on the radio in both Spanish and French long before I
started my blog, talking about my experience as a foreigner. I’ve danced
with a country’s president. I’ve had an entire bar cheer me on as I sang
karaoke in Tagalog in the Philippines. Honestly, I’ve had so many
wonderful experiences that they could fill their own book, and my extensive
travels mixed with cultural exploration has even led to me being awarded
National Geographic’s title “Traveler of the Year”!
I am definitely not against the idea of moving to a country. As Saint
Augustine famously said, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel
read only one page.”

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But the thing is, I had all these wonderful experiences only when I was
able to communicate well in the local language, not as I was learning the
basics.
There is a lot of work at the beginning that is far less interesting than
having “language adventures” with people, things like studying flash cards,
repeating a basic phrase over and over again, or having the same
introductory conversation about yourself repeatedly while you get
comfortable using the language. You can get through it quickly, as I suggest
in the next chapter, but you can’t skip it. I say, do all this work from home
so you can enjoy the much more fun part of language learning when you’re
in the country.
I think we should all strive to use the local language in a target country
as soon as we can, even if our work or family responsibilities only allow us
to take, say, a weeklong break to visit it. If you arrive already speaking the
language well, you will have an absolutely wonderful week. And, of course,
longer stays give you even more fantastic life experiences.
This is why I believe the most effective use of a plane ticket is to
consider your looming departure date as motivation to work extra hard
before you go, so you’re able to maximize your experience in the country as
soon as you step off the plane. Use an upcoming trip to motivate yourself to
go through intensive speaking and study sessions in advance, so when
you’re there you don’t have to do such activities and can focus on enjoying
life through that language.