For many people learning a language, the difficulty is not in learning the words and grammar, it is finding the situations within which you can practice what you learn and improve. At school students learn all about the rules and regulations of a language, but they don’t get a proper opportunity to put it into practice. With Maltalingua, you learn all the practicalities of English in the classes with teachers who teach you all you need to know, but you then have the opportunity to go out and practice the language in the real world. This makes learning a language so much easier, and allows you to pick up extra bits of vocabulary and local slang along the way. But how do put yourself in contact with people and enable yourself to get into conversations with them beyond a simple “Hello” and “How are you?”? One great way to do this is working in the tourism industry.
Working in a hotel or villa in your time off can give you great exposure to visiting tourists where you can get into conversations about what to do in the area, information about destinations or just chatting about life. Likewise, getting a job at a tourist attraction can enable this too, so you can get more contact with those speaking English. These are all fantastic places to improve your English and get good practice. Bars and restaurants are also great places to expose yourself to a language, whether it is chatting with other staff or customers. Of course, you will be surrounded by people speaking English everyday and in itself this can help you pick up language tips, but it is really speaking which will accelerate your progress. If you’re a confident person then maybe you’ll be happy just to approach people in the street and ask for a chat.
Another way to improve would be to become a tourist yourself. If you are visiting Malta from another country then no doubt you will want to explore the beautiful islands and experience everything it has to offer, from Gozo to Valletta. Instead of venturing out on your own or with friends of your own nationality, why not go on a trip with your new international friends and vow to only speak English on the trip (it might be your only option!). This will allow you time to practice away from the scrutiny of fluent locals, but still allow you to support each other and pick up tips from each others knowledge. Malta is undoubtedly a fantastic place to visit, why not make the most of its fantastic tourism industry to enhance your language learning experience?
This is a guest post from Tom at Malta Holidays, a guide to the best things to do in our beautiful archipelago. You can follow them on Twitter and see the best of Malta on their Facebook page.