3 Major reasons why language travel is important

If you've been looking for convincing ideas as to why you should participate in a language immersion programme, hopefully this blog will help you out!

We are happy to 3 share tips with you in a hybrid format - a video, with its transcript below, from Rhody-Ann THORPE.

The video was first shared by Jamaicans.com as THE FIRST in the Jamtalk Series, put on by Leo Gillin and the Jamaica Diaspora Taskforce Acton Network (JDTAN). Jamtalk allows Jamaicans across the globe to "express (In TedTalk fashion) a 5-10 segment of interest, business, aspirations, plans, expertise or experience to empower and inspire others". 

Transcript:

"Hello, I am Rhody-Ann THORPE and I would like to talk to you today about the Value of Language Travel. Globalisation has offered us a lot of opportunities; one of which is travel. 

We have, today, an impressive amount of airline companies , of travel agencies of tour operators; which allow for a lot of contact between people from all over the world. 

It has also led to the development of the tourism industry and surprisingly a lot of people do not know that there is this small subset of the tourism industry called educational tourism or language tourism. 

Now, where language travel is concerned, this is basically where somebody goes overseas and they split their time between learning a language and exploring the country.

This is a topic that I'm particularly interested in, for two reasons:

First of all, I had the opportunity of going overseas to pursue my studies in a non-English-speaking country. 

This was in the framework of an interuniversity exchange programme  called the Programme France-Caraibe, whereby I split my time one year in Bordeaux, France; then Martinique, Bordeaux again in France and then I finished at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica.

The second reason is because, in 2016, I took the initiative of creating Languesol International. Languesol International is a language travel entity based in Jamaica; and its initial aim was to promote Jamaica as a Language Travel destination. 

We then expanded to provide the opportunities for Jamaicans to go overseas to learn Portugese, Spanish, French, Mandarin, Dutch...

In terms of the importance of language travel, there are three aspects that I would like to highlight.

The first is Professional Development.

When recruiters are looking for candidates for a particular post, it is very important for you to demonstrate that you have the competitive advantage.

Language travel helps in this sense because when you're overseas, in a country where your mother tongue isn't spoken, you're already in the process of improving your language skills.

This will therefore make you very marketable as your company should be able to send you overseas to represent the entity, without there being any issues in terms of needing to acquire interpreters or translators because you can handle yourself.

Language travel can also give you that competitive edge, especially in the case where your stay was done in the context of an internship in an overseas company. You'll be able to bring back that knowledge and reinvest it to the benefit of the company that you're applying for. 

Of course, it will also show that you have a certain degree of fluency as you were able to do your duties overseas in their language.

Not to mention the degrees, the certificates, the diplomas that you will be able to put on CVs, to prove your language level and to show that you're able to adapt to different contexts.

The Second advantage of language travel is, just like classical tourism, it facilitates this contact of different cultures.

It allows people to travel, to experience lifestyles, different rituals and different routines of different peoples. It allows people to be more openminded, to even forge life-lasting friendships between people whom they would have never met if that hadn't engaged in language travel.

The Third reason why language travel is important is the positive impact that it has on the individual.

Pulling from feedback from persons who have engaged in language travel, a lot of persons have said that at the end of the experience they felt more confident.

This is because during a language stay, the onus is on you to be more initiative-taking. Especially where it involves making friends, it will be your responsibility to be  break that barrier, to break the ice, to befriend your host families, to look for things that interest you, to go the museums, et cetera. 

This therefore allows you to develop more relational skills. 

Lastly, with the different cultures that you'll be in contact with, and people of different origins, a language stay will help you to be more tolerant and more openminded. 

All of which, we could tie into the first reason of professional development as these are all attributes that employers usually seek in candidates.

So there you have it: three major reasons why language travel should be valued and promoted.

I'm Rhody-Ann THORPE and it was a pleasure to talk to you today."

Now that you've learned about the importance of language travel, don't hesitate to indicate your interest in immersion programmes offered by Languesol International. We'll be happy to discuss your plans so go right ahead and  book a free online language travel consultation session.

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