Learning a language from a non-native speaker
If you ever wanted to learn a new language you might have visited a language school as they are a great tool to accelerate your learning experience.
You might have noticed that most of them advertise that all there teachers are native speakers which is of course good because who would know the language better?
But recently I got to wonder whether that is what you actually need when trying to learn a language.
All the issues you are going through, the hardship understanding this new language is something a native speaker never experienced (in that language).
Somebody that had to learn the language as well on the other hand very well knows what you are up against, they've been on the same path and can better anticipate the problems you are having.
The big advantage native speakers have is the proper pronunciation although even that is arguably not that clear. Depending on the language there are so many local accents that even native speakers can't find a common ground.
Just take english as an example and ask an American, Brit and someone from Australia and they probably all say that their version is the only right one and that is not even taking into account that even within those countries there are vastly different dialects.
On top of that I'd make the same argument again: Getting the pronunciation right in a foreign language can be quite hard and a native speaker might have a hard time showing you how to do it whereas another foreign speaker might be able to show you better how to get it right as they had to practice it a lot as well.
And with all that I didn't even challenge the assumption that native speakers do know the language actually better.
If we stay with the example of english I don't think I've ever seen a foreigner mixing up they're and there or Its and It's - the only people getting that wrong seem to be native speakers. We foreigners have to put a lot of work into understanding those concepts.
In fact I myself have a better understanding of english grammar than of my native language.
Having said that you can of course learn all that, pretty sure english teachers all know the differences just as well and get to know the issues students are struggling with just as well.
Still, the point stands: Having only native speakers at your language school doesn't seem like a very good endorsement to me.
What was your experience when learning a new language? Was it helpful for you to just learn with native speakers?
Well I was learning german in singapore before I moved to Austria a few years ago. Once i landed in Austria, I started to pick up more german (or forced to) since i lived in a city where not many people speak english.
Anyway, my experience in learning a new language is to always observe and copy how the natives speak. This will greatly helps.
Yeah, actually going to the country and being forced to talk the language all the time is of course the best as you get the most practice :)
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