An experience to learn languages

Today, my stay is coming to an end and I realize the progress I have made in English. At first, I wanted to go to an English-speaking country to improve my language skills. But I now realize that in the end :

No matter where you go, there is a good chance that you will improve your English as well.

In Portugal, I speak English every day, whether it's with my roommates, my friends or at the university. At university there are many oral presentations and I now find that they take me much less time to prepare than at the beginning of my Erasmus. Classes and exams are also given and taken in English, which has allowed me to practice writing. Moreover, my interactions are now much easier. Thanks to this mobility, I have made progress in understanding, in speaking but I’ve also improved my accent by speaking with native English speakers.

Discover Portuguese

Moreover, this experience has allowed me to discover a new language: Portuguese. I took Portuguese courses for beginners at university, which have allowed me to learn the basics to be able to order in restaurants, to have basic conversations or to ask for directions, for example.... However, it is difficult for me to speak it because I have, ironically, met few Portuguese people with whom I could practice it. I do have occasional conversations in Portuguese with my Brazilian roommate but this is very basic. However, it is a language that I can understand because of its proximity to the French and Spanish languages.

Improve Spanish

I have also improved my Spanish level during my mobility as I took Spanish classes during my second semester, which taught me a lot. And I communicate in Spanish with the friends I have made in this class, even though it is not our native language, so I was able to practice it in Portugal. I also took advantage of the fact that I was not far from Seville in Spain to

go there for a week and speak Spanish.

Being in situations where you have no choice but to speak English or Portuguese, in my case, forces you to make do with what you know and therefore allows you to improve. I think that when you carry out a student mobility, the best thing to do is to try to improve and not to be ashamed, because :

Even if at the beginning it is complicated and the language can be an obstacle, at the end it is very satisfying to see the progress you have made.