Studying abroad versus studying at one's home country

I just came back from a big event where over 400 people from many different countries came together and mingled for two days. It was interesting to find that most of the kids from non-Japanese families are fluent in both Japanese and their mother language. Many of the kids also converse in Japanese to one another and also with their parents.

Loosely related to this is the fact that I used Japanese throughout the past two days because my friends were from different countries and our common language was Japanese. That got me thinking about the debate between studying a language in the country where the language is spoken and studying it at one's home country.

Two of the most important arguments (that I can think of) supporting the study of language in the country where it is spoken is that it allows people to use/practice the language with people at the same level, for instance in the circumstance I mentioned above, wherein the only way we can communicate is by using Japanese. This is directly related to the second argument, which is the fact that there is a real need to communicate.

I really do think that such exposure is helpful for people learning a language.


Another random entry, lol