I have some experience on this issue from the other side of the fence. I was born in Sydney and I’ve been raised in Australia. I teach English language and I have also dated women who were Asian students at universities in Sydney. I have also lived in Korea and know what it’s like to live in a country where you don’t speak the native language.

In both situations there’s a common link between visitors who hope to learn the language but can’t seem to find a way – they are reluctant to leave their cultural comfort zone. We all have an idealised version of ourselves in mind when we imagine our life in another country. However, when we live there, it’s often much easier to make friends with our countrymen than it is to create a new social circle or foreigners from nothing. It happens on a microlevel – should I go out with my new Chinese classmates, or should I join a university club or do some extracurricular activity by myself and try making friends with strangers?

http://www.runnymedetrust.org/news/305/391/Webinar-The-Genius-of-Australian-Multiculturalism.html

Hi Khan,

Thank you very much for your encouragement and comments!

I remember I was shocked by my landlord’s wife on the first day arriving in Sydney, who speaks very limited English although she immigrated to Australia from Korea one or two decades ago. We communicated mostly by gestures and smiles. Moreover, I met a girl from China recently, who holds full scholarship for her excellence, and she was telling me her English is still very bad after having been in AU for seven years. She conducts medicine experiments at lab with other international students, none of whom are native speakers, and her supervisor is from Hong-Kong so they communicate in Chinese.

As for the desire to acquire English proficiency, I think merely the fact one wishes to be someone else, whoever speaks English natively, is a considerably psychological depreciation to one’s own identity and self-esteem. English has made them belittle themselves.

All the best to you too!

Grace

Very interesting post indeed. Before I make any comment on your post, I would like to congratulate you for beginning your doctoral journey under the supervision of Professor Piller and Dr. Takahashi. They are such wonderful scholars and I am deeply impressed with their serious commitment to giving confidence and voice to students . Lucky you. Now about your post, I think it raises some key questions: Do people really improve their language competence by living in countries where TL is spoken as first language by the majority? To what extent could they go for acquiring competence in English? I read about surgery performed on young ones in Korea in order to enable them to speak English with native accent but not about making boyfriend/girlfriend for the sake on language improvement.

I liked your summing up. Very powerful lines. Yes, the main rationale for developing language by human was cooperation( I am drawing on Habermas here)

Wish you a very productive stay,

Khan

Vera

Thank you so much for your warm welcome and encouragement!

The saying is wise! Indeed language doesnt have to be a barrier if more understanding and recognition can be built up along with genuine relationships among people.

Best wishes to your finishing up and a wonderful new page afterwards!

A warm welcome to Macquarie University and thanks for a very interesting first post!

Indeed the pursuit of language reflects the basic needs of human relationships. However as one of the local people I spoke to about language learning and settlement in Australia aptly put it: language has become a barrier without needing to be. Like you I hope your friend is lucky enough to find that elusive miracle cure!

I wish you all the best in your PhD journey and look forward to reading more on your experiences.

Thanks,
Vera