AUSTRALIA - ADELAIDE

In the second blog I want to talk about how I am dealing with a different language during my exchange semester.

A semester abroad in Australia also has a clear advantage - English is the main language spoken in Australia. As a result, I haven't had any language problems during my stay so far. I learnt my first English vocabulary at primary school at the age of ten and have been speaking the language for over twelve years now. Although, apart from the basic English you learn at school, you don't need to speak it that much at home. And because I had flatmates from different countries before I came to Australia, I found that my English improved a lot because I had to speak it every day and about different things. So, my English was pretty good before I came to Australia. It's easy to speak and understand people here, even though they have their own 'Aussie' slang. Of course, back home, with all the different dialects to understand, it can be quite difficult to understand two Australians talking to each other. They like to abbreviate words, they don't speak properly and they usually speak really fast. But all in all, everyday life in English is very easy and no problem at all.

I was really surprised how open people are here around. You don’t really have to start conversations in the kind of formal way with strangers like they are back home. People are talking about random stuff for a few minutes with you while you are just waiting for the bus. In these small conversations I learned to get more comfortable with talking to people I don’t know in English and, I got to know the different slangs and dialects from people around Australia better. I also don’t have to think about how to translate in my head anymore. Of course, I still catch myself sometimes pronouncing some words completely wrong or have problems with choosing the right grammar, but all in all, it gets better every day.

I was really surprised how open people are here around. You don’t really have to start conversations in the kind of formal way with strangers like they are back home. People are talking about random stuff for a few minutes with you while you are just waiting for the bus. In these small conversations I learned to get more comfortable with talking to people I don’t know in English and, I got to know the different slangs and dialects from people around Australia better. I also don’t have to think about how to translate in my head anymore. Of course, I still catch myself sometimes pronouncing some words completely wrong or have problems with choosing the right grammar, but all in all, it gets better every day.

For me, as a person who does not like to talk a lot with strange people, I have to say that I got more comfortable and can express myself more easily with the English language now than I thought in the beginning. The language itself makes a conversation so much more chilled and easier to keep on going then the German language.

On the other hand, I have learnt a lot of new vocabulary during my semester work at university. I didn't have an English studio at the university in Liechtenstein, so I never had to learn the specific English words for architectural work. Talking to the tutors during the design phase wasn't difficult, but sometimes I had to describe my meanings with similar vocabulary and couldn't say what I meant directly. And also, during the presentations, I felt very confident and sure about talking in English. After that, I learned a lot of new English words in my professional work as an architect, which will help me a lot in the future of my career.

Thinking back to the beginning of my journey here in Australia, I have to say that I have become much more confident in speaking English and have been able to practice the grammar of the language while speaking. I have really got used to speaking and thinking in this language and can express myself and what I want to say better than before. Other than that, I don't get to learn a new language like the other exchange students, but I am happy to improve my English skills a lot here.