A relocation from Switzerland represents language-learning or improving opportunities. A recent study reveals that most continental Europeans can speak a second-language, while under a quarter of British adults – and even less American adults – can’t. it’s an encouragement to all of you, multilingual or not, who are moving overseas: See this as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. The smartphone revolution Learning a foreign language has never been more easy. If you have a, smartphone or a tablet, you have access to language-learning resources that linguists and learners alike could only have dreamed of a few decades ago. Free language courses like Duolingo introduce gamification into language-learning.Furthermore, although penpal services like Interpals have been around for a while, new mobile apps such as HelloTalk make engaging with native-speakers socially as easy as any other modern social-platform. The range of tools you have available can prepare you to achieve an intermediate level of understanding of the language even before touching down in your new home. A positive impact on your professional career and personal growth Certain careers will benefit more from local-language learning; but even if you are self-employed, language ability increases your market of potential customers. Moreover, if you aren’t moving for career-related reasons, you can still benefit from engagement with the local language in a variety of other ways. For example, repeated studies show that cultural training, and specifically language-learning, have a positive psychological impact in that they reduce the time necessary to adjust to a new destination. This seems obvious, learning the local language allows you to not just engage with a potentially wider social circle, but also makes the day-to-day practicalities of living abroad significantly easier, even if it is just buying groceries. Consider the language difficulty Another important consideration that is imperative to bear in mind is language difficulty. So all this really means is that you have some idea from the outset roughly how much time investment the local language would actually require, and what that would demand of you on a weekly basis. The US Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has created a helpful index of languages, by their relative difficulty for native English speakers that you may want to refer to for this purpose. How relocation can speed up your language learning capacity One of the most consistent findings from all studies on language teaching techniques is that immersion speeds up learning ability. Therefore, relocation offers you an opportunity even those studying back home don’t have: The ability to immerse yourself in the language every single day. The latest neurological research shows that immersion not only makes you learn faster, but allows even adult students to attain native speaker brain-patterns. This means that understanding the language on its own terms, i.e. not simply translating from your native language into the one you’re learning, is more achievable. Again, it is important to view these aspects of your relocation as opportunities rather than burdens. Many students of foreign languages would jump at the chance to live in a country where it is spoken natively, so take advantage of this. Thinking about relocation? Contact us and get a free moving quote.