I agree with the statement that says “Studying the English language in an English-speaking country is the best but not the only way to learn the language. Many people believe that studying the English language in an English-speaking country is the best way to learn the language because non-english speakers are able to live among native speakers. By being around native speakers in their daily lives, non-english speakers have a higher chance to improve and strengthen their speaking skill by speaking face-to-face with the native speakers and they have access to daily conversations in English. Comparing it to when non-english speakers study the English language in a non-english-speaking country, they are hindered to engage in conversations that are crucial for their speaking and listening skills because they don’t have a partner to talk to in English.
Furthermore, learning in an English-speaking country might boost your self esteem to speak in English because people around you also speak in English, therefore you are less likely to feel scared of being judged when speaking in English. Unfortunately, cases where people want to try to speak in English but end up not doing so because they don’t have the courage to do so happen a lot. In a lot of developing countries, where most of the people aren’t familiar with English, the locals are demanded to speak with their local language to preserve their culture and to strengthen their country’s identity as a developing country that is rich with culture. For instance, in Indonesia, local teachers have continuously told their students to speak in Indonesian and not English, because English is seen as something that has a potential to wash away the Indonesian culture.
Those two main reasons above have proved why it’s best to learn English in an English-speaking country, because you are able to engage and listen to conversations in English and are able to speak in English without being judged. However, learning in an English-speaking country might be a big challenge for some people, especially when it comes to the cost of living. It is a common knowledge that English-speaking countries such as America, England, Singapore, Switzerland have a really high cost of living. Therefore it might be hard for people coming from developing countries to study the language in English-speaking countries. Fortunately, nowadays other alternatives such as online dictionaries, social media, and online games exist to help people to learn English. Through social media such as Tiktok, Instagram, and Whatsapp, people are able to watch videos in English, which helps to boost their listening and understanding skills. Online games also exist as a platform for people to chat in English with other players.