The Museum of Knowledge team is often asked if students can really learn a language at home. How necessary is it to travel abroad? And will travelling abroad help linguists to perfect their skills? Our answer is simple. The best way to learn a language is to learn and understand language structure, grammar and syntax. The act of travelling abroad will not necessarily give students these basic and fundamental skills.

Learning a language with structured learning courses is the only way to truly learn and understand the language. The act of travelling abroad should help students to accentuate their key skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. It should also enable students to put into practice the theoretical skills they have learnt in a classroom environment.

The key to learning a language is to have a good foundation and understanding of the structure of the target language and how it should be communicated. Even if students travel abroad and speak the language, this does not have the value of structured learning whereby grammar is the focal point of all language learning principles.