Prior to my stay in Kazakhstan this summer, I had spent a summer studying the Russian language in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek. While there are many similarities between the two countries, I have found that my two experiences in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have been surprisingly different. This is because, in my view, of my homestay experience in Kazakhstan.
My trip to Kyrgyzstan was in the summer of 2022, a time more seriously reeling yet from the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, it was decided that students would not live in homestays for the summer as was the norm but would instead live in dorms adjacent to the school we were to learn Russian at. This was mildly preferable to me at the time since it was my first time going abroad alone, let alone for such a long time and with the expressed intent of largely communicating in a different language. It was a bit of a breath of fresh air to learn things would be a little more like home and I would not have to be ‘socially on’ as much for the length of the program.
However, since my time in Kazakhstan, I have seen first hand how valuable the experience of living with a homestay family can be. While I appreciated my experience in Kyrgyzstan immensely and in some ways the dorm living situation helped me acclimate more gradually to life in Central Asia, it was only after I had experienced a homestay that I realized how important and useful such an experience can be. Though I think it is fair to say Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are broadly similar countries, my experience in Kazakhstan in a homestay was one in which I had much to learn. In Kyrgyzstan, we lacked the everyday life and ‘on-the-ground’ experiences that are so key in developing listening and speaking skills. This includes talking about even mundane things like making one’s bed, cleaning one’s room, eating food, and going to the store. Living with a host family in a homestay has vastly improved my listening and speaking abilities about everyday things and has taught me a lot about what kind of things are said in everyday speech, which as one would think, is extremely important. This type of fully immersive experience has greatly improved my Russian abilities in a way that living in a dorm with a primarily English-speaking roommate simply cannot.
Although it can be more work since one is always immersed in a Russian-language environment and hearing it spoken constantly throughout the day, this kind of immersion is key to actually learning the language as well as its basic, everyday usage–arguably the most important part of language knowledge. In non-homestay study abroad situations, one is able to ‘turn off’ and one can go in and out of Russian and English-speaking environments whenever one opens or closes the door to one’s dorm. While perhaps less obstructive and easier to acclimate to, I would argue the homestay experience is superior because one is not frequently crossing that barrier between languages and is instead staying immersed in the ‘bubble’ of a Russian language environment. Simply put and standing to reason, the more one can immerse oneself in the target language, the greater one’s language gains will be. Since improving language knowledge is typically the primary purpose of a study abroad trip, I have come to strongly believe that the homestay experience is the best way to progress toward this goal.
Though it can be less comfortable at first, the initial shock soon wears off, and if you want to improve your language knowledge the most, homestays are the way to go.
Title VIII Research and Training Fellow
Fulbright-Hays Fellowship Recipient
Advanced Russian Language and Area Studies Program
Almaty, Kazakhstan, Summer 2023