Living in a country where you have to speak a foreign language can cause serious social problems, as well as practical problems. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

It is often argued that eliminating the language barrier for expatriates is a demanding task, resulting in major difficulties in social interactions and everyday situations. Having said that, however, I completely disagree with the given assertion on the basis of some compelling reasons. Firstly, it is beyond doubt that recent pedagogical approaches have revolutionized the way learners are taught a foreign language, thereby facilitating communication. That is, linguists and language experts nowadays place a great emphasis on fluency rather than accuracy which enables non‐native speakers to convey their intended message more effortlessly. A good illustration of this paradigm shift in linguistics is the emergence of communicative language teaching methods which as the name suggests focus on getting across the meaning successfully. With this end in view, communication in a second language or a lingua franca is no longer seen as an insurmountable barrier for the people living abroad. Secondly, modern lifestyle has minimized and even obviated the need to speak with others when carrying out daily and necessary tasks. To put it differently, it is no longer required to have face to face contact with the people in charge to get what we want. Take self-service stores which are common throughout the world for example; regardless of the language they speak, customers have the possibility to purchase their groceries and other basics without even having to talk with anyone. Therefore, even foreigners can live overseas without feeling obliged to use their linguistic abilities. To conclude, it is my firm conviction that speaking another language apart from one’s mother tongue in a foreign country is highly unlikely to create severe problems. This is mainly because teaching techniques have improved significantly and people are no longer forced to communicate with others when receiving a service or making a purchase.