Writing Feedback / IELTS TASK 2: social and practical problems caused due to language barriers [3]

living in foreign countries and language issue

HI everyone! I am going to take the IELTS exam and I will be very grateful if you could give me your precious comments. I spotted several grammatical errors but I didn't correct them since I want to provide the authentic text that I have written under the time limit. The followings are the details of the topic.

Write about the following topic:

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

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Answer:

To a large extent I agree with this statement. In the following paragraphs I would like to explain what social problems and practical problems would be caused due to language barriers.

First and foremost, one of the social problems which causes difficulty in a foreign -language-speaking country is the barriers of communication. Effective communication requires mutual understanding, and this is more or less dependent on language proficiency since high level of proficiency allows speakers and listeners to express and receives ideas respectively without difficulties. A person may encounter communication difficulties if he or she is not competent enough in a foreign language. This can cause some huge problems such as misunderstanding, conflict and sometimes even verbal or physical violence.

Apart from communication difficulties, cultural differences is another issue aroused from living in a foreign-language-speaking country. Even if one could achieve a high level of language proficiency so that he or she can communicate with native speakers with difficulties, they may still encounter the cultural difference involved in language use. Take British English and American English as an example, even though they are both a variation of English and share the same syntactic and similar phonological systems, the usage of words are quite different, such as biscuit versus cookie, truck versus lorry and pavement versus sidewalk. There differences are subtle, but may sometimes be considered by native speakers as unusual, if not unnative. This may also affect the empression from others, causing some degree of discrimination.

In addition to the above two social problems, one practical problem for living in a foreign-language-speaking country is the employment issue. One cannot deny the fact that language is an important factor when it comes to finding a job in a foreign country. Not only is it about your language competence, but also about your nativeness in the language, where your accent is considered to be a reference to measure your nativeness. Truth be told, accent is one of the aspects in language proficiency that ss very difficult, if not possible, to improve. However, this may be the first thing noticed by the employer in a job interview. The accent issue, together with the aforementioned potental problems in language use, may affect how the employers view your nativeness in the language, and therefore how they consider your job application.

All in all, living in a foreign country where speaking a second is necessary could be problematic. Personally, the issues mentioned in this article should be deeply considered before moving to a foreign country.

(418 words)

Thank you for your help!