4. Practise with someone online before you travel
One huge misconception in language learning is that the best way to learn it is in the country. I have met so many English speakers living abroad who learn nothing and gravitate towards other English speakers that prove this is far from true.
The trick is to hit the ground running, so you can already speak a little. Starting from scratch in a country is way more likely to lead to issues and giving up.
As such, you can speak every day right now thanks to Skype. My favourite is the site italki (friend me by signing up through http://fi3m.com/italki) that connects you with professional teachers who live in the country itself, so they charge you local rates, rather than in pounds for instance. I've even had excellent teachers in languages like Chinese for just ￡4 per hour!
Benny says that you must be prepared to learn 'Tarzan talk' - where the gist of the sentence is there, but perhaps the formation is not quite correct
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School life of students in a military college
PLA soldiers operate antiaircraft guns in drill
Mysterious “sky road” in Mount Dawagengzha
J-11 fighters in air exercise
Top 16 Chinese cities with the best air quality in 2014
PLA helicopters travel 2,000 kilometers in maneuver drill
PLA soldiers conduct 10-kilometer long range raid
Stars who aced national exams
Hefei-Fuzhou railway line put into trial operation
Pan-democrats must choose wisely for HK
China's latest air quality threat ground-level ozone
Duped by extremists
Rolling through timeDay|Week
