10-16-2021, 01:14 PM
LevelUp, have you been to the missionary training center? Because I have talked with a lot of returned missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and most of them say they were not at all fluent by the time they left the MTC. Rather, they left with enough knowledge to form the basis of further learning once they were on their assignment. Lots of folks tell humorous stories about showing up in their country, chatting up a native speaker, and then not being able to understand a single word of the response.
Many missionaries feel that they are fluent by the time they complete their mission (18 months to 2 years). However, placement tests for studying language at university upon return for the mission do not always bear this belief out. And of course there are missionaries who do not feel fluent by the end of their mission, because they are only comfortable making small talk and discussing religious topics, but do not have the vocabulary and cultural knowledge to read a newspaper or magazine article and understand what it is saying.
I'm not saying the MTC does a bad job of teaching languages. But missionaries are by no means fluent when they leave it.
Many missionaries feel that they are fluent by the time they complete their mission (18 months to 2 years). However, placement tests for studying language at university upon return for the mission do not always bear this belief out. And of course there are missionaries who do not feel fluent by the end of their mission, because they are only comfortable making small talk and discussing religious topics, but do not have the vocabulary and cultural knowledge to read a newspaper or magazine article and understand what it is saying.
I'm not saying the MTC does a bad job of teaching languages. But missionaries are by no means fluent when they leave it.
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