To Learn a Language, Learn About the Country - IELTS Writing Task 2 Argumentative Essay

The essay, ‘To Learn a Language, Learn About the Country’, is about language acquisition and the cultural understanding that comes with it. This topic would probe you with the question whether it is the cultural and social understanding that is very important. With this topic, you will get to know if one needs to learn the language or if one can be linguistically competent through formal learning alone. From the analysis of the sample answers, you understand how to brainstorm relevant ideas, organize arguments in paragraphs that are logically coherent, and put your opinions with examples. 

With such IELTS Writing topic, you will be able to discuss issues related to cultural immersion, different communication styles, and usage of language in real life through globalization and formal education. In this way, you will be able to get closer to your desired band scores.

Brainstorming Tips for ‘To Learn a Language, Learn About the Country’

Brainstorming ideas is crucial for IELTS Writing Task 2 to save time and increase task response, coherence, and lexical resource band scores. Remember to not just start attempting or writing the essay and note down your ideas before you start answering. Since you would only have 40 minutes, you need to give yourself 5 minutes to ideate. The following are the brainstorming techniques that you will find useful to learn how to generate ideas in 5 minutes.

Question - IELTS Writing Task 2 Argumentative Essay ‘To Learn a Language, Learn About the Country’

Structure Breakdown for ‘To Learn a Language, Learn About the Country’

To get an IELTS Band Score of 8+, it is recommended that you create an outline before you start writing on the topic ‘To Learn a Language, Learn About the Country’. This will give you an idea of what ideas you must include to strengthen your answer quality. Remember to practice with the timer on so that you get familiar with it. The following includes the structure breakdown for the IELTS Argumentative Essay which will guide you to generate ideas quickly and write a coherent essay.

Curious to know How to Write Body Paragraphs in IELTS Essay? Check out the video below!

Sample Answer 1 on ‘To Learn a Language, Learn About the Country’

In today’s advanced world, the trend of learning new languages is gaining a lot of popularity. Some people suggest that it is essential to understand the culture, traditions, and lifestyle of the people from a certain region in order to learn their language, while others disagree. However, I firmly agree with the former statement.

To begin with, some people opine that it is indispensable for an individual to understand the culture & traditions behind a specific language because, without the knowledge of certain words, a language can’t be spoken fluently. It will bring in a lot of misconceptions, even if there’s the slightest variation. For instance, an individual must be conscious of the words used while communicating in a new language. If any term is misspelled or misunderstood, it might create chaos among the country’s people who own the language.

Furthermore, an individual must have in-depth knowledge and awareness about the cultural values of a country, the lifestyle of local people residing, and the traditional aspects of the specific language to be more accurate while communicating. Speakers should also understand the mindset of local people and use proper slang and idioms accordingly in their communication. Thus, people need to understand the customs of a country before learning the language.

However, in today’s interconnected and independent world, it is not necessary for an individual to learn about a culture to learn a language. With the help of modern translation softwares and applications, they can easily translate and communicate with others in any language.

Conclusively, understanding the culture, traditions, and lifestyle of people in a country is more important in order to learn a new language and be proficient in it. Further, it should be a priority for beginners. In my perspective, I believe that a language is better learned when we are aware of the country, its culture, traditional aspects, and the lifestyle of the people who speak it.

Vocabulary for Sample Answer 1 on ‘To Learn a Language, Learn About the Country’

• Priority

Meaning: the fact or condition of being regarded or treated as more important than others.
Eg: John’s priority is his business.

• Reside 

Meaning: have one’s permanent home in a particular place
Eg: Students residing outside India need not take part in the event.

• Misspell

Meaning: spell a word wrongly
Eg: She had an excellent flow in her speech until she misspelled a word.

• Chaos

Meaning: complete disorder and confusion
Eg: The tragic accident created a lot of chaos among the public.

• Misconceptions

Meaning: a view or an opinion that is incorrect because these are based on faulty thinking or understanding.
Eg: Several people had misconceptions about the vaccine.

Sample Answer 2 on ‘To Learn a Language, Learn About the Country’

Learning a new language is not just about learning vocabulary and grammar but it requires being acquainted with the context in which that language is spoken. I partially agree that getting to know the country, its culture, and the people’s ways of living is a prerequisite for the mastery of a language. Being culturally aware helps to facilitate communication and gives the learners a chance to use the language in a significant manner.

To start with, cultural understanding can make a person’s comprehension and communication skills much better. For example, idioms and common expressions often reveal the unwritten social norms and the hidden aspects of the culture. A student, who is familiar with these subtleties, will be able to understand the meanings with greater accuracy. With this knowledge, they would respond in the right way rather than going for a word-for-word translation. Moreover, the exposure to the culture can lead to a considerable improvement in the listening and reading skills. This is because a person will be able to look for the right context cues which would be based on the behaviours and traditions of society.

By familiarizing with the lifestyle of the locals, one can easily integrate language usage in real life. For instance, understanding the ways of greeting, asking and sharing one’s views would help a person feel secure in their interaction with others. This cultural knowledge contributes to the vocabulary increase since the learners come across words and expressions that would otherwise be rare ones in the textbooks. Thus, getting to know the cultural and social context of a language will be a point where theoretical knowledge and practical usage meet.

To conclude, the process of mastering a language is related to understanding the country, the culture, and the lifestyles of its native speakers. Such cultural awareness has the effect of increasing comprehension, facilitating communication, and allowing an individual to use the language in a natural way.

Vocabulary for Sample Answer 2 on ‘To Learn a Language, Learn About the Country’

• Acquainted

Meaning: Getting familiar with something
Eg: Tourists tend to get acquainted with the local customs during their stay.

• Prerequisite 

Meaning: Something that is needed beforehand
Eg: Good communication skills are a prerequisite to the positions of management.

• Subtleties

Meaning: Minute details
Eg: John is a good observer due to which he understands the subtleties of classical paintings.

• Context cue

Meaning: Clue in the text or situation
Eg: In the meeting, the manager was looking for context clue to point out the unspoken problems.

• Integrate

Meaning: To mix
Eg: Modern learning process integrates traditional teaching environment with online classroom.

Explore more topics to think critically, analyze your perspectives, and present arguments while including coherence to an advanced level. With such practice sessions, you can strengthen your vocabulary, sentence structures, and organization of ideas which would help you to achieve a higher band score in the IELTS Exam. Continue to prepare yourself with essays like this one so that you can gain essential argumentative writing skills like reasoning, evidence selection, and structured expression.

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