5.2.2. Carrying the language sessions into real-life encounters

Whatever you learn with your LRP, you now reinforce in your social visiting. Suppose you are learning to talk about farming, or perhaps some small aspect of one type of farming. You have taken appropriate photos and discussed these in detail with your LRP. You now go on social visits planning to reinforce what you have learned. It will not be good to give the impression that this is all you have come for. Remember the exchange theory. You are building relationships. As you give of your time in normal social visiting, there will be intangible benefits to the people you visit. The very interest you show in people's lives and needs can be one of these intangible benefits to them. You may also provide tangible benefits. At the same time, you will make it clear that you are receiving benefits from them whenever they help you to learn more of the language and culture, and during most visits you devote some time to this. This might mean getting out those farming photos and discussing the things you have just learned to discuss with your LRP. As you become really thick with people and incur lots of obligations, you should be more daring in getting help with your language learning from your friends. For example, you might find two of your friends together and clip a lapel microphone on each of them, attached to your pocket stereo recorder, and get them to discuss the pictures. You can make a game of it, for example, where one person “thinks of a picture” and the other tries to guess which one. In this way you can expand your collection of tape recorded conversations which you can listen to privately to reinforce what you are learning. The point is, be a friend. Give a lot. Get a lot (including a lot of help with language and culture learning).