Liz Bertrand
by Liz Rothaus Bertrand
When tourists travel to a new country, they usually fill their itineraries with museums, monuments, and super tall buildings for a birds-eye view of it all. So much to see and never enough time, right?
But there’s another destination that should be on every traveler’s list: a local market. It’s the ideal place to immerse oneself in the culture and traditions of a particular place, alongside the people who actually live there.
Outdoor or covered, tiny or gigantic — a market provides many opportunities for language learners to practice their speaking and listening skills. From discovering new ingredients and getting recipe tips to haggling over prices and chatting about the day’s weather, each market is a beautiful microcosm that’s perfectly adapted for language learning. Here are ten tips to make the most of your visit:
Even if you’re not traveling any time soon, you can visit one of Charlotte’s local markets to discover new ingredients and find out more about our diverse community. Vendors and shoppers come from many different cultural backgrounds.
Liz Rothaus Bertrand is a French instructor at The Language Academy of the Carolinas.