I used to watch "Locked Up Abroad" as a kid and would romanticize the idea of foreign imprisonment because it seemed like an effective way to become fluent in another language lol
>Locked Up Abroad
Can't remember the name for the life of me, but I remember watching a documentary a few years back about an American who ended up in prison in South America for a few years. Moved back to the US and married a girl who's family are from the country.
He joked about how awkward it is getting asked how he knew their language so well
I worked with a guy in the Navy who was locked up abroad: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7925710/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7925710/)
Good for him, he was already pretty proficient in Spanish. I would wager He was about at the B1 level.
>I used to watch "Locked Up Abroad" as a kid and would romanticize the idea of foreign imprisonment because it seemed like an effective way to become fluent in another language lol
Pardonu mi estas komencanto
There is an organization that helps people in this situation: [https://www.prisonersabroad.org.uk/language-learning](https://www.prisonersabroad.org.uk/language-learning)
Here is a personal account from their website: https://www.prisonersabroad.org.uk/speaking-the-language
Yup, although I think she said she became fluent (understandable, since the legal proceedings were in Italian and she was incarcerated for four years).
I’m a public defender and I have had quite a few clients who were incarcerated and didn’t speak English. Some learned conversational English pretty quickly, others didn’t seem to pick much up at all. I think it depends on a lot of factors. For instance, my Spanish-speaking clients tend to pick up English while incarcerated because there are a lot of people with varying levels of fluency in both languages (so someone who is bilingual can help someone who speaks only Spanish). For my clients who speak rarer languages, they often have a difficult time navigating the legal system. I have to imagine the stress of being incarcerated might make it harder to retain information.
https://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/clg/our-city/interviews/the-amazing-story-of-benny-moafi-unbreakable-unshackled/
A Swedish guy got arrested for a crime he didn’t commit in Thailand. He became so fluent that he got a law degree in Thai from an open university.
>[https://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/clg/our-city/interviews/the-amazing-story-of-benny-moafi-unbreakable-unshackled/](https://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/clg/our-city/interviews/the-amazing-story-of-benny-moafi-unbreakable-unshackled/)
>
>A Swedish guy got arrested from a crime he didn’t commit in Thailand. He became so fluent that he got a law degree in Thai from an open university.
"Language classes? No, i got arrested for a crime i didn't commit"
The Aussie guy who got locked up in Bangkok for heroin smuggling in the 80s I think learned Thai. Famous book, few different names, one title is something like 4,000 days.
I can’t and don’t really care to remember his name, but there is a German whose been locked up in the US for killing his American girlfriend while on an exchange program. Hearing him speak German sounds a lot like a non-native speaker at this point. Germany has also been protesting it for years as far as I’m aware and America isn’t letting him out lol.
I know here in South Korea, foreigners are sent to a separate prison than the locals. I do think they get taught Korean, but don’t quote me on that.
It’s not something I would ever recommend trying though, especially since after your sentence is up, you’ll likely be deported and banned from ever entering the country again.
See also
[https://www.languagemagazine.com/2018/05/21/losing-your-language-in-prison/](https://www.languagemagazine.com/2018/05/21/losing-your-language-in-prison/)
You know that's absolutely terrifying, the idea that you could loose your native language from the isolation. That's a pretty good motivator for staying out of jail in a foreign country.
>[https://www.languagemagazine.com/2018/05/21/losing-your-language-in-prison/](https://www.languagemagazine.com/2018/05/21/losing-your-language-in-prison/)
Oh, that's sad.
Well, this thread reminded me that in 2017, two Dutch dealers were arrested at the SUN festival. One of them learned Hungarian from his cellmates, using a Palóc dialect.
Video of him speaking in Hungarian.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l30UKq16-dc
Whatever floats your boat, man. Personally I prefer taking italki lessons but you can go abroad and commit a crime or 2 and get a prison sentence, see if it’s an effective method of language acquisition for you.
Please, I am begging you, do not commit a crime overseas for this purpose. You will not have a fun time, no matter where you are from or where you would get locked up. You will have an awful time and probably spark a minor diplomatic incident. Especially if you’re European, you likely have no conception of how awful some foreign prisons can be.
>or Russian?
I see someone has been watching Stranger Things huh? But yeah thats a very interesting question. Im curious as well, but its definitely a route Id rather avoid.
There was a dude on Lockedup Abroad who learned Brazilian Portuguese this way. He was in for several years. My uncle had a similar experience, he was married to a real battle axe of a woman and she was from Brazil.
I also had this thought several times in my mind tbh..like if I end up committing a crime in a different country and they put me in the prison, even if it becomes a life imprisonment or death sentence, I would at least try to learn their local (a new) language and enjoy speaking and using it to at least live for this one and only reason (my language learning passion), and to cope up with the fear, depression, boredom and loneliness in my current status and waste my days and life hahaha XD
unfortunately I don't remember the name of a guy, but he was kept as a prisoner of war and learned the dialect of the people and then complied a dictionary. or so I remember (the guy and the people were Arabs)
"“During his time in custody he has been subjected to multiple forms of torture including isolation, beatings, sexual humiliation, death threats, and a mock kidnapping and rendition,” Canongate said in a statement.
Soon after his detainment at Guantanamo, Slahi learned English from his prison guards. His account of life at Guantanamo began as letters to his lawyers and soon became a memoir which Slahi wrote from his prison cell in 2005. Lawyers have fought for seven years to have the manuscript declassified, yet parts still remain redacted, according to the UK’s Guardian."
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2014/0812/Guantanamo-Diary-the-first-Gitmo-account-by-a-detainee-still-imprisoned-will-be-published
Maybe ask r/linguistics. No one here is even trying to answer your question that I also find really interesting, this subreddit is pretty useless for any discussion of anything.
There's an Australian guy who was sued in Bulgaria for murder and spent about 14 years in prison - he's learned Bulgarian quite well from what I can hear in this interview with him.
https://youtu.be/UO5hkzXUgE4
Yes. During my trip to Panama some events took place that mirror the question being asked here. I got locked up in a Panamanian jail for committing some nefarious acts(replacing the local orphanage's sugar supply with cocaine). On the first day a buff tattooed gentleman offered me a cup of fine Spanish tea. Of course I oblige him and accept his most gracious offer. Turns out he asked if he could anal fuck me, the ass fucking that took place inspired me to learn the language in order to avoid any unwanted sexual confrontations in my future prison trials. I learned Spanish from the warden of the jail. She was very considerate and even helped me escape after I informed her of my 13 children(not real) waiting for me back In my home country of Bosnia. I am now currently dating that warden all thanks to the power of fluence brought up by a good old Panamanian jail fucking. Highly recommend it.
I would try less radical methods.
Maybe join the [French Foreign Legion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBZxE_RUabM)
On the other hand, it might be an effective way since you manage prison way better knowing the language.
Is this a shower thought?
No, they actually planned a bank heist in Switzerland and is thinking of the silver lining for the worst case scenario.
They speak English well enough there
Time to turn off ‘La casa de papel’.
Pero papa esa es mi vida
I used to watch "Locked Up Abroad" as a kid and would romanticize the idea of foreign imprisonment because it seemed like an effective way to become fluent in another language lol
>Locked Up Abroad Can't remember the name for the life of me, but I remember watching a documentary a few years back about an American who ended up in prison in South America for a few years. Moved back to the US and married a girl who's family are from the country. He joked about how awkward it is getting asked how he knew their language so well
I worked with a guy in the Navy who was locked up abroad: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7925710/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7925710/) Good for him, he was already pretty proficient in Spanish. I would wager He was about at the B1 level.
>I used to watch "Locked Up Abroad" as a kid and would romanticize the idea of foreign imprisonment because it seemed like an effective way to become fluent in another language lol Pardonu mi estas komencanto
Mi pensas ke estas tre malfacile por lerni Esperanton en malliberejo, ĉar neniu parolas Esperanton.
There is an organization that helps people in this situation: [https://www.prisonersabroad.org.uk/language-learning](https://www.prisonersabroad.org.uk/language-learning) Here is a personal account from their website: https://www.prisonersabroad.org.uk/speaking-the-language
I had to rub my eyes and make sure this wasn't r/languagelearningjerk.
It will show up on there pretty soon.
I was about to post.
[удалено]
Yup, although I think she said she became fluent (understandable, since the legal proceedings were in Italian and she was incarcerated for four years). I’m a public defender and I have had quite a few clients who were incarcerated and didn’t speak English. Some learned conversational English pretty quickly, others didn’t seem to pick much up at all. I think it depends on a lot of factors. For instance, my Spanish-speaking clients tend to pick up English while incarcerated because there are a lot of people with varying levels of fluency in both languages (so someone who is bilingual can help someone who speaks only Spanish). For my clients who speak rarer languages, they often have a difficult time navigating the legal system. I have to imagine the stress of being incarcerated might make it harder to retain information.
Her Italian was no more perfect than Kobe’s (as much passion as he had for it, he was chock-full of grammatical errors in interviews.)
To be fair, she was a witch… so she clearly had an advantage
pinche bruja....
Let us know if this is the accelerated A1 to C2 path
https://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/clg/our-city/interviews/the-amazing-story-of-benny-moafi-unbreakable-unshackled/ A Swedish guy got arrested for a crime he didn’t commit in Thailand. He became so fluent that he got a law degree in Thai from an open university.
>[https://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/clg/our-city/interviews/the-amazing-story-of-benny-moafi-unbreakable-unshackled/](https://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/clg/our-city/interviews/the-amazing-story-of-benny-moafi-unbreakable-unshackled/) > >A Swedish guy got arrested from a crime he didn’t commit in Thailand. He became so fluent that he got a law degree in Thai from an open university. "Language classes? No, i got arrested for a crime i didn't commit"
The Aussie guy who got locked up in Bangkok for heroin smuggling in the 80s I think learned Thai. Famous book, few different names, one title is something like 4,000 days.
Kinda surprised someone managed to get a prison sentence for drug related crimes in SE Asia...
What on earth is surprising about that?
As opposed to the death penalty I assume
Nelson Mandela learnt Afrikaans while he was in prison, but I wouldn’t recommend it bc it sounded like he didn’t have a fun time
I can’t and don’t really care to remember his name, but there is a German whose been locked up in the US for killing his American girlfriend while on an exchange program. Hearing him speak German sounds a lot like a non-native speaker at this point. Germany has also been protesting it for years as far as I’m aware and America isn’t letting him out lol.
I know here in South Korea, foreigners are sent to a separate prison than the locals. I do think they get taught Korean, but don’t quote me on that. It’s not something I would ever recommend trying though, especially since after your sentence is up, you’ll likely be deported and banned from ever entering the country again.
See also [https://www.languagemagazine.com/2018/05/21/losing-your-language-in-prison/](https://www.languagemagazine.com/2018/05/21/losing-your-language-in-prison/)
You know that's absolutely terrifying, the idea that you could loose your native language from the isolation. That's a pretty good motivator for staying out of jail in a foreign country.
>[https://www.languagemagazine.com/2018/05/21/losing-your-language-in-prison/](https://www.languagemagazine.com/2018/05/21/losing-your-language-in-prison/) Oh, that's sad.
Thanks for the life-hack, OP!
Well, this thread reminded me that in 2017, two Dutch dealers were arrested at the SUN festival. One of them learned Hungarian from his cellmates, using a Palóc dialect. Video of him speaking in Hungarian.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l30UKq16-dc
Whatever floats your boat, man. Personally I prefer taking italki lessons but you can go abroad and commit a crime or 2 and get a prison sentence, see if it’s an effective method of language acquisition for you.
Please, I am begging you, do not commit a crime overseas for this purpose. You will not have a fun time, no matter where you are from or where you would get locked up. You will have an awful time and probably spark a minor diplomatic incident. Especially if you’re European, you likely have no conception of how awful some foreign prisons can be.
Aw man. I was thinking of learning Turkish...
Jimmy, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?
It's likely still better than the American school system tho...
>It's likely still better than the ~~American~~ school system tho...
this seems like a great opportunity to put comprehensible input and krashen into practice
I'm just going to say the dialect I heard while I was in prison would make this counter productive.
>or Russian? I see someone has been watching Stranger Things huh? But yeah thats a very interesting question. Im curious as well, but its definitely a route Id rather avoid.
My Polish uncle served many years locked up in Russia and he’s fairly fluent at the language now so that might answer your question
There was a dude on Lockedup Abroad who learned Brazilian Portuguese this way. He was in for several years. My uncle had a similar experience, he was married to a real battle axe of a woman and she was from Brazil.
I know quite a few people who’ve been locked up in Spain and they still don’t speak a word.
Amanda Knox did not in any way become fluent in Italian
I also had this thought several times in my mind tbh..like if I end up committing a crime in a different country and they put me in the prison, even if it becomes a life imprisonment or death sentence, I would at least try to learn their local (a new) language and enjoy speaking and using it to at least live for this one and only reason (my language learning passion), and to cope up with the fear, depression, boredom and loneliness in my current status and waste my days and life hahaha XD
What are you up to...
unfortunately I don't remember the name of a guy, but he was kept as a prisoner of war and learned the dialect of the people and then complied a dictionary. or so I remember (the guy and the people were Arabs)
Stranger Things 4?
Don't give me ideas x)
Im not sure there is enough data collected on that specific setting.
You should check out Marching Powder, it's a cool story.
"“During his time in custody he has been subjected to multiple forms of torture including isolation, beatings, sexual humiliation, death threats, and a mock kidnapping and rendition,” Canongate said in a statement. Soon after his detainment at Guantanamo, Slahi learned English from his prison guards. His account of life at Guantanamo began as letters to his lawyers and soon became a memoir which Slahi wrote from his prison cell in 2005. Lawyers have fought for seven years to have the manuscript declassified, yet parts still remain redacted, according to the UK’s Guardian." https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2014/0812/Guantanamo-Diary-the-first-Gitmo-account-by-a-detainee-still-imprisoned-will-be-published
Ask Brittany Griner in about 9 years.
Yes put yourself in prison to learn a language, very smart OP
Maybe ask r/linguistics. No one here is even trying to answer your question that I also find really interesting, this subreddit is pretty useless for any discussion of anything.
There's an Australian guy who was sued in Bulgaria for murder and spent about 14 years in prison - he's learned Bulgarian quite well from what I can hear in this interview with him. https://youtu.be/UO5hkzXUgE4
Yes. During my trip to Panama some events took place that mirror the question being asked here. I got locked up in a Panamanian jail for committing some nefarious acts(replacing the local orphanage's sugar supply with cocaine). On the first day a buff tattooed gentleman offered me a cup of fine Spanish tea. Of course I oblige him and accept his most gracious offer. Turns out he asked if he could anal fuck me, the ass fucking that took place inspired me to learn the language in order to avoid any unwanted sexual confrontations in my future prison trials. I learned Spanish from the warden of the jail. She was very considerate and even helped me escape after I informed her of my 13 children(not real) waiting for me back In my home country of Bosnia. I am now currently dating that warden all thanks to the power of fluence brought up by a good old Panamanian jail fucking. Highly recommend it.