What is a share house?
A share house is a rental property where multiple people share one home.In a typical share house, residents share common spaces such as the kitchen, bathroom, toilet, and living room, but each has their own private room to ensure privacy.
One of the advantages of living in a share house is that the initial and monthly costs are lower than those of renting a regular property. Also, if you are new to living alone, it is a good idea to live in a share house at first, as it allows you to live in peace until you get used to your new environment.
When choosing a share house, you can also decide based on the concept of the property. For example, there are various types, such as interactive types where you can socialize in the living room, cost-effective types, types where people with the same goals or hobbies gather, properties that allow pets, properties for seniors, and so on.
There are also international exchange-type share houses where foreigners of various nationalities can live. Of course, Japanese people can live there too. They are popular with people who are interested in going abroad and want to acquire an international perspective and English skills.
The benefits of living in a share house with foreigners
International share houses offer more opportunities to use English in your daily life, so they are recommended for people who want to improve their English skills. So, what are the specific benefits? We will explain from the perspective of people whose goal is to learn English.You can easily learn English without going abroad
In order to learn English quickly, it is necessary to create an English environment as much as possible. In addition to studying at English schools and online English conversation classes, you can improve your English by actively participating in events where you can interact with foreigners and increasing the opportunities to converse with them.If possible, go abroad alone and experience life using English, which will help you acquire more practical English skills.
However, going abroad requires time and money, so it can be hard to plan your trip freely. That's why an international share house allows you to learn English without having to go abroad.
You can practice your English by actually speaking with foreigners.
By increasing your opportunities to speak English with foreigners, your listening and speaking skills will improve. You can then use the English you have learned in school to acquire usable English.The way to improve your English is to both input and output. By speaking with foreigners in a share house, you can practice the English you have input in school classes, which will allow you to output more of your English.
It's easy to lose motivation if you only input English grammar and vocabulary, but if you use an international exchange-style shared house, you can actually practice the English you've learned, so you can have fun learning English without getting discouraged.
You can interact with residents who want to learn English.
People who choose to live in an international exchange share house often have the same goal. In addition to people who want to improve their English, people who have lived abroad for a long time, people who love traveling abroad, people with foreign partners, and other types of people who have connections abroad gather here.If you want to improve your English skills, in addition to studying the language, you will be able to absorb English more quickly if you also understand foreign cultures, customs, and values of foreigners.
By living in a share house with an interest in other countries, you can expand your circle of communication with people who are interested in learning English and those who are interested in going abroad. If you are thinking of traveling or studying abroad, it is also a chance to get information about various countries.
Tips for choosing a share house to improve your English
Self-study time is also necessary
International share houses do provide an English-speaking environment, but whether or not you can make the most of this environment depends on the individual tenants.The foreign residents of shared houses are not English teachers, so they will not be able to teach you English according to your schedule.
To make the most of an international exchange-type share house, you should be proactive in communicating in English in the shared spaces, and use the rest of your time for self-study to input English.
The learning environment is not consistent
Share houses are a popular property style these days, so there is a lot of turnover among tenants. In the case of foreigners who do not have a permanent residence in Japan, some use share houses as a short-term stay when traveling abroad.Therefore, your English learning environment may change if foreigners you have become friends with or people with whom you can converse easily in English move away.
Understanding Different Cultures
You will be able to interact with people of various nationalities and experience different values and cultures.In Japan, people rarely think about being Japanese, but in an international exchange-style share house, there are more and more situations where you can really feel that you are Japanese.
It's an opportunity to reexamine your values and gain a new perspective, allowing you to grow as a person in a way similar to traveling abroad.
On the other hand, there are cases where problems arise due to differences in values, so communication methods need to be flexible and compromised.
Is there a system in place to help improve English conversation skills?
Some international exchange share houses are run by the management and have events and opportunities for interaction. By getting away from your usual living environment and participating in party-like events, you can also expect to improve your English conversation skills.Even though they are all called international exchange type share houses, there are many different types, so it is a good idea to take a look around before making your decision.
Are there opportunities for international exchange?
If you are in a shared house with foreign residents, you can communicate in English at any time if you speak to them and encourage them to interact with you.However, even if a property is listed as accepting foreign residents, there are cases where no foreign residents actually live there. If you are interested in international exchange or learning English, we recommend that you view the property once or check with the management company about the nationality ratio before making a decision.
Share house related basic English
Here we will introduce some basic English related to shared houses.- shared house
- roommate/roomie/flatmate: someone living with someone else
- house rent/rent: rent
- Deposit: Security deposit
- bond: security deposit
- Budget
- bill: electricity, gas, water bill
- Furnished: Furnished
- unfurnished: no furniture
- Amenity: Comfortable room environment
- notice
- refundable：Refundable
Useful Phrase Book
Here are some useful English phrases to use when searching for rental properties in English.I was wondering if I could come for inspection of the room for rent in the advertisement.
What's included in the rent?
Would you pay me back the deposit when I will move out? Will the deposit be returned when I move out?
How many people are in this house? How many people live in this house?
Improve your English skills in a share house
There are share houses with a variety of concepts, and share houses with a lot of foreign residents offer a chance to improve your English skills.If you are planning to study abroad or are considering choosing an English conversation school, we recommend that you try using an international exchange share house.
