Being bi-lingual is a beautiful thing. Whether you’re doing it to improve chances of entry into college or graduate school, advance your career, enhance your travels, expand your arsenal of cliché pick-up lines, or just out of pure enjoyment, the benefits of learning a foreign language are enormous.
Can you learn a language back home by reading a book, taking a class, or using a language partner? Sure, but from someone who spent all of last year learning Chinese in Beijing, there’s no better way to really learn a language than by living and immersing yourself in the country in which it’s spoken.
There are certain aspects of a language which can only be learned through experience. How to interact in formal settings, typical slang usage among friends, and terms of respect and authority that are aspects which are only understood through constant exposure in everyday situations – exposure you can’t get in the U.S.
So yes, if your singular goal is to pass a test and get certificate saying you’ve reached a certain level, then by all means, keep studying a book. But if your goal is to really learn a language, to understand its ties with culture and history, and to embrace it as a native speaker would, you should study a foreign language while you’re abroad.