Host family accommodation, or living with host families, remains popular among language travel students for its advantages. These days, host families are trying to offer more in terms of quality, for they still have something to worry about.
Host family accommodation is often seen as the number-one choice for its advantages in language study, cultural communication and cost of living. Staying alongside host families enables students to get enough practice for the short time of their studying so that their language acquisition is likely to become faster. Living in host families also has the advantage for students of being able to spend a lot of time communicating with their “host parents”, and get to know the local way of life, people and culture. Another advantage is that host family accommodation can sometimes be the least expensive. It attracts students for it ensures them a family type of living at a low cost.
The advantages, however, have not prevented host families form worrying. On one hand, some host families are losing their unique selling point. The problem is that the majority of hosts in big cites, now generally single and young, have less times available for students but the selling point for host family accommodation is communication practice. One the other hand, students’ expectations have risen. They are becoming more demanding and asking for more than ever from their accommodation, as they come mainly from high socio-economic groups in their own countries.
To get out of the difficult situation, host families are now making efforts to improve the quality of service. They are trying to making living conditions better, including broadband Internet service, private bathroom, and access to plenty of hot water for long showers. They are also providing students with structured family activities.
It is believed that host family accommodation will keep the popularity vote with language travel students.

住在寄宿家庭，或者说与寄宿家庭一起生活，有其自身的优势。因而对于要提高语言 的留学生中这样的形式非常受欢迎。

住在寄宿家庭中通常是人们的首选，因为它对于语言学习和文化交流 都非常有益，而且在住宿费用方面也较实惠。与寄宿家庭一起生活，可以使学生们在为时不长的学习过程中得到充分的锻炼，从而更快的掌握语言。其次住在寄宿家庭中也利于学生与寄宿家庭的父母互相交流，从而了解当地的生活方式，了解当地的人，以及他们的文化。再者，住在寄宿家庭中的费用往往是最为低廉的。它之所以吸引学生，就在于这样的住宿方式能让学生们有家庭的感觉，而且花的钱也不多。

寄宿家庭有其优势，但依然让人不免开始担心。一方面，一些寄宿家庭正在失去他们独特的“卖点”。目前大多寄宿家庭的主人在大城市，并且通常是单身、而且很年轻。他们能与寄宿的学生相处的时间很有限。而“交流”恰恰是住在寄宿家庭最大的“卖点”。另一方面，学生对于在寄宿家庭生活的期望也越来越高了。他们在出国前，大多来自当地高收入水平家庭。因而，他们要比过去的住宿学生更为苛求。

为了走出困境，寄宿家庭正努力改善他们的服务质量。他们尝试着改善寄宿学生的住宿条件，包括提供宽带上网服务，独立使用的卫生间，以及足够的热水可供长时间的淋浴。他们也会让寄宿学生参与家庭活动。可以相信，住在寄宿家庭对于希望提高语言能力的留学生来说，依然会受到大家欢迎。