Language learning

[yello]

Personally, I was rubbish in English at school, until I went on a school exchange in England and met an English girl I fell in love with, which changed my attitude to learning English drastically, but that's another story.

This reminds me of a local garagiste (Dutch by birth) who learnt English at school in France. He too said his English was rubbish (despite being Dutch/French bilingual) until he went to the UK with his then girlfriend, now wife. Her English is apparently better than his and whilst I have never spoken to her in English, it's clear her understanding of me is, at least in part, due to her knowledge of English (if that makes sense)

Off tack a little but I remember a Spanish friend once telling me that she understood my Spanish because she spoke English - that really pulled the rug out from under me! I think she meant she understood my unusual phrasing and, perhaps, inaccurate word choice. Still, talk about demoralising!

 

[nickyboy]

Yup, you do kinda have to take opportunities to practice on people; cab drivers and the like. It does feel a little like using them (particularly for someone like me who is, by nature, not the most talkative/social!) but it does pay off. Not just in terms of practice and learning, but also in terms of taking the tension out of a situation. Which is actually something else to keep in mind; speaking a foreign language is not just about you.

When you speak to a native speaker, they are instantly aware that you are not a native speaker. No matter how good you might be, your accent and stress patterns can give you away. This, in itself, introduces uncertainty and someone listening to you can become aware/stressed at the possibility of miscommunication. They actually start listening for mistakes (not consciously) in a kind of self fulfilling prophecy way. Those very same mistakes could be glossed over/auto corrected by them if they didn't have this perception of you. That, in turn, can cause you self doubt - you begin to doubt you're own ability.

These days, when I am misunderstood (and it is a matter of when not if), I repeat myself. I don't get anxious and attempt to rephrase. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but the point is not to assume you've gotten it 'wrong'

My French is pretty crap in truth but I speak it naturally, without anxiety, and it gives the impression that I'm pretty good at it. In fact, other non-French speakers think I'm fluent. I'm far from that but I can chat. Remember, most of understanding doesn't come from the words. Trust yourself to understand and trust in your own abilities, at whatever level they are.

This introduces the whole other topic of how do you speak English when talking to an non-native speaker. At the risk of banging on about China all the time, I would often be there for a couple of weeks. In that time I would have loads of meetings which were well beyond my Chinese ability so I'd have to rely on translators. So I'd have no native to native English for a couple of weeks. To make life easier for everyone, I would fairly dramatically change how I spoke English. Keep everything in the present tense ("yesterday I go to the shops"), simplify vocabulary, speak slowly etc etc. It's actually pretty hard work

The problem was when I came home. It would take me a couple of days to stop speaking like this to my wife. She said it sounded like I had suffered a brain injury while abroad

 

[yello]

And conversely (keeping your English basic) I keep my French basic when I speak it. I avoid using French expressions or colloquialisms (despite knowing them) or indeed swearing, because I feel it could sound 'wrong' and just distract.

I recall watching 'Grand Designs' and the presenter (Kevin McCloud??) speaking pretty good French but throwing in one too many, at least I thought, phatic French-isms. It came across as unnatural to me and somewhat contrived. He didn't need to do it, what he was saying was perfectly understandable, and I wondered how they were perceived by the people he was speaking to. I'm undoubtedly being unfair and he was probably doing it as much to boost his own confidence as anything else, and that's cool. Still, it stuck with me and I decided not to do similar.

 

[neil_merseyside]

Annecy and the area is a beautiful part of France. You will love it especially the rides. You can ride all around the lake and also the mountains if you fancy more of a challenge.

Go clockwise for easier gradients around the lake, I'm fitter now and the route for bikes (it was just road) may be better now, but I'm mentally scarred from doing it wrong way initially...

 

[glasgowcyclist]

If you're not making mistakes, you're not learning that language.

As the Italians say, “Sbagliando s’impara”.