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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
 Mae Trilingual Octoglot Pro Member Germany Joined 4976 days ago 299 posts - 499 votes  Speaks: German*, SpanishC2*, Swiss-German*, FrenchC2, EnglishC2, ItalianB2, Dutch, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Swedish Personal Language Map | Message 17 of 18 09 July 2012 at 2:55pm | IP Logged |
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Splog, I know what you mean!
I thought I could speak French well, until I moved to a francophone region. There I needed to re-learn the language, because "school French" didn't help at all. So I started to ask my colleagues at work what this or that meant, when they used expressions I didn't understand. Just keep asking questions! Of course this is annoying, but sooner or later you'll get the grasp and it will be fun! It just takes time. Going out with my colleagues to "their" local bars and discos were the key. It also helped to take dancing lessons (or whatever other hobby-related thing you like to do). And of course read the yellow press, watch trash TV and listen to conversations when you're riding the bus. There you could catch a few new expressions too. ;-) This worked so well, that after 6-8 months I had to concentrate to use proper French when having a formal conversation. It took me a few months to be able to use formal language properly again. But now, I really enjoy watching French movies or French TV! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| bela_lugosi Hexaglot Senior Member Finland Joined 6439 days ago 272 posts - 376 votes Speaks: English, Finnish*, Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish Studies: Russian, Estonian, Sámi, Latin | Message 18 of 18 01 June 2013 at 10:33pm | IP Logged |
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All of this sounds so familiar to me... When I first moved to Italy, I was fluent in the language but rather unfamiliar with the culture itself, so obviously I had a lot to learn. Living in the culture was probably the single most useful thing I've ever done in terms of language learning because in the first two years or so I learned something new literally every day!
I'd watch local news, old films and sitcoms on TV, and always find an unfamiliar word or cultural reference that I would later go and look up on the internet. I was interested in everything related to the cultural background so I read massive amounts of books and talked to all kinds of people in order to learn more. It worked! I am fairly confident that now I know the basics - not all, but enough in order not to be completely lost when in a group of Italians who start to talk about something way beyond the obvious. :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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