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Finding Holes at B2/C1/C2

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21 messages over 3 pages: 13  Next >>
Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5000 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 9 of 21
12 March 2014 at 9:05pm | IP Logged 
A good hole finding exercise is to take a notebook with you and write down a diary, your
thoughs and so on during the day. Try to express yourself freely. And you should see
quite easily what you are missing. And, as you've got the notebook where you are writing,
you can easly write down what to look up at the nearest opportunity so that you don't
forget to do it later and you cover the gap.
3 persons have voted this message useful



Gemuse
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4073 days ago

818 posts - 1189 votes 
Speaks: English
Studies: German

 
 Message 10 of 21
12 March 2014 at 10:06pm | IP Logged 
Here is another related issue I am facing. Since having had started to pay more
attention to writing forum posts (english), I am discovering I am having to had edit
sentences several times to get the English right (did I get this sentence right?).

This is fine for writing, but I cannot do that while speaking. And I end up sounding
like B1.
1 person has voted this message useful



osoymar
Tetraglot
Pro Member
United States
Joined 4727 days ago

190 posts - 344 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Portuguese, Japanese
Studies: Spanish, French
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 11 of 21
13 March 2014 at 5:54pm | IP Logged 
@Cavesa That is absolutely one of the best techniques for intermediate-advanced
learners, but if it were me, that wouldn't be useful for the advanced level, where I
have tools to express myself but want to expand my range. I tend to revert to the tried
and true (but awkward) unless I really force myself to get out of my comfort zone.

To be fair, I haven't tried this specific technique at the level we're talking about-
just relating to my experiences speaking, writing emails, etc.- so maybe this targeted
writing approach would be helpful.

@Gemuse, I'm not sure I understand your problem. Can I ask if English is your first
language?

If you're trying to express complex thoughts, even in your first language, it's common
to have difficulties. If you can only express thoughts at a B1 level in your native
language (while sober), that would be extreme but potentially imaginable.

This might also be a topic for a different thread, but since I don't really understand
what you're getting at it's hard for me to say.
1 person has voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
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Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
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 Message 12 of 21
13 March 2014 at 8:08pm | IP Logged 
No, Gemuse mentioned being a non-native in another thread.
1 person has voted this message useful



Gemuse
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4073 days ago

818 posts - 1189 votes 
Speaks: English
Studies: German

 
 Message 13 of 21
14 March 2014 at 1:56pm | IP Logged 
Serpent wrote:
No, Gemuse mentioned being a non-native in another thread.


This is correct, as can be seen by the absence of the star next to English.


PS: I dropped by English fluency level to basic in the profile, and changed it to
"actively studying", but still in threads it is not displaying English in the Studies
field (however, in my profile it is displayed right)
1 person has voted this message useful



Bao
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5
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2256 posts - 4046 votes 
Speaks: German*, English
Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin

 
 Message 14 of 21
14 March 2014 at 2:41pm | IP Logged 
Basic fluency + studying is displayed as 'speaks'.
1 person has voted this message useful



luke
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7196 days ago

3133 posts - 4351 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Esperanto, French

 
 Message 15 of 21
14 March 2014 at 3:17pm | IP Logged 
sctroyenne wrote:
Does anyone have suggestions for exercises or activities that will help uncover what I'm missing?


Can you read a monologue written by a woman out loud in public forum and say, "This morning when I was putting on my makeup...", and not have to add "well, not me", point at the book, and explain to your audience "her", to make sure they don't think you do girlie things?



Edited by luke on 14 March 2014 at 3:19pm

1 person has voted this message useful



sctroyenne
Diglot
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5382 days ago

739 posts - 1312 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Spanish, Irish

 
 Message 16 of 21
14 March 2014 at 5:45pm | IP Logged 
A lot of great exercises here! I was thinking of starting to do regular
résumés/sythèses of articles I read but I think doing them orally is great as well.
Also not neglecting how to express myself better with everyday language (which tends to
get neglected with advanced language materials and courses).

luke wrote:
sctroyenne wrote:
Does anyone have suggestions for exercises or activities
that will help uncover what I'm missing?


Can you read a monologue written by a woman out loud in public forum and say, "This
morning when I was putting on my makeup...", and not have to add "well, not me", point
at the book, and explain to your audience "her", to make sure they don't think you do
girlie things?



I'm not completely sure what you're getting at here (plus I'm prone to doing some
"girly" things since I'm a woman).


2 persons have voted this message useful



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