fezmond Groupie Korea, South Joined 4861 days ago 72 posts - 78 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Korean, French
| Message 1 of 5 09 March 2015 at 5:43am | IP Logged |
I've got my DELF B1 exam in just under two weeks and I'm worried about the speaking part
of the exam.
My main problem is that I cannot speak in a very fluid manner. I'm one of those learners
who worries about accuracy more than fluidity and I need to get out of the habit.
Are there any tips from others in a similar situation? If I have a few beers first, the
French seems to flow a lot easier. I suppose it's probably not a good idea to have three
or four cans before the exam though.
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luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7140 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 2 of 5 09 March 2015 at 3:12pm | IP Logged |
If you can have a few beers with the people who will be judging you, that would probably be ideal.
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obsculta Newbie United States Joined 5755 days ago 36 posts - 83 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 3 of 5 09 March 2015 at 6:19pm | IP Logged |
Before taking my C2 Spanish exam, I felt like I always spoke to quickly, stumbled too much and had too many circumlocutions. I decided to pretend like I was Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto, because he speaks slowly and deliberately, and articulates clearly. His mouth clearly forms each vowel in an almost exaggerated fashion. This 'character' helped me for the presentation part of the exam, and gave me a lot of confidence. During the back-and-forth banter part of the exam, I was just myself, although when I wanted to make an argument or present a point forcefully, I could always go back into Peña Nieto mode.
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Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4944 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 4 of 5 09 March 2015 at 10:53pm | IP Logged |
I recommend getting rid of French for the two weeks till the exam. Immerse yourself in
Spanish as much as you can, to keep thinking in it. Speak to yourself and continue
with any kind of practice you are having. And don't panic, that is the most important
part.
And when you are there, don't panic (It doesn't hurt to repeat this one). If you make
a mistake, correct yourself (or not if you realize it far too late) but don't let it
spoil the rest of your ten or fifteen minutes. Getting nervous because of a mistake is
a bad idea as it will both damage your fluency and increase the amount of mistakes
you'll make. Remember, the examinators are taking note whether your mistakes are
rather isolated or systematic and it makes a difference.
I really like Obsculta's exemple :-)
edit: I found the link to an awesome resource I had been looking for! Here is an
official guide to the exam, you might like to listen to the audio exemple and read
what all are the examinators looking for and how they are supposed to grade you. I
think you might be nicely surprised by the audio. Really, the examinators do not
expect absolute miracles at the B1, it's usually the students who are too demanding of
themselves. I think your chances are higher than you think, if you just don't panic.
We cannot drink beer everytime we need the language, no matter how much it helps :-)
And don't overthink it at the exam, those thoughts like "ouch, I made a mistake here
and another one there adn I don't feel I sound fluent", that is the way to the hell at
any level, in my opinion.
http://diplomas.cervantes.es/informacion/guias/materiales/b1 /guia_examen_dele_b1.pdf
Edited by Cavesa on 09 March 2015 at 11:00pm
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garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5142 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish
| Message 5 of 5 10 March 2015 at 11:15am | IP Logged |
I've not done a B1 or B2 exam but I know people who have, and at that sort of level I don't think they're expecting a high level of fluidity.
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