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How to prepare in advance for conversing | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| yantai_scot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4793 days ago 157 posts - 214 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 1 of 8 05 August 2014 at 5:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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After avoiding Skype all summer, next week some classmates and I (roughly A2 level)are
going to a function for visitors from our Twin town in Germany. This will be my first time speaking German outside of the classroom to a native Speaker. There will be about 50 of them. How can I/we, prepare to lessen the stress? I'm going to prepare little statements about aspects of my life- family, work (or lack of it), hobbies, the town plus some corresponding questions. I was also going to learn to ask (should I talk to a keen English speaker) if we can speak for just a couple of minutes in German for the sake of practice (as per Benny's book). Is there anything else to do or remember? They're from near Frankfurt. Firstly, I want to be friendly and give them a good impression but secondly, I want to get as much German speaking in as my brain can muster. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6666 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 2 of 8 05 August 2014 at 7:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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You are right. I think you can use a phrasebook. Then, read it aloud and talk to yourself about the topics. Use your imagination.
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| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4698 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 3 of 8 05 August 2014 at 7:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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Prepare the questions they are certainly going to ask.
Breathe in, breathe out, pretend you are German, and go. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Radioclare Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom timeofftakeoff.com Joined 4574 days ago 689 posts - 1119 votes Speaks: English*, German, Esperanto Studies: Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian | Message 4 of 8 05 August 2014 at 10:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would definitely prepare questions in advance to ask them. Maybe think about the
answers they might give and look up some of the likely vocab in advance to give yourself a headstart. If you're planning to ask them about their town, for example, you could read through the Wikipedia entries in both English and German to get an idea in advance of what they might tell you. I'm sure they will be thrilled to meet people in the UK who speak some German. They will probably be intrigued about why you're learning German, so that might be a good question to rehearse an answer to. Good luck :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5227 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 5 of 8 05 August 2014 at 11:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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Moses McCormick outlined his FLR method which gives some good questions which you might want to memorize and create some answers for. The thread is located HERE
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 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6900 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 8 06 August 2014 at 12:02am | IP Logged | ||
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This got me thinking of Boris Shekhtman's "language islands" (referred to by many HTLAL members), which basically are topics you know inside-out.
If you don't have total control of the situation, pretend like you have it. Some related links: http://andrewblackman.net/2013/04/how-to-improve-your-foreig n-language-immediately/ http://www.learnetarium.com/2010/08/novel-approach-to-learni ng-languages.html http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/08/travel/an-archipelago-call ed-russian.html http://www.learnetarium.com/2011/01/speaking-foreign-languag e.html http://www.tobefluent.com/2014/07/27/how-to-improve-your-for eign-language-immediately/ Edited by jeff_lindqvist on 06 August 2014 at 12:07am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6666 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 7 of 8 06 August 2014 at 9:32am | IP Logged | ||
The book is very good. "How to Improve your Foreign Language Immediately". Shekhtman. It's only 95 pages,but it is a gem. Thank you. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5000 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 8 of 8 08 August 2014 at 7:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think my advice on another thread could be even more relevant here. I hope you'll find some of it useful, it is based on my recent experience of spending a month in Spain and in Spanish having nearly no past speaking experience.
advice on speaking with a native Edited by Cavesa on 08 August 2014 at 7:53pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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