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How to develop conversational ability? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| asad100101 Diglot Senior Member Pakistan languagel.blogspot.c Joined 6456 days ago 118 posts - 137 votes  Speaks: Hindi*, English | Message 1 of 28 23 March 2012 at 4:03am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello, I have a problem to deal with in my language studies. i.e a lack of conversational ability in my target language that is English of course. I have been learning English for 9 years now . but not on a day to day basis . I do studies in short bursts some days I listen or watch something in English, might be a youtube video or a podcast or on other days, probably reading short articles on my favorite topics.
That's not what I'm worried about. What I'm worried about is a lack of stringing together a decent sentence on the spot. I have started traveling recently to other countries, I can pretty much understand whatever is thrown back at me at whatever speed by either fluent English speakers or native speakers. I have no issues with decoding information however where I have faced the most problem is no one understands me without asking for myself to repeat over and over again. I also feel that I am not fluent to the point where I can string sentences together effortlessly. I feel really stressed out about this. Im wondering if I can focus on some sort of intensive period of studies where I can listen to conversational dialogues or do some sort of shadowing? what techniques and materials should I focus on in order to improve my conversational ability? and perhaps pronunciation? Edited by asad100101 on 23 March 2012 at 4:08am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6583 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 2 of 28 23 March 2012 at 6:46am | IP Logged | ||
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Shadowing might be a good idea, but it seems to me your problem, or part of it, is simply constructing sentences on the spot. Have you tried self-talk? That is, when alone, try talking to yourself, describing what you do, asking silly questions to invisible strangers, and so on. Arekkusu is the authority here on self-talk, and I'm sure there's a thread somewhere with tips.
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| atama warui Triglot Senior Member Japan Joined 4702 days ago 594 posts - 985 votes Speaks: German*, English, Japanese | Message 3 of 28 23 March 2012 at 7:34am | IP Logged | ||
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Forget all the smoke and mirrors and learning techniques. You've been learning for 9 years, you can compose a forum post - go out and talk. You'll be surprised how well you will actually do.
You're WAY beyond self-talk, shadowing and other stuff like that (I find shadowing quite dubious in the first place). 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| asad100101 Diglot Senior Member Pakistan languagel.blogspot.c Joined 6456 days ago 118 posts - 137 votes Speaks: Hindi*, English | Message 4 of 28 23 March 2012 at 10:27am | IP Logged | ||
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All of the aforementioned suggestions have one thing in common and that is devoid of pressure situations. You are not really under pressure when you are doing self-study on your own. Conversing with people in the real world is a different ball game altogether. I mean, you may never know what sort of questions will be bombarded at you and how lucidly you can come up with your answers in a jiffy. This is what I was talking about earlier, simply constructing sentences on the spot which make sense grammatically and people can understand them without ever telling you to repeat yourself ad infinitum. It amazes me what's the point of listening to audiobooks, podcasts and watching movies , when, on the other hand, you can't even construct a single sentence in a real life scenario. Also, perhaps, my strong accent might be an impediment to a successful conversation. Edited by asad100101 on 23 March 2012 at 10:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kappa Groupie Japan Joined 5521 days ago 99 posts - 172 votes | Message 5 of 28 23 March 2012 at 11:05am | IP Logged | ||
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I think I'm more or less in the same situation as you are, except your English is much much better. I think those kinds of exercises are still useful and effective for advanced students. I for one could benefit from self-talk practice in my own native language... Anyway, I'll link you to the post by Arekkusu regarding self-talk, here.
If we are talking about shadowing, there's an extra thing you could try: reproduction/retention. Let's say you have a audio recording. Shadowing. Play the audio and shadow. Physical exercises tend to help (at least with memory in my experience) and Doctor Arguelles urges that you do when shadowing. I used to tackle my flash cards of classical Japanese (Early Middle to Early Modern) back in high school while doing physical exercises such as pacing, sit-ups, etc. I did better when I was engaged in some sort of physical exercise, rather than just sitting in a chair. Then reproduction/retention, you listen to the audio, pause it then try to reproduce it orally. You can start with a single sentence, then two sentences, eventually a paragraph or even more. You should make sure you do it orally, aloud, not just playing it in your mind or mumbling. I'd add dictation, too, but your listening skills seem to be great, so you probably don't need it. You can still NOT speak a word of English (or any target language) after years of study. You'll be surprised how little you could learn with inapproriate planing, methods and such... Also, speaking, like any other skills, needs to be practiced. When you don't practice it, you can't really expect to improve on that. I'd consider that self-talk exercise rather intensive and you might want to do something extensively as well. It may sound a little silly but just start with describing small things orally, saying whatever you feel, etc. And big yes, you should try to talk to people. It in itself is practice. These are not advice, I'm merely listing a few things you could do, or I would do, as I myself don't really speak a foreign language. You may also want to check out these threads: Self-teaching speaking ability Techniques used for speaking fluency? Best of luck, Kappa Edited by Kappa on 23 March 2012 at 11:16am 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5017 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 6 of 28 23 March 2012 at 11:13am | IP Logged | ||
Many who learn English as a second language go through what you are facing right now: A stage where one has excellent listening and comprehension skills, however, the corresponding speaking skills are not as developed. No need to worry. You are certainly not the first to have had this problem. Others have succeeded and so will you. You will need to communicate with other speakers eventually. So, why wait? Speaking might seem difficult at first, but it will get easier with time. Remember: Practice makes perfect. Best of luck. P.S.: @OP: Your observation on the pressure that is on you while speaking is entirely accurate. The old fashioned way to deal with this is very simple: speak with people and do not worry about making mistakes. You may make a fool of yourself at first, but this method really works. However, there is another way to simulate the pressure that is on you when you speak with others. This method is not good as conversation, but it is an acceptable compromise in the absence of conversation-partners. Watch any programme of your choice on television in your native language. You may not be able to translate all of it. You may miss words in between. Try to translate as much of it as you can. The dynamic nature of the content will train you to think on your feet. Edited by napoleon on 23 March 2012 at 11:22am 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| asad100101 Diglot Senior Member Pakistan languagel.blogspot.c Joined 6456 days ago 118 posts - 137 votes Speaks: Hindi*, English | Message 7 of 28 23 March 2012 at 1:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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@napoleon - out of the box suggestion there. So what I will do is:
Turn on any TV programme in my native language let's say a drama (because dialogs are spoken at a slow pace.) Then , I will do the translation of each dialogue in my mind as quickly possible as I can. Should I make sure that I speak them out loud as well? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| asad100101 Diglot Senior Member Pakistan languagel.blogspot.c Joined 6456 days ago 118 posts - 137 votes Speaks: Hindi*, English | Message 8 of 28 23 March 2012 at 1:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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@kappa and others.
I have come across this "shadowing" video on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFExm02qO68 P.S: I have actually watched a lot of hollywood movies and videos on youtube. I'm used to hearing American accents most of the time. However, I have a gut feeling that shadowing a "British accent" should be a lot easier for your mouth muscles since British speakers enunciate their words clearly. You can check out the above mentioned video. so, in my case, do you guys think shadowing after an American narrator would be a better option? Edited by asad100101 on 23 March 2012 at 1:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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