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Spoken language startup time | ||
Tags: Silent period | Difficulty | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| gidler Senior Member Finland Joined 6634 days ago 109 posts - 118 votes  1 sounds Speaks: Finnish* | Message 1 of 8 13 December 2006 at 6:32am | IP Logged | |||||
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Whenever I need to converse in English, it takes maybe about five minutes for my English to "start up". Before that, my listening comprehension is much worse than usually, my accent a lot heavier and my speech stuttering. This doesn't apply to written language, with which I have never experienced anything like this. I haven't paid attention to how long it takes for my spoken English to then turn off after a conversation is over.
I am just imagining it? Has anyone else experienced something similar? I guess it could be a psychological thing. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| brian00321 Senior Member United States Joined 6609 days ago 143 posts - 148 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 2 of 8 13 December 2006 at 6:57am | IP Logged | |||||
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I experience the same things when I speak Spanish. Everytime I speak it
seems like everything that I've learned just flies out the window. I choke on words, sentences, can't comprehend things well, and a bunch of other stuff. I hate it. My German isn't too bad though. It's kind of automatic when it comes to listening. When I speak it's a little bit delayed, but not as bad as my Spanish. Maybe you should try "thinking" english more often when you walk around the house or something. Maybe watching a bunch of movies will help with your comprehension. Well I hope the best works out for you. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6905 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 8 13 December 2006 at 7:12am | IP Logged | |||||
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The situation described is very familiar to me too.
This "runup time", as I'd like to call it, grows shorter the more you use the language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6779 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 4 of 8 13 December 2006 at 7:23am | IP Logged | |||||
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The first two or three sentences I utter in Japanese on a given day can be a bit rough. After that, things usually go pretty smoothly. It takes my French a little longer to get going, as I haven't had enough practice in it for a few years.
As for comprehension, both my aural and written comprehension in Japanese can take a few minutes to warm up. Reading in particular might require 5-10 minutes to acquire the right frame of mind. Edited by Captain Haddock on 13 December 2006 at 7:26am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6901 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 5 of 8 13 December 2006 at 7:50am | IP Logged | |||||
Any language I speak first thing in the morning is a bit rough and monosyllabic. :p I find switching to Dutch first thing in the morning is a real chore at times as I'm not much of a morning person to begin with. I usually try and get myself thinking in Dutch before I try to say anything. I often have a bit of trouble switching back to Dutch after spending too much time speaking in English or after calling my grandmother (who's Spanish) but this problem is slowly solving itself with time. I do hate the fact that some days Dutch seems to come fairly easily while other days, I can't even formulate the most basic of sentences (particularly when I'm feeling under the weather). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| onebir Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7174 days ago 487 posts - 503 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin | Message 6 of 8 13 December 2006 at 8:13am | IP Logged | |||||
I have the same experience, and it used to frustrate me. Now I just try take use it as a sign that I'm not feeling 100% that day, and need to take it easy... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| gidler Senior Member Finland Joined 6634 days ago 109 posts - 118 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Finnish* | Message 7 of 8 13 December 2006 at 9:00am | IP Logged | |||||
Ok, good to hear I'm not the only one. :)
Um, did you read my whole post or just the accent/stuttering/etc part?-) Anyway, I'm not sure if I think even in Finnish but indeed speaking and listening more would most likely shorten the runup time as Hencke suggested. After the five minutes I don't usually have any trouble except for some rough edges in my spoken English - something I expect will disappear soon after my migration to Scotland in 2007. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Frisco Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6867 days ago 380 posts - 398 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Italian, Turkish, Mandarin | Message 8 of 8 13 December 2006 at 10:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Oh yeah, this is completely normal. It always takes me a few minutes to warm up and speak smoothly. The exception seems to be when I've had a few drinks. I agree it's a psychological issue.
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