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When the beginner meets a native speaker | ||
Tags: Native Speakers | Beginner | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Matheus Senior Member Brazil Joined 5067 days ago 208 posts - 312 votes  Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: English, French | Message 1 of 8 04 October 2011 at 5:36pm | IP Logged |
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Hi, I have seen a similar thread here before, it was something like "The most effective
way to spend an hour learning a language?", but my question is a little bit different. Imagine that you're learning a language for one or two weeks, and you meet a native speaker that is willing to help you but unfortunately he is going to be available for just one week, how would you make the most of one hour a day during this period? Assuming that you're just a beginner and it's difficult to find native speakers willing to help. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5367 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 2 of 8 04 October 2011 at 5:54pm | IP Logged |
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I would spend it trying to make sentences about the things around me. We could go for walks and I'd ask him how to say this or that. I'd try to make increasingly complex sentences as I acquire the words for things around us. I'd make sure to use the time with that speaker to confirm that my pronunciation is on the right track.
EDIT: Unlike Iversen, I WOULD try to make complex sentences because, by definition, I would be more likely to make mistakes in complex sentences, and having someone to correct me would be the perfect opportunity. Edited by Arekkusu on 04 October 2011 at 8:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6689 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 8 04 October 2011 at 6:50pm | IP Logged |
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I would go for some pronunciation training plus useful informal expressions. I would not try to learn how to make complex sentences - that'll come automatically from my studies of grammar, science magazines and books. And I can also expand my vocabulary later - the problem is how to say "by the way" or "please" in a new language, not how to say "Grandfather Clock".
4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5752 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 4 of 8 04 October 2011 at 11:50pm | IP Logged |
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First of all, I'd stare like a rabbit in the headlight, and then give my best to get to know the other person and find areas of common interest. I know, that sounds quite obvious, but I for one have to consciously do that.
Then I'd negotiate that we talk about exactly one common interest, preferrably one that includes items or pictures we have access to. And then I'd talk about that topic, first probably in quiz format and then trying to form and understand increasingly complex meaningful sentences. Of course, it highly depends on the language in question. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5401 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 5 of 8 05 October 2011 at 3:45am | IP Logged |
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It's funny, because I've always had easy access to native speakers of the main languages I'm learning (Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, and recently Spanish), but I've never actually used any of these people (friends, roommates, and family members) as learning resources because I've yet to consider myself advanced enough to the point where I actually have specific questions to ask them that can't be answered elsewhere, and as a beginner, I figure that if I intend to spend time learning the basics, my time would be better spent adhering to my structured curriculum. Edited by nway on 05 October 2011 at 3:45am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6071 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 6 of 8 05 October 2011 at 10:54am | IP Logged |
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Actually the scenario your describing could happen very easily between me and Turkish! Assuming we have a common language to fall back on and I already know a modicum of Turkish I imagine
1. I'd ask them to check my pronuciation of their alphabet so I can ask how something is spelled 2. I'd also ask them to check my use of their cases (if it's another language, the prepositions) so I can describe where things are in relation to other things: on, in, around, above, next to) 3. check that I know how to identify myself and/or the other person "you/in" in a sentence. 4. Check use of question words like Ne, Nasıl -- build simple questions "what is...", "where is..." 5. Ask about a few ajectives so I can describe how I am, how I'm feeling, words like "good, bad, sick, big" maybe learn a few more "cooler" words so I don't sound like such a dork when I speak. 6. practice how to negate something, değil 7. check my usage of very basic verbs like "eat, speak, go, stop.." Actually I think I could learn quite a bit in one hour. The hard part is finding the right person willing to help. EDIT: I know this looks really basic, but it is Turkish. If I were doing this with Spanish the "lesson" would be a lot different. I could use my knowledge of French and English to help me learn more. Edited by Sunja on 05 October 2011 at 11:16am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Matheus Senior Member Brazil Joined 5067 days ago 208 posts - 312 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: English, French | Message 7 of 8 05 October 2011 at 8:11pm | IP Logged |
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To be honest it's happening to me right now, and I'm using the time to practice
pronunciation and get feedback. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Faust Newbie Canada Joined 4786 days ago 13 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 8 of 8 07 October 2011 at 12:07am | IP Logged |
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I'm currently doing that for Spanish, which I am currently studying. (Slowly, but surely!) I ask him simple things, and it turns out there are set phrases for some words I've learned so far and he's helping me by correcting the gender of the words and pronuciation.
I can't say much other than how are you? (and the formal way of how are you), I'm well so on and so forth, but it's a start. It's also a good idea to intergrate some words of another language into sentences (granted that they will work, of course) but it's a good way to get used to them and remember them for future use. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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