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More comfortable with non-natives? | ||
Tags: Non-native Speakers | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Tupiniquim Senior Member Brazil Joined 6083 days ago 184 posts - 217 votes  Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: English, Russian | Message 9 of 11 12 December 2012 at 1:30pm | IP Logged |
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I remember Iversen posting a couple of times about how he thinks language classes aren't very efficient. I strongly agree with him, especially when it comes to internalizing each other's imperfections. That's why I tend to avoid non-native emissions. Edited by Tupiniquim on 12 December 2012 at 1:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4622 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 10 of 11 12 December 2012 at 1:49pm | IP Logged |
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I have a few friendships that were established in German with non-native speakers. I suppose it's like being in a comfort zone when talking to these people, you know the language isn't going to be an issue and if there is something you want to say but can't quite manage, there is time to find an alternative route.
Talking to natives can - depending on the subject of conversation - be more overwhelming. But being pushed and stretched is also a learning experience. I often find that something comes out wrong and you immediately realise your mistake, but the conversation has already moved on, the other person understood what you meant therefore the error wasn't that bad. That's a good sign of progress, when you can hold your own with natives. It's stupid to compare your own level with that of a native, because, well in my case anyway, they don't match up. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6703 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 11 of 11 12 December 2012 at 3:10pm | IP Logged |
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The good thing about non-native speakers is that they use fewer words, speak more slowly and in shorter sentences, and they may have a pronunciation which even can be too careful and clear for comfort (unless they deliberately slur to hide their errors). Therefore an advanced second language learner may be easier to understand than a native speaker.
Alas, those people who feel they have to go to languages classes would typically be mediocre or even beginners, and you would definitely not want to emulate their errors. So in the worst cases it is a pain to communicate with them, and even if they are so advanced that you can can understand them they will still be bad examples for you. So unless I am speaking to a truly advanced learner I would tend to apply some kind of internal brake which prevented me from copying his/her pronunciation or idioms. With native speakers you can mostly let down your guards and just trust that they know their language. And listening without reservations bodes for a more efficient, but maybe also harder learning experience. Edited by Iversen on 13 December 2012 at 10:08am 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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