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12 Topics to Fluency | ||
Tags: Fluency | Learning Strategy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6597 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes  4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 17 of 39 19 January 2007 at 2:35pm | IP Logged |
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What about politics? and also weather forecasts... just realized I don't know the English for atmospheric pressure, well perhaps if I had to use it I'd really say something like that, but it would be clear I'm not sure if that's the right word...
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| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7205 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 18 of 39 19 January 2007 at 5:38pm | IP Logged |
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And handling phone numbers and prices that are rattled off at a million miles per hour.
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| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 19 of 39 20 January 2007 at 5:44am | IP Logged |
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Politics and weather sound like reasonable topics, so long as we're avoiding the jargon of specific political systems. (I think you can be fluent without knowing what gerrymandering is.) "Numbers" is probably too narrow to qualify as a conversational topic.
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| janalisa Triglot Senior Member France janafadness.com/blog Joined 6890 days ago 284 posts - 466 votes Speaks: English*, French, Japanese Studies: Russian, Norwegian | Message 20 of 39 20 January 2007 at 9:54am | IP Logged |
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Wow, this is an amazing idea-- why haven't I thought of this before? I'm all ready to go and try it now.
Quote: ""Numbers" is probably too narrow to qualify as a conversational topic." True, but what about mathematics? You probably wouldn't need to know specialized calculus terms, but basic things like add, subtract, multiply, divide, square root, etc-- and how such terms are used in sentences-- would probably be important to know. There's also music (i.e. key, harmony, tune, chorus, lyrics, names of instruments, etc), and the arts (i.e. sculpture, calligraphy, watercolor, exhibit, etc.). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sabrina Bilingual Tetraglot Newbie Denmark Joined 6651 days ago 36 posts - 36 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written)*, Danish*, French, English Studies: German | Message 21 of 39 21 January 2007 at 8:25am | IP Logged |
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My list:
1. Fashion — Clothes, trends, shapes, patterns, materials, colours etc. 2. Economics — Prices, markets, currency etc. 3. Religion, Philosophy and Psychology — God, spirituality, life, religions, views of life, moral, reality, beliefs, mood, depression, death etc. 4. Health — illnesses, infections, injuries, blood, hospital, dentist, doctor etc. (May not be an attracting topic for those of us who aren’t educated doctors.) 5. Narrative — summary of a book, movie etc. Character development, story progression etc. Descriptions etc. 6. Cuisine — taste, food, drinks, smell, etc. 7 - Travelling and Transportation – Countries, cities, train, ship, plane, trips, beach, directions etc. 8 – Computers, Internet and Devices – Computer, laptop, Internet, mouse, keyboard, e-mail, chat, forum, screen, website, machines, cell phone, phone, TV, etc. 9 - Society and Politics – Democracy, culture, equality, development, to vote, president, etc. 10 – Nature and Biology – Animals, plants, geology, etc. 11 – Games and Sports – Dice, cards, football, swimming, riding, etc. 12 – Astronomy, Physics and Weather – I know they are not related at all, but I don’t think everyone should be able to explain how Einstein’s theory of relativity works, but a basic vocabulary as the names of the planets, moon, sun, (aliens ), atmosphere, wind, pressure, rays, drought, etc. are required. 13 – Mathematics and Units of Measurements – Miles, yard, meter, cm, pound, kilo, minus, plus, divide, multiply etc. 14 – History – war, past, future, events, a basic history of your own country and your target language’s country’s history (I know, the last one may be hard for learners of Spanish) 15 – Art – Music, painting, literature, tastes etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7205 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 22 of 39 21 January 2007 at 2:14pm | IP Logged |
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Your five best assets and five greatest liabilities.
The questions and answers for a job interview seems apropos as well. By the way, I like Sabrina's list above. Maybe we should also include helpful examples in the target tongue for the topics. Books targeting a high school student and not necessarily works from an advanced university curriculum may be more helpful for those of us who haven't "made it" yet. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6597 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 23 of 39 18 February 2007 at 1:59pm | IP Logged |
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What about (at least basic) linguistics? I think it's important to be able to ask questions about your target language in your target language. If linguistics isn't particularly interesting to you, it's probably enough to know such words as noun, tense, participle etc.
My list: Religion, health, travelling, computers&Internet, astronomy, linguistics, music (only from a listener's point of view) - as advanced as possible Fashion, cuisine, mathematics, sports, photography, art, history - not advanced, but basic knowledge is not enough either Economics, politics, military, physics/chemistry/biology/geography/weather - basic This is mostly based on the way I can handle such subjects in my mother tongue, and it's by no means a must for everyone, especially astronomy and photography. Edited by Serpent on 18 February 2007 at 2:01pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Aquilon Triglot Newbie United States Joined 6490 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchC1, Spanish | Message 24 of 39 18 February 2007 at 2:53pm | IP Logged |
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I would add something in the Profession/Job category. It's sometimes hard to explain, even in one's native language to a someone outside a specific field of work, what one does for a living. Educational systems, health and social systems, and business cultures vary even between the US and Canada, and I think it's important to be able to address (or at least ask about) those differences.
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