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12 Topics to Fluency | ||
Tags: Fluency | Learning Strategy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6868 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 33 of 39 17 March 2007 at 5:30am | IP Logged | |||||
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I agree with getting health and medical terms up there. When you slash your finger open, you're going going to want to be thumbing through a dictionary looking for the word "bandage."
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 Keith Diglot Moderator JapanRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6777 days ago 526 posts - 536 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 34 of 39 17 March 2007 at 7:29am | IP Logged | |||||
Because if you showed your bleeding finger to a doctor or nurse they wouldn't know what you need? I think you are right, but you need a better example. I guess anything that you would want to talk about to many people would need to be on your list. If you like gambling, then that could go on your list. If you like environmental issues, then you could study that and then be able to talk about it fluently. If you talk a lot in your native language, you could note all the different topics you talk about. If you're a quiet person then perhaps note what others around you are talking about. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6868 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 35 of 39 17 March 2007 at 7:36am | IP Logged | |||||
Ha! True, I would hope they knew what I meant. It was supposed to be a tongue and cheek example of the importance of the category. I almost cut my finger the other night while trying to chop up carrots and realized that I didn't know the word for bandage in German. Once though, in Mexico, I cut myself while shaving, and I asked my host father, "Do you have a......?" and despite the injury on my face, he still asked "A what?" Edited by Journeyer on 17 March 2007 at 7:38am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Deji Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5440 days ago 116 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Hindi, Bengali | Message 36 of 39 24 April 2010 at 1:52am | IP Logged | |||||
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Also, wouldn't fluency imply that you know the name of at least 75% of the items in a hardware store?
(I spent too much time in french in stores saying "oui, monsieur--I am looking for that thing you put on the wall and you hit it to have a place to put the line for hanging the laundry in order to dry it and also the thing to hit the object so that it will stay stuck to the wall etc etcl" I often wondered why no one lost their temper with me. I can only imagine doing that in a hardware store in New York. I kept expecting to hear ; "What is this, a quiz show?" 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5585 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 37 of 39 24 April 2010 at 2:05am | IP Logged | |||||
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Not in any particular order:
1. Events - Parties, conventions, meetings, dates, etc. When, Where, Who, What :D 2. Transportation - Cars, carpools, finding your way, fares, destinations, car parts, repairs, tuning (If you're into that) 3. School subjects - Mathematics, Science etc. I once heard A German family talking about enzyme digestion in English... crazy stuff. 4. Television/Music/Movies - Artists, your favorites, types of music, favorite actors etc. 5. Hobbies - Cars, Guns, Languages, etc. any hobby :) 6. Computers + Technology - Cell phones, texting, email, internet, television etc. 7. Weather/Time - What it's like, what it will be like, etc. 8. Requests/shopping- Ordering food, asking for service, asking for help, anything of the sort. 9. Slang- Not everything is pretty. I've been realizing how much slang there is in American English, and how someone must catch on in order to stay in conversation. I'm not sure about other languages, but for teens anyways there is a TON of slang 10. Health and Medical - Got a pain? Describe it in another language :D body parts, pains, symptoms etc. 11. Social - Greetings, Farewells, Friends, Normal everyday conversational topics (Try running through a mock conversation in your head. For everything you cannot diretly translate, study it) 12. Household vocab - Anything around the house. Cleaning a room, taking out the trash, mowing the lawn, washing the car, housing problems, calling for service, etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 38 of 39 24 April 2010 at 4:17am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think there is something wrong with these lists. You can discuss a topic very
superficially, that doesn't make you fluent. However, with the right linguistic tools, you can speak with clarity and efficiency on many subjects. For instance, "Fashion" was quoted by many. But it's not fashion that matters, it's expressing likes and dislikes, describing articles of clothing, contemplating over current trends, etc. These are the real linguistic tasks you are dealing with. You could learn 100 words related to fashion, and still there would be a huge difference between saying: "the hem on these pants looks uneven" OR "I must express my disbelief when you claim that these pants were hemmed by an experienced seamstress because the irregularity of the stitching is so apparent that it renders these otherwise sophisticated looking pants into mere jogging pants". It's not the subject that matters, but what you do with it. Unless you are merely looking to make vocabulary lists, which I don't think you are. Since you are looking for fluency, I'd make lists in a different fashion (so to speak). I'd look more for things like expressing agreement or disagreement, disbelief or expectations, disappointment or happiness, compromising or requesting, etc. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| pfwillard Pro Member United States Joined 5699 days ago 169 posts - 205 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map | Message 39 of 39 24 April 2010 at 10:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Under medical: Be able to explain your medical history--prescriptions, previous conditions, whether you're pregnant or not, how you came to have a particular scar, how long something has been growing on you, relate what other people have told you about your condition, etc--to a physician.
Under money/math: Abroad, one often needs a peculiar coin to perform common tasks like use a coin-op laundromat or a pay phone, so making change and be able to ask for extra of that coin in your change and why is good to know. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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