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How much is enough? | ||
Tags: Language Level Satisfaction | Fluency | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5206 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 9 of 16 30 March 2015 at 10:56am | IP Logged | |||||
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I agree that the short answer is "it depends", but I think it's often lower than you think it is.
I was at a music festival in France, and my knowledge of French at the time was basically high school level plus Pimsleur and some stuff from french.about.com, so something like A1 or A2. My friends and I met a group of French people and I had a great time chatting to them and trying to use my basic French while sharing a few beers. Looking back, I must've been painfully bad at the time and had awful pronunciation, and the conversation was mostly limited to small talk, but it was still fun and it's an experience I wouldn't have had without that amount of French, which despite being low, was still (1) higher than any of my friends' and (2) higher than the English level of some of them. Then again I've had plenty negative experiences, even with a much higher level; I think that my anecdote has a large element of being in the right place at the right time, but I'm just using it to make my point that sometimes even a basic level can allow you to meet and socialise with people. Overall it just depends on the situation and the people. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| chaotic_thought Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 3541 days ago 129 posts - 274 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Dutch, French | Message 10 of 16 30 March 2015 at 11:52am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think people have to remember than communication is not 100% about the language you use. The actual words we use and how well we use them becomes more and more important as you get into deep concepts and technical ideas, but for basic human-to-human communication I have the feeling that the importance of the actual words goes sharply downward. Instead it's the "chemistry" of the people that makes a difference.
Just as some examples I remember learning some languages to a very basic level and basically having 0 experience in communication with these languages. Communication with most people failed, but with some people it is simply easier to reach a human connection. Not because of the words so much but because the other person looked at me like a person, and I looked at her like a person. I guess I'm saying that at the end of the day we're not just language generating machines; we're people. Approach people on that level first. The words you use are like a poem that you use to reach the human essence of the other. One other technique that is helpful - if you're communicating with people who don't know English, but you know basic proficiency in their language. In that situation I find it helpful to make use of written material more often. Bring a notepad around with you so you can write a lot of words down. This was the only way I was able to understand some people in Vietnam, because my ears are quite bad at hearing the differences between words in their language. But if I wrote it down they would usually let me know if I was on the right track. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| basica Senior Member Australia Joined 3535 days ago 157 posts - 269 votes Studies: Serbian | Message 11 of 16 30 March 2015 at 12:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree. I was on a flight back from Japan - knowing only a smidgin of Japanese but I was able to "converse" for the last couple hours of the trip back. Lot of hand gesturing and and looking up words in our respective dictionaries - but it was a fun experience definitely. If the right factors are in place, people will try to communicate even with 0 skills in each other's language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5235 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 12 of 16 30 March 2015 at 12:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
I'm assuming here that you are using the word factoid correctly? "A piece of unverified or inaccurate information that is presented as factual" 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4706 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 13 of 16 31 March 2015 at 4:18am | IP Logged | |||||
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Of course. That's exactly how I'm using it.
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| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4948 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 14 of 16 02 April 2015 at 1:20am | IP Logged | |||||
Based on my personal experience, it doesn't really work to just dive in and talk about the geo-political brinkmanship in Crimea, the legacy of the Norman or Moorish conquests of England and Spain on the vernaculars, the search for pockets of anti-matter at the edge of our Hubble Volume, or exchange ideas weather current capitalism as being applied currently in large swaths of the globe is actually capitalism. Maybe I'm just in the wrong environment and I acknowledge that, I don't meet many highly educated women, but it's just how it is! :) ps - Oh, and I use "women" because as much as I stand 100% with my Gay and Lesbian friends, I am 100% straight and that isn't changing ;p Edited by outcast on 02 April 2015 at 1:23am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| maydayayday Pentaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5218 days ago 564 posts - 839 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, SpanishB2, FrenchB2 Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Persian, Vietnamese Studies: Urdu | Message 15 of 16 15 April 2015 at 10:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
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In my view enough is enough when your circle of friends/colleagues don't actually mind , notice or actually care that you don't get every single nuance eg.
There are a fair contingent of Spanish people who've worked with me who will use the phrase "Stupid boy" (okay they sometimes substitute Girl) ... which is a quote from a BBC TV series Dads Army where someone has done the wrong thing or made a minor mistake.. overall in the right accent (BBC English) it isn't meant to be perjorative, but means we can fix it. or to the point where your L2 is better than their use of your L1, and you don't correct every single flaw. After major briefings/debriefings we always pick each other up on big slips and flaws but we feel it important that the audience know that you are not delivering in your mother tongue, and sometimes not even in your 2nd: you own that content! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4657 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 16 of 16 16 April 2015 at 6:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I would be content with C1, or what I consider C1 to mean, in Spanish. Any other language and I would be happy with conversations that are relaxed, varied and enjoyable for both parties.
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