Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Meeting People on the Street

  Tags: Conversation
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
11 messages over 2 pages: 1
Siberiano
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
one-giant-leap.Registered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6253 days ago

465 posts - 696 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English, ItalianC1, Spanish
Studies: Portuguese, Serbian

 
 Message 9 of 11
29 November 2010 at 11:21pm | IP Logged 
I tried this many times and can assure you that listening and trying to contribute to their thread is a waste of time. If you can jump into and start contributing - that's fine, but it's not the criterium.

I suggest the following: look if they are really deep in the conversation. If so, don't bother them. But if they're sort of bored, looking around, this means that your interruption and attention will be appreciated. Then you might even disregard their topic and start with what you can say. (Well, you might need to adjust this to the local culture.) Think of it this way: does it happen to you that you talk to your friend just to maintain a talk, feeling it's not very interesting? Look for this in the others and just join them and entertain them.
1 person has voted this message useful



vickyyuchi
Newbie
Taiwan
Joined 4878 days ago

14 posts - 17 votes
Speaks: English

 
 Message 10 of 11
09 December 2010 at 2:34pm | IP Logged 
I would love to join the conversation if my participation is natural. Personally, I would take it as a rude behaivor to suddently interrupt or cut in others' conversation. If the situaiton and context not allow me to join, I would just stay where I am and try to see how much I can understand their talking. Then, try to pretend I am joining the conversation. In other words, when I hear a sentence and I get the menaing of that, I would try to imagine, if the speaker is speaking to me, what would I say, seeing if I could make a repondse or say something in my target leanguage. I think that's a good way for me to practice my target language abilities without embarrassment.    

Edited by vickyyuchi on 09 December 2010 at 2:35pm

1 person has voted this message useful



tracker465
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5112 days ago

355 posts - 496 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch

 
 Message 11 of 11
12 December 2010 at 7:06am | IP Logged 
I live in a small town in America, but even in this town, there is some diversity. The owner of the gas station is allegedly from Pakistan but he speaks German as well as his native tongue. Some of the workers at this gas station are from Nepal. In addition, there are plenty of Mexican people around, as well as some Bosnians here and there. I try to follow the same strategy as some of the other people here have mentioned. I will be friendly, and after I know that the people recognize me, I will ask for a name and where the person is from. It is almost like becoming a regular at a bar. If the person can speak a target language of mine, then I usually try to say a few words when I go into the place, and sometimes the person will teach me a few words. Since I am learning Spanish, I want to take my acquaintence with the Mexican people at a local pizza shop to the next level to really improve my speech, but I haven't found a good transition method as of yet.

Regarding random people in the street. This would depend on how big of an area you live in and how rare the language is that you are learning. Every summer, tons of tourists come into my area. If I heard someone speaking German, for instance, at Wal Mart, I would approach and strike up a conversation. Then again, I am of a conversational level with it. On the other hand, my Spanish is terrible, and besides that, there are tons of Spanish speakers in my area. Therefore, I would not randomly approach one of these people and try to start a conversation.

If the language is rare or not widely spoken in your area, and you want language practice, this is what I would do (and have done before). Approach the person, and tell them that you are learning language x, yet are not very far along with your studies. Introduce yourself, and find out if they are local. If they are, offer to pay them $10 and a coffee (or whatever price you feel is worth paying) to meet you, once a week, at a local coffee shop for an hour to help you practice your language. I have done this before, and have been quite successful with it, and if someone asked me to do this with English, I would. The reason this technique works:

1) People like making easy money
2) If the language is a bit uncommon for one to learn/is not widely spoken in the area, the person may be intrigued as to why you want to learn it




1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 11 messages over 2 pages: << Prev 1

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 7.2188 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.