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How do you handle corrections in speech? | ||
Tags: Corrections | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5008 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 17 of 37 21 August 2012 at 8:08pm | IP Logged |
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I seem to be lucky in that most of the people I talk to will correct me when I say
something that doesn't quite sound right, like an incorrect preposition. They don't say that I made a mistake; they just say what I should have said, then I repeat it, thank them if it seems appropriate, and move on. In my experience, language exchange partners tend to in fact be a lot better at this than actual teachers. I try to do the same with other people; some respond in the same way that I do, but others completely ignore my correction and often make the exact same mistake again several times in the conversation. Guess which ones tend to be "faster learners"... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4810 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 18 of 37 22 August 2012 at 9:43pm | IP Logged |
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There are two troubles here.
First is being corrected on public, which is most probably the main reason here. I quite never correct my boyfriend on public, even though he speaks worse English than I do. I appreciate he speaks one foreign language well enough to get his point across and to make the conversation enjoyable for both sides, so I do not want to make it unpleasant for him. (Instead, I slowly try to persuade him to learn second foreign language :-D ). I am not surprised your husband doesn't like being corrected on public, the more if it doesn't happen just occasionally. If your daughters kept their good intentions to your family privacy, than he might appreciate the fact his daughters are better in something than he is and that they love their father so much that they want him to impress everyone by his skills :-) I wouldn't like it as well, had I been corrected too often. As some said, I am trying to say Something, and a badly timed correction could ruin it, no matter how good are the intentions behind it. And the second thing is "how to correct". This thread made me remember two of my foreign language teachers at highschool: An English one. Obsessed with British pronunciation and stupid details (unnecessary for the beginners/low intermediates we were), including vocabulary like oysters (I wasn't the only one in class who had never eaten them but had to know the word for the vocab tests) and the official name of Great Britain with correct spelling. When someone made a mistake, no matter how small and even if he or she immediately noticed and corrected themselves, she stopped them by shouting "Wrong" or something like that, than she started explaining the mistake which lead to several related grammar/vocab/culture topics often followed by completely unrelated topics (the most common ones included her cats, the lifestyle of the Japanese or Italians, etc.). Ten minutes (or more) later, she was shouting at the unhappy person, because they have, of course, forgotten what had they been asked to say and therefore couldn't finish the sentence. The French one was the opposite. She always carefully listened to us, both the form and the content, and when the student finished the sentence, she pointed out the mistakes and eventually explained the appropriate related grammar/vocab/pronunciation/whatever. And she always managed to do it in an encouraging way. No need to say which one I prefered. Correcting someone can be done in many ways. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6710 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 19 of 37 22 August 2012 at 10:34pm | IP Logged |
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I've experienced your "English" way for German and Esperanto, and aim for the "French" way myself if/when I'm chatting with somebody on Skype/Messenger/whatever. Sometimes I don't even comment at all, other than giving responses with the right vocabulary/grammar.
The main good thing about the first way is that errors and mistakes are pointed out (at all), but the bad thing is that it might make you feel like an idiot (as if the world will explode if you won't get every single thing 100% perfect). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4810 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 20 of 37 23 August 2012 at 12:29am | IP Logged |
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Yes. And feeling like an idiot this way four hours a week doesn't make you want to speak
the language. Many of us learnt despite the teacher and the truth is that she tought us something. For exemple, I will never forget the word "oysters" even though I may never use it :-D The way with including corrections in your responses is a nice one. I've met a few people using it and it is usually very good, non-offensive and doing the job. Wait, you had such a nightmare for Esperanto?! I thought the Esperantists usually tend to be nice people but that may be just a prejudice (one of those "the French are arrogant, the Spanish loud,etc". :-) Why couldn't there be esperantists with horible character after all. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6710 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 21 of 37 23 August 2012 at 1:50pm | IP Logged |
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We had these group discussions on Skype where the conversation leader (i.e. teacher) corrected every tiny mistake during the conversation. Luckily I made no big mistakes (if any), but it was very time-consuming and distracting. He could as well have given the students an electric shock after each mistake, then they'd really learn.
I don't even know if anybody but me found it annoying, maybe that's what everyone expected (as in "Please correct us whenever we make a mistake, it's the ONLY way we can improve!"). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4440 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 22 of 37 23 August 2012 at 5:43pm | IP Logged |
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I remember once, when I was driving in Germany, the police stopped me in a routine control. A nice policeman came up to the car, and I said "Sie wollen mein Führerschein sehen?" (you want to se my driving licence?), to which he smiled and answered: "Sie wollen meinen Führerschein sagen."
I must admit I was taken aback by the fact that he corrected me, but I thanked him for it. Since that day I have never forgotten that Führerschein is masculine. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Jappy58 Bilingual Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 4439 days ago 200 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Guarani*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi), Arabic (Written), French, English, Persian, Quechua, Portuguese Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 23 of 37 23 August 2012 at 10:59pm | IP Logged |
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When I was learning Arabic - especially the spoken dialects - I definitely welcomed as many corrections as I needed from my Arab friends and Arabs I met abroad. Resources for learning any dialect back then were reasonably scarce, so if I misused an expression or made an odd-sounding statement, it was my only way of understanding the language better. Since it was usually between my friends and I, it never really felt public even in public spaces. To be honest, some of my Arab friends were excessively easy on me at first, saying that my Arabic was "spectacular", even when it was not. Soon they started to be much more honest, however. :D
Persian was similar, especially for learning the Dari and Tajiki dialects (though corrections often came for Farsi as well). In all, it helped me advance in the language significantly. When I was a young boy, however, I would occasionally be less patient. I remember of a time when I was six years old, and one of my family members corrected some of my Quechua. I told him to leave me alone. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| irishpolyglot Nonaglot Senior Member Ireland fluentin3months Joined 5434 days ago 285 posts - 892 votes Speaks: Irish, English*, French, Esperanto, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Sign Language Studies: Mandarin | Message 24 of 37 23 August 2012 at 11:48pm | IP Logged |
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Ah corrections! It definitely depends on the culture :) Germans and French have always been very generous with their free language lessons, and are eager to point out mistakes as I make them, without a hesitation, but in Latin cultures this gets harder when standards for what is "OK" are reduced.
What I've found works is motivating them and definitely (as suggested above) smiling when it happens. A lot of expats complain to me that nobody corrects them when they speak (in MANY countries), but when I see them speak the target language, their body language screams awkwardness. This is regardless of their actual linguistic mistakes. When a mistake is corrected, they freeze, look embarrassed and there is that very awkward silence before the conversation picks up again. This feedback loop reminds the native to stop it, naturally. What I'd do is relax and look like I'm enjoying it, and laugh at my mistakes. If in a social environment, like a pub, one tip I've given my blog readers that they appreciated, was that I suggested "the first person to correct twenty mistakes I make, gets a drink on me!" This makes it a fun game, rather than an awkward undesirable moment. I always try to create positive feedback for corrections, as damaged as my ego may be and the desire to hide my head in shame may be :P When people enjoy correcting you (if you can engineer the social situation to lean in that direction), you won't need to pay tutors :D Edited by irishpolyglot on 23 August 2012 at 11:49pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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