How do you handle corrections in speech? (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

How do you handle corrections in speech?
Tags: Corrections
Share with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Language Learning Forum : General discussion

37 messages over 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5

Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6398 days ago
9753 posts - 15779 votes

4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, Finnish^C1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

Message 33 of 37

10 October 2012 at 4:16pm | IP Logged

Ogrim wrote:

Talking about correcting teachers: My children go to an international school, so there are many native English speakers. Now in one class this year they got an English teacher who was not native, and the children would laugh at her accent and correct her all the time. She lasted one month, now she has left.

A bit off topic: Obviously every school in every country cannot be expected to have native speakers as language teachers (I myself only had Norwegians teaching me English, German and French in school), but at an international school it is clearly risky to put non-natives in front of native children.

The worst thing about it is having natives and non-natives in the same class. (And if natives feel they should study with non-natives, it's quite sad:( It should be explained to them that there are different registers, and that a class for non-natives won't necessarily help with what they struggle with... some might even just need help with their self-esteem O_o)
1 person has voted this message useful

chenshujian
Diglot
Senior Member
ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5251 days ago
122 posts - 139 votes

Speaks: Mandarin*, English
Studies: French

Message 34 of 37

11 October 2012 at 9:03am | IP Logged

I would be pissed off if my prounciation was corrected by someone whose level is no higher than mine.
And I would be unhappy if I were to make a point of view, trying to say something that makes sense, but the listeners just focus on the minor pronunciation or grammatical error.
But if a native speaker corrects me, that's fine. Because I know that they have a undoubtably higher level.

Solfrid Cristin wrote:

We are a family who are intensely focused on languages. Me in particular. This means that although the teachers insisted children should not be corrected in their speech, we have always corrected our children from when they were very small. They are also exceptionally articulate, and I trust there is a link.

Fast forward 10 years, and they now start correcting us; my husband in English and Norwegian, me in English , Norwegian and Spanish. Since I think that corrections in general are good, because they help you become better, I do not mind, but my husband goes bananas when the kids correct him - particularly if it is in front of others.

How do you deal with it, are you able to take it with a smile, and rejoice in the fact that your kids (or other family members) have a high level, or do you feel humiliated and react with anger?

2 persons have voted this message useful

Bao
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5
Joined 5567 days ago
2256 posts - 4046 votes

Speaks: German*, English
Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin

Message 35 of 37

11 October 2012 at 11:23pm | IP Logged

chenshujian wrote:

I would be pissed off if my prounciation was corrected by someone whose level is no higher than mine.

I probably wouldn't be annoyed. I notice mistakes in other learners I would never make, and then I notice they picked up things I didn't know or remember despite us attending the same class. So, when I notice the other person makes a certain mistake again and again, I ... might nudge them or ask the teacher to explain or show it to us once again. Or I might ask the other student 'xxx or xxy, what do you think is right? I thought xxy was right, but you just said xxx ...'
More often than not the recipient of just a remark know that particular area to be a weak point. I usually do, and even though it irritates me, it's valuable feedback that tells me I should have known that, so I really should review and practice.

Edited by Bao on 11 October 2012 at 11:26pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5135 days ago
4143 posts - 8864 votes

Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

Message 36 of 37

12 October 2012 at 9:42pm | IP Logged

chenshujian wrote:

Solfrid Cristin wrote:

My daughter speaks better English than both my husband and I, and my husband does make some very noticeable mistakes when he speaks. It is however extremely tough for him to be corrected by a teenager in front of other adults. I have asked her to be more discrete about it, but she is right in the period where she is starting to become independent from her parents - and she finds it uncool that he is allowed to correct her, and that she should not be allowed to correct him.
1 person has voted this message useful

Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6398 days ago
9753 posts - 15779 votes

Message 37 of 37

13 October 2012 at 3:19am | IP Logged

Then he shouldn't correct her:)

1 person has voted this message useful

This discussion contains 37 messages over 5 pages: << Prev 1 2 3 4 5

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

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 0.2813 seconds.