How can I get a copy of your 50 connecting phrases to use with my reticent students?

Thanks, Mary in California

Agreed about people using tourists as a chance to practice their English.

Benny, mi nur volas diri al vi “Dankegon!” por via hodiŭa prelego en Dua Vivo. Ne ofte plu ol dudek E-istoj kunvenas samtempe en lernejo. Bonan ŝancon al vi!

Very interesting, and pretty embarrassing too, actually. By your definition, I’m not fluent in Spanish, though I’ve lived here for over three years, and generally have a great knack for languages.

In fact, people often compliment on how well I speak but I realise all too well they are comparing my fluent speech to the rather rickety efforts of other expats who simply make no bleedin’ effort at all to even try.

So yeah, I speak Spanish fluently, but what gets me in your definition is that I am nowhere near 90 percent faultless. Conjugation is a b@ in Spanish, so I only use a few tenses to be perceived as fluent, but in the end that just makes my Spanish convoluted.

You have surpassed me, Sir. Well done.

If I were in say, France, and having this problem I'd just tell everyone who tried to switch to English with me, “Sorry, I don't speak English, I'm Russian.” If I were in the Czech Republic I'd tell them that I was raised in Japan by American parents and therefore don't speak English, just Czech and Japanese, even though I don't look Japanese.

Just tell them you don't speak English and INSIST on using their native language.

I learn Swedish to fluency in 8 months taking a high school aptitude test after that, which means I can study at university in Swedish (which I currently do). This does not mean that I can speak 'perfectly' but it does mean that I know when I make mistakes (around 5% of the time) I can correct myself.

I find your posts quite positive which is definitely needed when learning languages so keep it up.

Particularly when it comes to English. I would say many Scandinavians are fluent in English, yet far from being “perfect”.

Personally I would say “fluent” is when you can have an intelligent conversation with someone in that language, save maybe for some highly specialized areas where you may not have the needed vocabulary.

Honestly I think learning any foreign language to the level where a very skilled native speaker of that language wouldn’t notice the difference in my speech (and particularly in my writing) is in practice impossible for most people. There are simply too many nuances that must be taken into account.

I also think that no other language can truly reach the same level as our “emotion language”, our mother tongue.

Still with motivation and dedication you can definitely learn to speak most foreign languages reasonably well (fluent). And that is good enough for me.

Best of luck with your experiment
.-= Brian´s last blog ..A Few Simple Mind Map Examples =-.

Particularly when it comes to English. I would say many Scandinavians are fluent in English, yet far from being “perfect”.

Personally I would say “fluent” is when you can have an intelligent conversation with someone in that language, save maybe for some highly specialized areas where you may not have the needed vocabulary.

Honestly I think learning any foreign language to the level where a very skilled native speaker of that language wouldn’t notice the difference in my speech (and particularly in my writing) is in practice impossible for most people. There are simply too many nuances that must be taken into account.

I also think that no other language can truly reach the same level as our “emotion language”, our mother tongue.

Still with motivation and dedication you can definitely learn to speak most foreign languages reasonably well (fluent). And that is good enough for me.

Best of luck with your experiment
.-= Brian´s last blog ..A Few Simple Mind Map Examples =-.