How to speak convincingly in a foreign language. How to easily learn to speak different foreign languages
The ability to speak a foreign language consists of two components. This means speaking for yourself and understanding someone else’s spoken language. When communicating with native speakers in everyday settings, both of these skills are used. However, in order to speak, it is also necessary to take into account the psychological aspect. It often happens that a person has a certain vocabulary and can communicate, but for some reason he does not dare. The whole point is that he lacks self-confidence. Therefore, you need to gather your will into a fist and step over yourself. After this everything will work out.
To communicate, you need to have basic sentence writing skills and understand the slow speech of your interlocutors. You also need to know grammar at a level that will allow you to take part in the simplest dialogue.
To master oral speech well, you need to speak often and a lot. It doesn’t matter if your speech contains grammatical errors. It would take a huge accumulation of errors to make speech completely incomprehensible to native speakers. The best thing is to remember not only words, but also entire expressions. Grammar also needs to be taught, but, to be honest, its importance is exaggerated.
When communicating, you must be guided by the rule: first we speak, and only then we think. The point here is that many people are afraid of seeming funny and awkward when trying to speak a foreign language. To rid yourself of fear, you need to express your thoughts as necessary. And only after that analyze what was said.
When communicating with foreigners, it can sometimes be difficult to understand them. Listening to speech using electronic media will help get rid of this. It is quite possible that you will have to make a lot of effort to understand every last word of a written foreign language. This requires perseverance, and the time spent will not be wasted. Watching films is very helpful in acquiring the skills of speaking a foreign language. First, you need to watch them in your native language, and only after that in the one you are studying.
It is not at all difficult to get used to your vocabulary and speak a foreign language. But when you need to listen, then the picture changes, since you have to adapt to the vocabulary of your interlocutor. At the same time, his vocabulary may be much more extensive, and therefore he will have to select key words from his speech, and this will need to be done quickly.
Such efforts are especially difficult when traveling abroad. However, there will always be tactful people who, when talking with a foreigner, will choose the simplest words and pronounce them slowly. It’s more difficult with television and radio. The announcer usually speaks to the audience in a dynamic manner, as he needs to give out all the important news in a short time.
Therefore, at first not a single word will be understood. But if you listen to TV shows constantly, then after a while the “moment of truth” will come. This can happen after two, three, four, or even five weeks of living abroad. It’s as if the cotton wool is pulled out of a foreigner’s ears, and the person begins to understand everything. In such cases they usually say: “The ear is ripe for the tongue.”
Number of words for oral speech
The basic level is considered to be when a person knows 400 words and 50 expressions. With such a reserve, you can convey the most necessary things and understand in general terms the speech of a foreign interlocutor. But on the condition that he speaks slowly.
A higher level implies knowledge of 800 words and 100 expressions. Here you can already speak quickly with native speakers and understand their slow speech.
For the highest level, 1500 words and 200 expressions are enough. This implies a free and relaxed conversation with foreigners and understanding their speech, which is pronounced at normal speed.
Oral speech percentages
40 high-frequency words cover 50% of all words used in normal everyday conversation.
200 words cover 80% of verbal communication.
400 words cover 90% of verbal communication.
1500 words cover 95% of verbal communication.
It should be noted that the percentages given are only a rough guide for a person who wants to speak a foreign language. In some cases, having mastered 800 words, you can perfectly understand spoken language, almost 100%. But a lot depends on the specific situation. For example, when listening to a lecture on fine arts, you need to know many more words. In principle, if you are fluent in 2000 words and 250 expressions, then you can feel absolutely free among foreigners and actively discuss any topic with them.
Yuri Syromyatnikov
Do you know the fear of making a mistake in pronunciation, constructing sentences not according to the rules, or forgetting an article? It is the desire for perfectionism that hinders the ability to learn to communicate in a foreign language. You don’t have to immediately try to speak at a native level: communication is like training, the more often you do the exercises, the better it gets. Below we have listed seven ways to help you speak a foreign language.
Learn basic words
Tim Ferriss, who became famous for his book “How to work 4 hours a week and not be stuck in the office from bell to bell, live anywhere and get rich,” claims that you can learn any foreign language in 3 months. In his blog, Tim writes that 65% of all materials in English are written using just 300 words!
Convert passive knowledge into active knowledge
You know the most common words in English very well, you can instantly give a translation without a dictionary, but this has not improved your ability to speak, what should you do?
Create word combinations and then short stories with the words you have learned. For example, you can ask questions in foreign language chats.
Say it out loud
Find a short video with subtitles, or even better, with a transcript - there are some, for example, on ted.com, but only in English - listen to it in its entirety, and then break it into fragments and recite each part after the speaker. You can do the same with a film or TV series, the main thing is to find the script in the original language. Try to imitate the intonation and speed of speaking of the characters.
It's corny, but...start talking
Even if you do not live abroad, you can easily find someone to talk to who speaks the language you are learning. Sign up for a language club, meet a native speaker, sign up for classes with a native speaker teacher. If the above is not available in your city, use the Internet. Find an interlocutor using applications for communicating in a foreign language, like InterPals or Mylanguageexchange, or even better, a native speaker teacher via Skype - only regular communication in a foreign language will help overcome the language barrier, develop conversational skills and fluency. Don't worry about correct grammatical structures, this will come with time. Don't think, just talk!
Now listen
One of the main problems faced by those who learn a foreign language is the inability to listen to and understand foreign speech. You can listen to foreign speech at any time, wherever you are - Podcasts, YouTube, news portals, audiobooks, television, films and radio will help with this. For a fun way to learn English, German, French or Spanish, watch the sitcom extr@, where the characters say basic spoken phrases in each episode, accompanied by subtitles. Listening to ted lectures or practicing on sites like Learnathome can help you practice English listening.
Leave your comfort zone
Experts always recommend not to worry about mistakes made - follow their advice! Here's a task to overcome yourself: let's say you want to book a hotel room or a plane ticket. Call and ask as many questions as possible about the room or flight you are interested in. You can prepare a list of questions in advance so as not to get confused during the telephone conversation. At the end of the conversation, check the information you received with the information on the official website of the hotel or airline, translated into your native language.
Don't worry about the accent
Don't worry if you have an accent. If you're learning English, don't forget that there are many regional accents within the UK itself. Add in Irish, Indian, American and Australian accents, and then think of all the non-English native speakers you'll encounter on your travels or business trips. No one can judge you for your accent, because many people speak with it.
Communicate, work on yourself, strive for your goal and you will certainly achieve success in communicating in a foreign language.
Text: Anastasia Maksimova
Most of us perceive another language as a spaceship: it is huge and complex to operate, thousands of buttons and levers, intricate mechanisms, and the most complex among them is speech. We think this because we speak in real time: you need to respond to a cue immediately, like receiving a serve in ping pong. Of course it's stressful, but you can learn from it. And not just by an effort of will, but using specific techniques - linguist and translator Anastasia Maksimova told us about them.
Understand: you are not afraid to speak
No one is afraid to say: most of us started doing this in early childhood and have not left this habit until now. There is nothing difficult about saying words out loud. In fact, we are afraid of something else - how we look from the outside. We are afraid to seem funny, ridiculous or stupid, we are afraid not to understand the interlocutor or that the interlocutor will not understand us. Surely you have at least once had a dream where you are standing naked among clothed people. It’s the same with a foreign language: you are not alone in your fear - maybe awareness of this will help you take the first step.
Talk to yourself
By talking to yourself out loud, you kill several birds with one stone. First, you get used to how your voice sounds when you speak a foreign language. Many people notice that their intonation, tone, and rate of speech change slightly depending on the language. Some even claim that they feel like a slightly different person. Secondly, speaking out loud without witnesses makes you feel free and relaxed. The monologue lacks the most frightening element of communication - the fear of criticism.
Thirdly, you develop your imagination and learn to speak on different topics. Play! For example, imagine yourself as a Hollywood star: you are awarded an Oscar, you are amazed, you tell from the stage how long it took you to get to this point, thank your mother, grandmother, director, audience and everyone who supported you on this difficult path... You can become anyone you want , behave the way you like - no one will hear or interfere! If it is very difficult to come up with topics for conversation, there are special sites that offer hundreds of questions on any topic that might come to mind.
Learn helpful phrases
Often people are afraid of not understanding the interlocutor and of getting confused when they need to answer. How to help yourself in such cases? You need to learn a few phrases - or rather, only three. Two of them are intended for ordinary life, the third is for force majeure. They will save you in almost any circumstances. And this is by no means “London from the Capital...” These magic phrases: “Sorry, I don’t speak Spanish (Italian, German...). Do you speak English?", "Sorry, I don't speak Spanish well. Speak slower please". And finally, the most important phrase not only for those who study foreign languages, but also for all travelers who go to an unfamiliar country: “I need help! Call the police (ambulance)."
There is another category of phrases that you cannot do without during a live dialogue. Among them there are very simple ones: in Russian these are interjections “well-u-u”, “uh-uh” and introductory words like “in general”, in English - “well”, in German - “also”, in French - “alors”. There are also more complex ones: “in my opinion”, “in my opinion”, “quant à moi”... These are the so-called hesitations, the task of which is to give you time to collect your thoughts and think through the answer.
Leave comments on social networks
and blogs
When you say: “I understand everything, but I can’t speak,” this is not entirely true. You just don’t know how to react quickly enough and remember words, so you need to learn to answer faster. Most people are sure that spoken and written speech are in no way related to each other, but this is not true: the necessary skill can be developed through correspondence. Find a dozen interesting bloggers who write in the language you're learning, follow them, and start commenting. On social media, the speed of communication is usually faster and more unpredictable than on blogging platforms. The answer may come in a day, or it may appear right away. Commenting on interesting topics will greatly expand your vocabulary and reduce your fear of communicating with other people. You can start exchanging personal messages with the most interesting interlocutors.
Learn to listen
If you want to master speech, you will have to listen a lot, because at least half of any conversation we listen to the interlocutor. You need to start with those videos or audios where they speak clearly, understandably and, preferably, have subtitles. It can be anything: films, audiobooks, songs by your favorite artists, YouTube videos, podcasts, online courses... First, you can try watching or listening to what you have already watched or listened to in your native language - a familiar plot will be easier to understand. It's important that you find it interesting. Why was it so hard to cram endless topics at school? They were boring, and boredom and lack of drive can ruin even the best endeavors. Do you breed fish? Do you collect indoor plants? Do you knit? Are you into freestyle wrestling? You know what to do.
Don't worry about pronunciation
Those who studied in Soviet schools remember how during lessons they were forced to practice interdental consonants or the grading “r” a hundred times. We were taught that an accent is a shame and disgrace and must be gotten rid of. But the truth is that no one cares what accent you speak with. Most French people still stress the last syllable when speaking English. The Spaniards roll their “erre” lushly, without even trying to soften it to an English sound. And they are understood! They simply do not consider their “non-English” pronunciation a disadvantage, but treat it as their own feature.
Getting rid of an accent is very difficult, it takes many years of hard work, and it may require living in another country for several years. Patricia Kuhl, co-founder of the Brain Institute at the University of Washington, believes that an accent begins to be laid in our brains from the age of six months - it is during this period that the child begins to “draw a map of the sounds” he hears. “This map continues to develop and strengthen as sounds are repeated,” Patricia Kuhl, “until the sounds become almost incorrigible.”
Your goal is to be understood. And they will understand you, even if you are not good at interdental sounds or the grazing “r”. This principle also works with grammar: don’t worry that you can’t remember complex grammatical structures and verb conjugations, speak simply and briefly, as you understand. Don't look at your accent as your enemy, look at it as your highlight. And if you still really want to speak like native speakers, there are special applications where you can write text, which will then be read for you by native speakers.
Talk to your interlocutor personally
The main thing in learning a language is to move forward, and the next step should be a full-fledged dialogue in a foreign language face to face. At the same time, conversations on Skype or, especially, on the phone are not suitable for everyone. Oddly enough, talking on the phone is more difficult than having a one-on-one conversation. When we see someone we are talking to, we understand him not only through speech: the interlocutor sends us a thousand signals with body language and facial expressions, which, in turn, are read by our subconscious. Speaking on the phone, we seem to cut off some of the keys to understanding what is said, and we have to rely solely on our voice.
In conversations on Skype and video chats there is another catch - the quality of communication. Sometimes there are delays during a conversation, and what we said reaches the interlocutor only after 3-4 seconds (and this is quite a long time for a lively dialogue) - all this time we see his frozen face on the screen. Imagine: you said something about the weather, and in response there was silence... Is it because we were stupid? Or did they speak so indistinctly that the interlocutor did not understand a word? Agree, this is very demotivating! Nevertheless, in a conversation you need to focus primarily on your comfort. If you feel better with a person online than when talking face to face, then use video chat.
Take a course in another country
It all depends on your goals. If you want to master everyday language for everyday needs, a tourist trip is ideal: you will learn how to order food in a restaurant, discuss a hotel room with the administration, and ask local residents for directions. Although, in fact, you won’t have to say that much: it’s unlikely that you are going to discuss Kant’s philosophy with a waiter in a cafe.
If you need something more, then the real way to master speech is to enroll in language courses in the country of the language you are learning. Willy-nilly, you will talk for at least two hours a day. And most likely, you will have to talk a lot more, because in your group there will be people from different parts of the globe and together you will go to lunch after classes and walk around the city. Even the shyest people learn to communicate here - especially since your “classmates” came here to learn the language, just like you, which means it will be easier to speak. At the same time, remember that it is better not to live with compatriots or those who speak Russian - unless you have iron willpower and can speak exclusively in a foreign language with a friend.
Sign up for a conversation club
If you don’t have the opportunity to travel, you can find a conversation club in your own city. A conversation club, as the name suggests, is a place where people come to talk. Such places have many advantages. Firstly, this is not a spontaneous dialogue, but a moderated discussion. This means that you will talk exactly as much as necessary - no one will let you keep silent, but you won’t have to talk incessantly either. Secondly, meetings usually take place in a free atmosphere where it is easy to relax. Thirdly, you don’t know these people, and if you don’t like something, you’ll never see them again.
Don't demand too much from yourself
The main thing is not to force yourself or overpower yourself. Language is not about “faster, higher, stronger.” There are people who mobilize (or at least they think so) under stress, and a good shake helps them talk. But this method is not for everyone: most of us cope better with a task when we feel comfortable. Learning a language - any aspect of it - should be associated with something pleasant and interesting. You must enjoy speaking this language. There is no universal recipe for overcoming fear, but there are ways to reduce the level of stress that communication causes. Of course, you can always force yourself. You can tense up and pull yourself together. But why, if you can find another, comfortable path that is suitable and convenient for you?
Today we bring to your attention a translation of an article by the Irish polyglot, the author of a unique method of learning foreign languages, Benny Lewis.
In the post you will find answers to the following questions:
- How to start speaking a foreign language today?
- How to pass yourself off as a native speaker?
- How to learn several foreign languages in 2 years and become a polyglot?
The article contains a lot of tips on using various resources and free applications that will help you improve your language proficiency in the shortest possible time. If you have been looking for effective methods for memorizing new vocabulary and improving your communication skills in a foreign language for a long time, then this post is intended for you. ;)
Most people believe that everyone who succeeds in learning foreign languages has a genetic predisposition to it. However, the example of Benny Lewis proves that this belief is just one of hundreds of excuses we resort to to justify our unsuccessful attempts to be considered a polyglot.
As Benny recalls, a few years ago he was absolutely hopeless in everything related to languages: at the age of 20 he could only speak English, was the worst in his German class, and after 6 months in Spain he could hardly muster the courage to to ask in Spanish where the bathroom is.
It was during this period in Lewis’s life that a certain moment of epiphany occurred, which radically changed his approach to learning languages: he not only succeeded in mastering Spanish, but also received a certificate from the Cervantes Institute (Instituto Cervantes), confirming his level of language proficiency at level C2 - perfect . Since then, Benny began to actively study other foreign languages, and at the moment he can easily communicate in more than 12.
As Benny Lewis himself says: “Since I became a polyglot - a person who speaks several languages - my world has become much wider. I met interesting people and visited places that I had never even thought of before. For example, my knowledge of Mandarin allowed me to make new friends while traveling on the Chengdu-Shanghai train, talked politics with a desert dweller in Egyptian Arabic, and my knowledge of sign language gave me the opportunity to become familiar with the peculiarities of deaf culture.
I danced with the former President of Ireland Mary McAleese, and then spoke about it in Irish live on the radio, interviewed Peruvian textile manufacturers, talking to them in Quechua about the specifics of their work.... And in general, I spent a wonderful 10 years traveling the world."
In this post you will find many useful tips, the use of which will help you improve your level of foreign language proficiency in record time and, quite possibly, become a polyglot.
How to speak a foreign language? episode 1
First, let's be clear with you: what does it mean to “learn a language”? In pre-perestroika times, when regular trips abroad, especially to capitalist countries, were almost unrealistic, teaching a foreign language came down mainly to teaching the technique of translating texts - from foreign to Russian. The perception of foreign speech by ear, as well as spoken speech, was the lot of the elite. This was not dictated by practical considerations.
Here is a typical scene: you give a student or schoolchild a short dialogue from a book or magazine. Then you ask: “Retell it!” He immediately responded: “In Russian?” Then you start helping him with questions: “Where does the action take place?” "Who are the interlocutors?" , "What's their problem?" If he doesn’t answer, then you give more suggestive answer options. Everything, of course, is in foreign language. And he nags: “Let me translate everything into Russian for you!”
So, the main stumbling block when mastering a foreign language is often acquiring speaking skills. And if for translation you need to constantly keep two languages in your head at the same time - Russian and foreign, then for free conversational speech the native language often involuntarily serves as a brake on learning, it often interferes.
Let's explain this.
WORDS WORDS WORDS...
Many people who believe that they have a strong will try to learn a foreign language this way: every day they learn 20-30 new words by heart. Then comes an optimistic calculation: I can learn twenty in a day, six hundred in a month, and six to seven thousand in a year. Above your head is enough.
So all this reasoning is a deep misconception! Even if you manage to insert a microchip into your head, made on the basis of nanotechnology and containing 50-60 thousand foreign words with their translation into Russian, you will still not speak a foreign language. Yes, you will know a lot of words. But at the same time you will simply turn into a walking reference book. And who is interested in talking to a directory? And what is even more important: logical connections will stretch and become fixed in your head not between foreign words and the corresponding images, sensations, actions, but between foreign words and their Russian equivalents.
This means that when speaking English or German, you will do a huge amount of work in your head: translating the interlocutor’s phrase from a foreign language into Russian, then composing an answer in Russian, and then translating it into a foreign language. The trouble is that in this case you will automatically transfer the grammatical structures of Russian speech into your foreign speech. I’m not talking here about Russian idioms, which in conversation they often also try to “translate” into a foreign language. So, even if your interlocutor silently observes this painful brain process of yours with compassion on his face, he will not have a great desire to prolong your and, by the way, his own suffering.
What is the reason for such complex double translation manipulations? It is in the intermediary language, to which we frantically cling, not allowing ourselves to speak, however poorly, on our own. It is necessary to discard these “crutches” from the very beginning of learning a foreign language.
How to remove an intermediary language? Under no circumstances should you memorize individual words with their translation into Russian, either in alphabetical order or in any other order. Never translate texts (I mean, of course, the initial phases of learning). Pull the rug out from under your prosthetic tongue and walk on your own! You just need to learn to connect words and concepts of a foreign language not with Russian words, but with visual images, sensations, emotions, and actions. You need to go from simple to complex.
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Vladimir! I read it with pleasure. Arriving in Israel, I knew only two words in Hebrew, but I learned and even worked as a school teacher for many years. But I’m learning English, I love it, but there’s no vital need and... I’m not making very good progress.
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