Published 15/04/2015 In Blog
At first, even if the person has a good level of English, they can really struggle to understand what is being said and may even feel they have arrived in the wrong country. This feeling is perfectly normal!
Here are three reasons why you may at first struggle and how to overcome these problems and understand and integrate better:
A key principle within communication is to be as brief and to the point as possible. This is reflected in how the English use language, with a number of contracted, colloquial expressions used in place of more standard elaborate forms.
For example, as a language student you will have learnt fairly early on how to ask someone how they are using the standard question: How are you today?
However, an English person may use a number of contracted expressions to ask the same question, such as: ‘you alright?’ ‘what’s up?’ and ‘how’s it going?’, depending on who they are speaking to and the context of use.
This is of course very different and can be confusing. The good news is you can continue to use how are you today? In terms of learning the equivalent phrases used by locals in different contexts, I would suggest keeping a language diary, noting down the expressions and focusing especially on the context of use and the relationship between the people speaking. This should help you develop an understanding of more colloquial terms that are used by local speakers.
A second difficulty in understanding an English speaker arises from the stress-timed nature of the English language.
In English, certain words are stressed (content words), whereas others that mark tense and are structural do not carry stress. These unstressed words are often elided and, therefore, it is difficult for students to understand what has been said. For example, ‘going to’ is often pronounced in its elided form as ‘gonna’ and ‘want to’ as ‘wanna’.
More extreme elision can be seen in the sentences below:
A: Where have you been? = ‘whev ya bin?’
B: I have been shopping = ‘I bin shopin’
The solution is a simple one: you must remain patient and your ear will eventually adapt.
I would suggest going to a local cafe and listening to those around you, focusing on key content words for the message. Listening in this manner should lead to greater awareness of those parts of language that are elided.
In terms of when you are speaking with natives, you should not feel embarrassed to ask someone to repeat something or slow down a bit – most people will be pleased to do so and it’s good practice for them to grade their language! After all, in a world where English is a global language, so-called native speakers also have to consider how they can make themselves clear and understandable.
A lot of the topics of conversation and language used in these conversations is culturally engrained and relies on speakers having access to a shared encyclopaedic knowledge. Common topics of conversation range from sports, politics, every day habits and dogmatic beliefs and shared experiences.
To understand, follow and contribute to these conversations it is important to have access to this shared encyclopaedic knowledge. Newspapers are an excellent source of building up an understanding and offer access to the language used to talk about these topics. Ensuring that you mix with native speakers as much as possible and not isolate yourself is also incredibly important to developing this area of your language and becoming culturally integrated. When I lived in China, I found joining local clubs was an excellent way in which to access the local cultural norms, practices and language used to express these values and talk about these topics.
Overall, if you are moving to an English speaking country, indeed any country, it is incredibly important to immerse yourself in the local culture and to not panic and realise that it will take a bit of time to attune your ear, get used to interacting with locals and embed into the new culture.
I would strongly recommend joining local clubs and groups. Above all, remember don’t be afraid to interact and ask people to repeat themselves or slow down if you don’t understand – If the British are anything, then we are polite and language is about communicating, with the onus being on both people to make themselves understood and clear.
The way in which you learn language can also help. Standard text-books rarely focus on some of the issues above. At Keely Algar Languages, you will learn language as reflected in culture. I cover all of the above, so if you are thinking of moving abroad why not sign up to a ten lesson package and make sure you are well prepared to deal with the language issues you may face.
Why not get started now and sign up for a free trial in one of our online courses of English, Spanish, French, Chinese?
Book your free trial lesson at Keely Algar Languages: https://www.keelyalgarlanguages.com/en/courses/free-trial
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