How Do You Non-Native Speakers Feel About Your E Skills?

Asep · Post by **Asep** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 6:50 am

Well, please feel free to share with us all here what you think of the English skills of your own, particularly your own listening and speaking ones. Have you found it easy to speak and listen to either native speakers -if you ever or often talks to some- or non native ones or do you think it would be tough to do so -if you've never ever had chances of meeting some your entire life-?

Please.... don't hesitate to pour your thoughts out. I guess everybody would appreciate it very much if you are willing to tell. :) :) Thank you. :) :)

Asep · Post by **Asep** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 4:35 pm

No reply, huh? Phew! No one seems to be interested in such things as helping those in need. :( :(

RedRose · Post by **RedRose** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 12:48 am

my speaking and listening english skills are so poor that I know what to say

serenella · Post by **serenella** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 11:44 am

I think that achieving a good level in listening and speaking skills is more difficult than in writing and reading ones, because dialogues - and conversation in general - have a quicker rhythm and therefore I have less time to think about words, sentence structure and so on.
Anyway, as for listening much depends on accents and dialects (for example, I find Scottish very difficult to understand, and also the American language of some U.S. countries), while as regards speaking, I always try not to forget that communicating is my final aim, so I use every strategy to let other people understand me, facial expressions and gestures included... I know you're thinking Italian people always use gestures!

Asep · Post by **Asep** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 12:18 pm

Serenella wrote:I know you're thinking Italian people always use gestures!

Yeah, totally agree. As for gestures, I think Indian people have a lot to do with gestures.... At least, that's what I see in every single character on their movies. Head shaking, hand moving, well, all that contribute to their unique appearance. I'm not sure if they look that way in real life. No offense, please. :D :D Just curious.... :) :)

Well, that was probably an off-topic post. Sorry.... but yeah, facial expressions and gestures mean a lot in helping us make our English words more understandable to our listeners. :) The reason for that is that they are definitely a universal language. When by words you can't get your listener to understand that you want to eat, for example, you can make an act of eating. But this is not always true of all places the world over. Sometimes, headshake in one country has different meaning in another. Well, I don't know that much about this.
I totally agree that listening activities leave us only seconds to try to figure out what our speaker says and, therefore, they require more concentration. So what's the solution here?? :( :(

serenella · Post by **serenella** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 1:18 pm

My personal solution is: practise, as much practise as I can and possibly listening to different dialects and accents.
As regards facial expressions and gestures, unfortunately, they are not universal :? but I think they can help us, even if sometimes they may cause embarassing misunderstandings...

charlotte · Post by **charlotte** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 4:25 pm

you're right practice makes perfect. also try watching english films. through that you could do some shadow listening. try to imitate the way they speak. once you get the right tone, you are good to go. besides in speaking english, try to be observant. whenever i speak, i try to listen to the words i'm saying. if it sounds good or in harmony to the words i'm using, then it's correct. if not, then i have to figure out the correct one.

also try to think and speak in straight english. most people think in their native language then translate it to english. if you do that style it will make your english grammatically incorrect. focus on the thought itself and then construct it in english directly. :D

8)

pooh_bear · Post by **pooh_bear** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 4:30 pm

charlotte wrote:you're right practice makes perfect. also try watching english films. through that you could do some shadow listening. try to imitate the way they speak. once you get the right tone, you are good to go. besides in speaking english, try to be observant. whenever i speak, i try to listen to the words i'm saying. if it sounds good or in harmony to the words i'm using, then it's correct. if not, then i have to figure out the correct one.

also try to think and speak in straight english. most people think in their native language then translate it to english. if you do that style it will make your english grammatically incorrect. focus on the thought itself and then construct it in english directly. :D 8)

way to go! tha'ts charlotte..she's back again..actually she's right, we we're taught that you have to think as if you are that person from that place and you can translate it correctly, dont just translate it literally..

serenella · Post by **serenella** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 5:18 pm

Yes, I agree Charlotte! Thinking in English and not translating from our mother tongue into English is a good exercise!
Has someone of you ever succeeded in dreaming in English or any other foreign language?

francine · Post by **francine** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 6:09 pm

serenella wrote:Yes, I agree Charlotte! Thinking in English and not translating from our mother tongue into English is a good exercise!
Has someone of you ever succeeded in dreaming in English or any other foreign language?

nope. why? have you???

:D

serenella · Post by **serenella** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 6:27 pm

Sometimes, after spending more than one week abroad...
Bu the way, it's strange, I think one does not really dreams in English, I mean in correct English, but in the language our brain knows, with mistakes and imperfections, so it's like thinking in English.

charlotte · Post by **charlotte** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 7:21 pm

yeah, i have dream of myself speaking in straight english. and take note, i was on a fight that time so i can't really believe myself..speaking so fast in a fight!? but that was just a dream and the person i'm fighting with is speaking tagalog(my native language). hehehe

Dixie · Post by **Dixie** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 11:28 pm

serenella wrote:Has someone of you ever succeeded in dreaming in English or any other foreign language?

Yes, I often dream in English, and, lately, think in English, too. Words come to my mind more easily in English than in Catalan. Why is that? mmmmmmmmmmm...

Asep · Post by **Asep** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 11:16 am

Thinking in English is the key to improving our speaking and listening English skills. Yeah, but English and our mother tongues might have so many gaps, so many different sentence structures/patterns. Once I thought to myself that English had so weird sentence patterns that I was about to give up learning it. :( :(

As for English dreams (LOL, is this correct?), I think I have some. Interestingly, I talk, in my dreams, to people from the local language -not to foreign people-. While they keep talking in our mother tongue (local language, to be exact), I keep on uttering English words. The funny thing is I say words as rude and offensive as "Son of a bitch!". Hahahaha.... :D :D

RedRose · Post by **RedRose** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 8:50 am

Italian Maffia is really cool 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Asep · Post by **Asep** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 3:28 am

RedRose wrote:Italian Maffia is really cool 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Who do you mean by Italian Maffia, Rose? Me? Thanks! :)

Dixie · Post by **Dixie** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 11:45 am

It might be because of your Italian look?

Asep · Post by **Asep** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 11:47 am

Dixie wrote:It might be because of your Italian look?

Really, Merce?
Do I look like Totti? You know him, don't you? Or do I look like Del Piero? :)

Dixie · Post by **Dixie** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 11:53 am

I don't know any of those, but I guess they belong to the Mafia... Anyway, I was kidding; haven't you heard of irony? :D

RedRose · Post by **RedRose** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 12:52 pm

Asep wrote:
RedRose wrote:Italian Maffia is really cool 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Who do you mean by Italian Maffia, Rose? Me? Thanks! :)

wow! it isn't until now that I didn't know you are a Maffia

pooh_bear · Post by **pooh_bear** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 3:47 pm

!? wrote:what is a maffia?

Etymology: Mafia, Maffia, a Sicilian secret criminal society, from Italian dialect (Sicily)
1 a : a secret criminal society of Sicily or Italy b : a similarly conceived criminal organization in the U.S.; also : a similar organization elsewhere <the Japanese Mafia> c : a criminal organization associated with a particular traffic <the cocaine Mafia>
2 often not capitalized : a group of people likened to the Mafia; especially : a group of people of similar interests or backgrounds prominent in a particular field or enterprise :

Dixie · Post by **Dixie** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 3:51 pm

Hahaha, excellent, Rosevi! :D

But that would be just "mafia" with no indefinite article. Someone who belongs to Mafia would be a gangster if I am right :D

charlotte · Post by **charlotte** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 3:59 pm

Dixie wrote:Hahaha, excellent, Rosevi! :D

But that would be just "mafia" with no indefinite article. Someone who belongs to Mafia would be a gangster if I am right :D

you're right! they're big time gangsters and are considered to be untouchables. i've seen a movie about some mafias by al paccino. if i'm not mistaken, it was "god father."

Dixie · Post by **Dixie** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 4:02 pm

Oh, everybody says that movie is so great, and yet I haven't seen it :D

charlotte · Post by **charlotte** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 4:25 pm

Dixie wrote:Oh, everybody says that movie is so great, and yet I haven't seen it :D

try to watch it. i highly recommend it

but there are 3 parts of it...
you'll see what the world of gangsters is all about. and how ~, filthry rich and influencing they are. but of course it will also showcase the good side of them.. say ala robinhood 8)

serenella · Post by **serenella** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:18 pm

Asep, would you really like to look like Totti or Del Piero? :o
Or would you like to be a football player? :D

Asep · Post by **Asep** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 3:33 am

serenella wrote:Asep, would you really like to look like Totti or Del Piero? :o
Or would you like to be a football player? :D

Both, actually. I want to look just like these cool guys and, if possible, be a professional, top-notch football player like them. They can make good money with their profession. But I'm too old to be one, I'm afraid. Haha.... :) :) No.

serenella · Post by **serenella** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:16 pm

They are earning a lot of money playing football, but they're not very clever, I mean I wouldn't know what to talk with them about, except football... so, if I were you, I would prefer to be myself!

Asep · Post by **Asep** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:27 pm

serenella wrote:They are earning a lot of money playing football, but they're not very clever, I mean I wouldn't know what to talk with them about, except football... so, if I were you, I would prefer to be myself!

No questions about that. I agree with you, Serenella. Let's be ourselves instead. :)

BTW, let's talk about how we improve our English listening and speaking skills, instead. I'm afraid we've been too far from this topic. :) :) So what do you suggest that I do to improve these skills of mine? :) :)

serenella · Post by **serenella** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:44 pm

Through exposure to 'real' English: TV, books, newspapers, songs, films... and - why not? - the Internet (especially EC, let me advertise this forum

).
As regards speaking, I think the best way to improve such a skill is spending as much time as possible in an English speaking country or at least meeting English mother-tongue people.
In Rome, for example, there is an association which lets people from different countries meet. If you register with them, they make you meet another person speaking the language you want and who wants to speak Italian with the same interests as yours. So, once or twice a week you can go out and have a coffee or a walk or shopping with a person who speaks English and who wants to learn Italian.

charlotte · Post by **charlotte** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 1:30 pm

serenella wrote:Through exposure to 'real' English: TV, books, newspapers, songs, films... and - why not? - the Internet (especially EC, let me advertise this forum ).
As regards speaking, I think the best way to improve such a skill is spending as much time as possible in an English speaking country or at least meeting English mother-tongue people.
In Rome, for example, there is an association which lets people from different countries meet. If you register with them, they make you meet another person speaking the language you want and who wants to speak Italian with the same interests as yours. So, once or twice a week you can go out and have a coffee or a walk or shopping with a person who speaks English and who wants to learn Italian.

that's one good tactic serenella!

Asep · Post by **Asep** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 1:48 pm

serenella wrote:Through exposure to 'real' English....

Thank you for your precious info, Serenella. Yes, I also think it would be a better idea for anyone with genuine interest in learning a language to go abroad and stay in the countries where the target language is spoken daily or to meet native speakers of the target language anywhere in our own countries. Indeed, such opportunities do exist even in the country of my own, Indonesia. People from many parts of the globe come and visit our country each year. These foreign tourists can definitely be of much help if you can succeed in asking them for their language guidance. But such chances are rare, I'm afraid. Not so long ago, I ran into an information on how an American traveler who used to make a living by doing whatever he could do here finally managed to live in prosperity. But unfortunately, this snobbish guy turned out to refuse to help me with my passion for English. ~ you, Matthew! Oops, hope you don't consider what I exclaimed as offence.

Check out a personal website of his here.

PS: Would you teach me Italian, anyway, Serenella? I'm a keen language learner, actually. I like Italian, too. What do you think? No problemo? :) :)

serenella · Post by **serenella** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 4:32 pm

Yes, of course! I can teach you Italian!
Let's start right now.
Lesson n. 1:
Ciao Asep, come stai? :)

Do you (EC members, not only Asep) think that learning more than one foreign language is useful or do you think it could confuse you and it would be better to focus just on a single language?

Asep · Post by **Asep** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:44 am

serenella wrote:Yes, of course! I can teach you Italian!
Let's start right now.
Lesson n. 1:
Ciao Asep, come stai? :)

Do you (EC members, not only Asep) think that learning more than one foreign language is useful or do you think it could confuse you and it would be better to focus just on a single language?

Wow, thank you for the first lesson, my great teacher! Thank you!

Well, in my opinion, learning more than just one language would result in less focused learners. But that depends. Sometimes you will find it easy to get involved in more than one thing in life when you are restful enough. And IQ does count, I think. :) One such example is we Indonesian people have one of our ex-vice presidents who used to study science at college in Germany. In addition to people's admiration toward his exceptional knowledge of aircraft manufacturing, he is said to be awfully capable of speaking more than just German, but also English, and Japanese, and many other languages of the world. Of course, such people with high intelligence and capability of mastering several languages are abundant. Unluckily, I'm not one of them. I can only understand a bit English and Arabic.

serenella · Post by **serenella** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 1:43 pm

I think that if we learn more than one language, we are obliged to make comparisons and to reflect upon each language structure, vocabulary, etc. and this could be very helpful.
BTW, I don't think that there are people who can master several languages and other people who aren't able to learn just one.
Psycholinguists have demonstrated that our brain structure is made up in the same way, so you are able to learn a foreign language as everybody else. Of course, the result depends on external factors such as motivation, teacher, student character, environment, time and many many others...

Dixie · Post by **Dixie** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 1:55 pm

Of course we can learn more than 1 foreign languages. I learnt 4 ;)

Asep · Post by **Asep** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 3:31 pm

Dixie wrote:Of course we can learn more than 1 foreign languages. I learnt 4 ;)

What are they? Plz tell me, Dixie. pm, ok?

serenella · Post by **serenella** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 6:02 pm

Congratulations, Dixie!
4 foreign languages at the same time or in different periods? And was it difficult?
I have stopped at 3 foreign languages and I don't think one can confuse rules and structures, they are like separate worlds and different ways of thinking, even if sometimes vocabulary requires more attention, words can be mixed, misused or mispelled, but it's a problem we have also for the influence of our mother tongue and not only of other foreign languages.
BTW, 'speaking more than one language means having more than one soul' (H. Heine)....

Dixie · Post by **Dixie** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 6:43 pm

Asep wrote:
What are they? Plz tell me, Dixie. pm, ok?

Besides Catalan, which is my mother tongue, I can speak Spanish, English, French and German (though just a little bit of these two latter). I thought you knew that. I'd love to learn Italian, Serenella, because it's so similar to Catalan, since they come from the same root; and I think it's not difficult at all for me because of that. I can already say some things in Italian but my spelling is not good. I can say some things in Chinese, too :D:D:D:D (thank you, Redrose

). I think it's good to learn new languages, although it's hard to master them if you're not exposed to a native speaking environment

Annaa · Post by **Annaa** » Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:39 pm

Dixie wrote:
Asep wrote:
What are they? Plz tell me, Dixie. pm, ok?
Besides Catalan, which is my mother tongue, I can speak Spanish, English, French and German (though just a little bit of these two latter). I thought you knew that. I'd love to learn Italian, Serenella, because it's so similar to Catalan, since they come from the same root; and I think it's not difficult at all for me because of that. I can already say some things in Italian but my spelling is not good. I can say some things in Chinese, too :D:D:D:D I think it's good to learn new languages, although it's hard to master them if you're not exposed to a native speaking environment

Dixie u r very lucky that u can speak those languages,not like me

.

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