The Great German Superlative- Sau
You’ve gone to a new country. You’re either learning the language there through a language school, or you’re on the streets surrounded by the language. Billboards speaking to you with simple phrases and a picture that you start learning words from. The sound of the language everywhere. Sooner or later this immersion or bombardment of unfamiliar sounds is going to have an effect on your brain. You’ve tried speaking, the words don’t come out and you sound like a male overwhelmed by the presence of a stunning female. Then all the sudden you go out, have a drink or 2 and the language seems to flow from your mouth.
It feels like a revelation. Before this, despite every effort you have taken, you haven’t achieved any recognisable results. What’s happened? Why all the sudden have I excelled at something I couldn’t grasp or pronounce before? Well here’s the insider information.
Verona- Image by Pantchoa via Flickr
Speaking is the main problem here. You are learning the language but you don’t often speak it. It is one thing having knowledge of a language. Then the words won’t come out of your mouth. You have the vocabulary but not the speaking skills.
When you are learning a foreign language many people are worried about making mistakes. Therefore many people won’t even try to speak because they are afraid of making mistakes. There are many people out there that speak often while they are learning but they don’t care about making mistakes and they learn faster.
The 2 main sentiments are inhibition and fear. Well, we know one thing that takes away these problems alcohol. Try as you will with other substances, but only alcohol will work. So just stick to the old grog. Soon you’ll be trying your skills out on a few people and the next morning you’ll think, ‘wow, that was amazing, I was actually conversing with people and they could understand me’. You found yourself working the room, and had no fear of who you wanted to talk to, just because you couldn’t speak their language. You could even flirt with the opposite sex. Yeah baby!
Sometimes wanting to converse with the opposite sex will inspire you to give another language a try. I remember being in Spain, and having to learn Spanish just to be able to communicate with the people in the group I was hanging with. They couldn’t speak English, until I brought in an unattached female English speaker. All of the sudden they could all speak English. Combine this with alcohol and you have a great effect. Being able to successfully flirt with someone in a foreign language is a good indicator of your ability in that language.
Image via Wikipedia
So let’s make a toast to getting rid of our fear and inhibition of speaking another language Cheers, Prost, Salud, Saude, Sláinte (slahncheh), and another while we’re at it.
Personally I’ve had a lot of practice at this. But it only works when you are in the country of the language you speak, because you are surrounded by the language.
A hint. Just remember with alcohol there is a point where it helps you, and then taken too far, the point that nobody understands you in any language.
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