I’m relieved. We called one of M’s aunties in the Netherlands yesterday, and I could understand her Dutch! However I found it hard to get my Dutch words out – it was as if I was having a Homer Simpson-type argument with my mind: “Go on, say that you can understand her fine, and it’s nice to talk to her”. Mind squeezes out: “Fine. Talk slow. Yes.” (In Dutch, of course.) D’OH! It’s quite amusing, if a bit frustrating.
My experience of learning Mandarin was exactly the same. You go through a phase of feeling acute embarrassment when you first have to say things out loud in the language you’re learning, then you move on to wanting to speak but not being able to get the words out – because you’re still thinking in your language and trying to translate simultaneously, and that trips you up too much. It’s too slow if you’re trying to participate in a real conversation. I have to work to get to the next phase, where I can get the words out, and my most used phrases are: “Can you say that more slowly” and “How do you say __”
I’m sure this is a very simplistic view of the second (third) language learning process. Might have to go and read more about it sometime.
3 Comments
I think it’s when you unconsciously think in a language that you are truly fluent? Or something?
I have dreams where I’m speaking fluent French but I can’t do that in reality! LOL!
Oh boy… yes – don’t I know THAT feeling really well! And it’s made worse from our point of view given that you get someone telling you “here’s a Bardi language dictionary – go and figure it out for yourself!”
Problem being that ours was not a written language at any time, and now you want me to try and anchor myself in it from an English learning point of view? Arghhhhh!
I have no problem’s learning from the spoken word… and in situ so to speak – but learning from a dictionary??? How bloomin frustrating is that?!
I sympathise with you CQ… I hope you’re much further along wit hit then I am lol! Cheers – 😉
i know that feeling too, and then my brain plays tricks on me when i talk german, and I try to translate a joke from spanish into german..at the end nobody is laughing but me 🙂