Stay Focused When Your Best Isn’t Enough

The reality is language learners need a lot of vocabulary and good listening comprehension skills to engage in conversations with native speakers. I think it is a little bit easier to speak than it is to listen. Of course, I guess that depends on who you are listening to. Lots of students have told me that they like listening to my English because it is relatively slow and because my words are clearly pronounced. Unfortunately, not all native speakers are like this.

What to do When You Don’t Understand?

Some people speak fast and use words that we aren’t familiar with. So what do you do when your best isn’t good enough? We have to make a choice. We can either ask a question and break the flow of things. We can let it go and hope we can catch up with the next couple of sentences or we can stay lost. Actually, there is another path, but it is out of our control. It depends on the speaker. Some speakers can look at the other person’s eyes and tell whether or not they are tracking with them. These speakers then go a step further to rephrase the part they think their listeners may not have understood with easier words, all without the language learner needing to say a word. Unfortunately, this is rare. So, given that most people tend to speak a bit fast, in new settings I tend to prefer to speak rather than to listen. Hong Kong is a busy city. People don’t always have time for a conversation, so you might not get the opportunity to both speak and listen. Oh yeah there is another option. You can just leave. It depends on the setting but sometimes this is a good way out. hahaha

It’s tough when you don’t understand. I have been in lots of settings where I didn’t understand. Sometimes I ask the person next to me for a few keywords and that is enough for me to catch up with the main thought, but not always. Other times the person tells me that they don’t know what the speaker just said or not to ask them. Still other times I ask them did the speaker say … During those times, I’m just trying to confirm whether what I thought I heard is actually what they said. I have gotten better at this. It used to be that I was way off. I still make mistakes, but at least there has been some improvement.

Why is Risk so Important?

See, I wanted so badly to be welcomed into the room that I was willing to risk getting it wrong in return for the chance to actually be present with those around me. Trying doesn’t guarantee understanding. When your best isn’t good enough, you learn from your mistakes and keep trying. As long as we keep trying we have a chance. Maybe you can identify with being left out of conversations. Take heart and don’t give up.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary can’t be obtained overnight. It takes years to develop and there is no guarantee that the words you learn will appear in your conversations with native speakers. Becoming conversational in a language doesn’t take as long as going deeper that language. We have to be intentional about vocabulary and to be honest I have gotten a bit lazy in this area. Why because I can get by with out it. I can have basic every day conversations with my neighbors and communicate sufficiently, but I know my vocabulary is relatively weak.

Listening Comprehension

It is important to practice the language at the speed or close to the speed that native people speak. Obviously, you can easily get lost in conversations because you don’t have the vocabulary. You can also get lost because the speaker is speaking too fast for you to comprehend what they are saying. Today I called the Central Prosecution Unit about a speeding ticket that I had gotten. Having more vocabulary would have helped me a little bit, but ultimately the lady on the other end spoke too fast for me, and she didn’t slow down either. After several attempts at asking her to slow down, I decided to switch channels to English. Life in a foreign country is like this. You have a few options. One speak to the locals in your language and hope that they will understand you. Two let someone else speak on your behalf in the local language, or three take a risk and try speaking their language.  

Sometimes Things Go Smoothly

On that note, I called the Central Prosecution Unit the next day and got through the conversation with only one small mistake. The man graciously corrected my mistake and continued to talk with me as if I was a normal local person. A lot of people don’t get to have that kind of experience. Some ex-pats complain that Cantonese is too difficult for them to learn. These foreigners generally require the local people speak to them in English. I don’t fault foreigners or Hong Kong people for this. It is just the way things are. We can’t go back and give everyone a Cantonese language education. I am almost 50 years old now. It is doubtful that I will go back to school to formally study Cantonese, but I think that more should be done on behalf of the young people both those coming to and those leaving Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s culture is carried in it’s language.  

Helping Foreigners Learn Cantonese

Some months ago, I was really glad to see a YouTube on a program that was launched to help young Africans learn Cantonese. Unfortunately, the video has been removed from YouTube has been removed from YouTube so I can’t share it with you. Still, I hope this blog has helped inspire you. I have tried to focus on vocabulary and listening comprehension but maybe you are struggling with another area. Don’t be afraid to ask a question. We all go through phases when our best isn’t good enough, but if we are willing to persist on the basics, over time we will improve. For suggestions on what and how to study check out my post titled…