Having a Real Conversation - How Do You Get Started?

So I know what you really want to see: a conversation with natives. Don't worry, I have that for you this week! I'm actually away from home this week so I made my video earlier in the week so I could edit it for faster upload. This weeks video is in Chinese so I'll talk about that for a bit.

Finding somebody to talk with is always a difficult task for people especially if you don't live in that country. I have yet to go to any country that speaks Mandarin or Arabic as their native language but have multiple people who are willing to help me with my language learning. With the current technology we have you can really take advantage off any situation you are put in. I utilize different social media outlets to help myself find language partners (somebody who helps me with their language as I help them with theirs) very easily. Being as my native language is English I easily find people wanting to learn with me. I use HelloTalk and italki for finding language partners.  I got exceptionally lucky on italki by finding the first person I ever chatted with in Chinese who I still chat with every week. When I go to visit China, I will likely make sure to visit them. Another opportunity I had was when I took a class in the DC area. Afterwards I wanted to actually "use" my language so I contacted the teacher about any volunteer opportunities that he may know of. It turns out that his daughter works at the local university where they have a large population of foreign graduate students. I was able to get paired up with a few of them to help work with their English pronunciation and also help understand American culture while they helped me with Chinese. It has been an extremely satisfying experience for me.

Now to the speaking part. First off, a big fear is just how fast a native talks. You come in thinking that you can understand but really you've been preparing at a much slower speed so that first conversation can terrify you. I'll be honest, almost every conversation I've had I have had to ask the other person to repeat what they said, a little slower. Just like most things you start off with, it will take time to get up to speed. The first time you hop on a bike you aren't going to go on an all-out sprint but the more time you spend working on something, the better you will become at it. This is why listening to music, movies, podcasts, videos, etc. of natives speaking can really help you get comfortable with the speed of how a conversation will go. Another good way to help feel comfortable is to ask close-ended questions. Ask somebody if they have siblings; they'll likely say no or yes, followed by what type of siblings they may have. Sure, they will be speaking fast, but since you can anticipate the responses you will be ready for specific words when they are spoken.

Let's get right down to the video this week. So I was able to get some of the students I meet with, Vicky and Sue, to have a sporadic conversation with me. We didn't prep any conversation besides, "Lets talk about hobbies/travel/work/weather/etc." I learned about 30 seconds before this conversation how to say, "Ride horses," and we just went with it. You'll notice that I stumble a lot, get confused a lot, and actually faked my way through one portion without any idea what we were talking about. There's also a time I completely change topics. Obviously this conversation wasn't perfect and that was the point. I'm not fluent in this language, but I can get through a conversation. The only way you will learn is by making mistakes and struggling. Embrace the ugly and it will allow you to come out the other side feeling better.

Until next time!