Back to the Grind: Selecting Conversation Topics (Arabic Week 31)

So the past few weeks have been all over the place. Sadly, I wasn't able to post for a few weeks, but I'm back today!

As I've been working with language partners, sometimes the conversations get repetitive or redundant. You can only talk about what you did today for so long before you realize you do the same things quite a bit. This can limit your excitement about conversing if you aren't sure where to go.

When I first started chatting, it helped to have an outline because it allowed you a certain vocabulary to stay within when trying to have a conversation. It helps to make you more comfortable when you only have to talk about one topic to help prepare. These topics can be useful as they are pretty general that you can do a few times without repeating:

• Weather
• Hobbies
• Food
• Introduce a family member/friend

While this helps at the beginning, later on it isn't as necessary. Your vocabulary can expand so that you can talk about more daily routines without much difficulty, but what about when you want to do more? How can you encourage yourself to continue to grow and have unique conversations. This is my next goal of expanding conversations beyond just formalities about the week. Here are some easy conversation topics that are still easy to discuss but can help generate a more interesting conversation than just "What did you do today?"

• Tell a story from when you were younger
• Give a synopsis of your favorite movie
• If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
• What is your biggest pet peeve?

These are a little more advanced than just, "Today, it was raining," but help to create a more meaningful conversation. Next week, I plan to tell my friend, Jing, about how I was my high school mascot for three years. I'm guessing that it will create A LOT of questions and a conversation we haven't really had.

This week I prepare for a chat talking about the weather in Arabic. We will see how this goes!

Until next time.

Well This Got Interesting: Getting In Over My Head (Arabic Week 28)

Last week I got excited as I felt like I was making more progress with being able to ask for a specific dialect. To make sure I kept up that momentum, I took to the language learning programs that I've used to make sure I find people who are willing to work with me using the correct dialect. I took some time and prepared a few phrases to send to people. My hopes was that I would get a few who were willing to respond. That escalated quickly.

I spent a good 10-15 minutes writing that up....
and then I go and get these responses!

I forgot that when you message somebody in a specific language, they believe you can speak that language. Instantly, the level of responses I got back was much higher than I was ready for. This required me to quickly establish myself and try to converse with everything that I had. I'm happy to say that it went better than I originally thought.

Today, I was able to have two different conversations in Arabic with two different people. Both lasted for just short of 20 minutes including about half of it in Arabic. I was happy to learn new words that I will likely become more accustomed to using. My goals were to be able to be understood and to recognize at least one portion that I wasn't expecting. Looking back on both, I was successful!

More than anything, these conversations were a great way to see if what I'm doing is right. They were able to understand what I was saying, would recognize when I needed help, and were more than happy to clarify things that caused questions for me. I'm hoping that they continue into a more consistent language exchange.

Being as I didn't get to record either of the chats, I get to freestyle for a little today. We will see what I come up with. Seriously, I think I mention that I like playing with my dog, Ryan, EVERY week......

Until next time.