4 stories about moving to an English-speaking country: paranoia, polysemanticism and Bieber
Together with the TutorOnline project , we prepared 4 stories about the biggest language difficulties faced by people who moved to an English-speaking country.
3 years ago I moved from Moscow to London. Before that, I had an experience of language internship in England, and I already had an idea about where I was going and what I would face. My English has always been at a good level (profile class, tutoring, traveling, self-study). For this reason, the last thing I worried was that they would not understand me or I would not be able to fully communicate with the British.
However, for the first six months, I almost every day came across very strange situations, when you seem to be talking, you know, but inside something tells you that you need to read between the lines. It felt as if everyone was trying to deceive me or something to keep back. The work generally came to paranoia. I regarded each polite remark of colleagues as a hidden threat. I constantly checked familiar words for polysemanticism.
Well illustrate my state line from Justin Bieber's song:
')
What do you mean?
When you nod your head yes
But you wanna say no ...
After some time, I realized that it was not the language barrier or my insufficient preparation, but the difference in mentalities, cultural norms and rules. For example, the British are so polite that even the toughest criticism is clothed in a soft and tactful form.
My advice : if you want to not just learn a large number of words and grammatical rules, but to understand the language at a deep level, take it broader and learn as much as possible about the mentality, culture, customs and habits of the country whose language you are learning.
I have been living in San Francisco for over 10 years. She left immediately after graduating from the university after her husband. I am an English teacher by education, so I was least worried about difficulties with English. However, it quickly became clear that for many years I had been learning some kind of wrong language. The difference between British and American English was explained to us, of course, but in practice everything turned out to be much more unpredictable and more interesting.
There were a lot of funny everyday situations, when I confused the interlocutor. And always remember the old joke:
A man walks into a bar
The barman replies 'no!'
The duck asks again: 'have you got any bread?'
The barman replies 'no!'
The duck asks again: 'have you got any bread?'
The barman replies 'no!'
The duck asks again: 'have you got any bread?'
The barman replies 'no!'
The duck asks again: 'have you got any bread?'
Finally, it’s time for you to get up and say,
'Do you have any nails? 'asks the Duck.
'No'
'Have you got any bread?'
My advice : if you are learning a language for the specific purpose of moving to another country to work or study, do not learn “English at all” for 5 years. Immediately choose a tutor or courses that are sharpened, for example, under American English. Of course, in the process of live speech practice in the US, you quickly fill in the existing gaps, but if you need to go straight to work or present some kind of learning projects, insufficient knowledge of the language can interfere with your career.
And try to penetrate the subtleties of local humor. It also helps a lot.
I study in a magistracy in England. English taught, like many, from grade 1 to victory. After moving a couple of months at lectures, I understood no more than half of what the teacher said. There were no problems in everyday communication, but an essay on philosophy was written with a tutor for 3 days.
The most difficult thing for me is to master “different languages” in parallel, because it turned out that for interpersonal communication is one vocabulary and one English, for an academic level - another (and not only in vocabulary, but also what language constructs and you need to use, and which can offend the interlocutor). The first time I talked a lot in Russian. Three guys from Russia are studying with me, and we, like in that old joke, instead of learning English, taught half the group to Russian.
After a couple of months I decided that I speak only English and spend as much time as possible in companies with carriers.
My advice : look for native speakers wherever possible. Without speech experience with a native speaker, it is impossible to learn a language. Of course, if you move to another country, then after a while everything will come with experience. But if there is no possibility to leave for a long time, and learning a language at a level higher than Upper-Intermediate is your goal, use any opportunity to practice the language.
For me, the most difficult was not a language, but a psychological barrier. In Russia, I taught English at school and for 3 years at a university, I was an excellent student, the best student and student. Now I understand that I have myself formed my own complex of a pupil who does not have the right to make mistakes.
When I went to study in Scotland, after going through a very long and complicated procedure of applying for documents and confirming the language level, I suddenly realized that I was just afraid to open my mouth in the company of friends. I scrolled 30 times in my head the most correct language construct in order to ask an elementary question. And in the student audience, I immediately got to get together and communicate quite normally, express my opinion, carry out assignments. But in personal communication, I turned into a silent zombie.
The first six months, in fact, I did not communicate with anyone. Only with a few guys from my group on economics, because we were united to carry out a joint project. The most funny situation happened when a young man tried to meet me in a coffee shop. I was so scared that I forgot how to say hello.
A year later, of course, I coped with the fear, I had friends, my first job, and even a young man. But until now, when dealing with a local resident, I am afraid to seem insufficiently ... competent.
My advice : do not be afraid to make mistakes and do not be too ardent perfectionists. The psychological barrier is difficult to overcome, but it is built very quickly. Just say a few times to yourself: “I have to be better. I know better. I have no right to be ridiculous, ridiculous, or admit that I don’t understand something. ” In any country, people calmly react to the speech errors of foreigners. To become your own, you need not so much impeccable knowledge of the language as the willingness to open up and be sincere.
Readers of the blog give a coupon for 700 rubles for the purchase of a subscription, which includes 8 types of training and weekly mailings about English grammar and vocabulary - "Vitaminki" and "Buns".
And for unlimited and perpetual access to all features of the site there is an “All Inclusive” tariff (the discount does not apply).
Natalia, 27 years old, journalist
3 years ago I moved from Moscow to London. Before that, I had an experience of language internship in England, and I already had an idea about where I was going and what I would face. My English has always been at a good level (profile class, tutoring, traveling, self-study). For this reason, the last thing I worried was that they would not understand me or I would not be able to fully communicate with the British.
However, for the first six months, I almost every day came across very strange situations, when you seem to be talking, you know, but inside something tells you that you need to read between the lines. It felt as if everyone was trying to deceive me or something to keep back. The work generally came to paranoia. I regarded each polite remark of colleagues as a hidden threat. I constantly checked familiar words for polysemanticism.
Well illustrate my state line from Justin Bieber's song:
')
What do you mean?
When you nod your head yes
But you wanna say no ...
After some time, I realized that it was not the language barrier or my insufficient preparation, but the difference in mentalities, cultural norms and rules. For example, the British are so polite that even the toughest criticism is clothed in a soft and tactful form.
My advice : if you want to not just learn a large number of words and grammatical rules, but to understand the language at a deep level, take it broader and learn as much as possible about the mentality, culture, customs and habits of the country whose language you are learning.
Karina, 34 years old, teacher
I have been living in San Francisco for over 10 years. She left immediately after graduating from the university after her husband. I am an English teacher by education, so I was least worried about difficulties with English. However, it quickly became clear that for many years I had been learning some kind of wrong language. The difference between British and American English was explained to us, of course, but in practice everything turned out to be much more unpredictable and more interesting.
There were a lot of funny everyday situations, when I confused the interlocutor. And always remember the old joke:
A man walks into a bar
The barman replies 'no!'
The duck asks again: 'have you got any bread?'
The barman replies 'no!'
The duck asks again: 'have you got any bread?'
The barman replies 'no!'
The duck asks again: 'have you got any bread?'
The barman replies 'no!'
The duck asks again: 'have you got any bread?'
Finally, it’s time for you to get up and say,
'Do you have any nails? 'asks the Duck.
'No'
'Have you got any bread?'
My advice : if you are learning a language for the specific purpose of moving to another country to work or study, do not learn “English at all” for 5 years. Immediately choose a tutor or courses that are sharpened, for example, under American English. Of course, in the process of live speech practice in the US, you quickly fill in the existing gaps, but if you need to go straight to work or present some kind of learning projects, insufficient knowledge of the language can interfere with your career.
And try to penetrate the subtleties of local humor. It also helps a lot.
Artem, 26 years old, student
I study in a magistracy in England. English taught, like many, from grade 1 to victory. After moving a couple of months at lectures, I understood no more than half of what the teacher said. There were no problems in everyday communication, but an essay on philosophy was written with a tutor for 3 days.
The most difficult thing for me is to master “different languages” in parallel, because it turned out that for interpersonal communication is one vocabulary and one English, for an academic level - another (and not only in vocabulary, but also what language constructs and you need to use, and which can offend the interlocutor). The first time I talked a lot in Russian. Three guys from Russia are studying with me, and we, like in that old joke, instead of learning English, taught half the group to Russian.
After a couple of months I decided that I speak only English and spend as much time as possible in companies with carriers.
My advice : look for native speakers wherever possible. Without speech experience with a native speaker, it is impossible to learn a language. Of course, if you move to another country, then after a while everything will come with experience. But if there is no possibility to leave for a long time, and learning a language at a level higher than Upper-Intermediate is your goal, use any opportunity to practice the language.
Anastasia, 22 years old, student
For me, the most difficult was not a language, but a psychological barrier. In Russia, I taught English at school and for 3 years at a university, I was an excellent student, the best student and student. Now I understand that I have myself formed my own complex of a pupil who does not have the right to make mistakes.
When I went to study in Scotland, after going through a very long and complicated procedure of applying for documents and confirming the language level, I suddenly realized that I was just afraid to open my mouth in the company of friends. I scrolled 30 times in my head the most correct language construct in order to ask an elementary question. And in the student audience, I immediately got to get together and communicate quite normally, express my opinion, carry out assignments. But in personal communication, I turned into a silent zombie.
The first six months, in fact, I did not communicate with anyone. Only with a few guys from my group on economics, because we were united to carry out a joint project. The most funny situation happened when a young man tried to meet me in a coffee shop. I was so scared that I forgot how to say hello.
A year later, of course, I coped with the fear, I had friends, my first job, and even a young man. But until now, when dealing with a local resident, I am afraid to seem insufficiently ... competent.
My advice : do not be afraid to make mistakes and do not be too ardent perfectionists. The psychological barrier is difficult to overcome, but it is built very quickly. Just say a few times to yourself: “I have to be better. I know better. I have no right to be ridiculous, ridiculous, or admit that I don’t understand something. ” In any country, people calmly react to the speech errors of foreigners. To become your own, you need not so much impeccable knowledge of the language as the willingness to open up and be sincere.
If you want to upgrade English, come to us
Readers of the blog give a coupon for 700 rubles for the purchase of a subscription, which includes 8 types of training and weekly mailings about English grammar and vocabulary - "Vitaminki" and "Buns".
And for unlimited and perpetual access to all features of the site there is an “All Inclusive” tariff (the discount does not apply).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/374361/
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