What if you had to learn a new language from scratch as an adult? (because kids just automagically pick it up) and you can't speak English because the other person doesn't know English.
You can always point a finger to get basic nouns, but at some stage (like lesson two) the nouns will get too abstract to point at. You can point at different examples of food but not 'food' itself. Likewise some verbs you can show, "I am running", but they'll get abstract even quicker "I have".
I've collected some phrases that should be a special section of its own in language learning. They are intended to help you bootstrap into a language, if you are so lucky to find yourself in this intermediate scenario.
You really need two kinds of things, a set of bootstrapping utterances that a normal fluent adult (works fine for kids too) speaking the language already would ask if they just forgot something. And then you want a set of things that a normal fluent adult would say as a matter of course, those little in between words, um's and oh's, most likely not in the dictionary.
I don't understand.
I don't understand that word.
I don't know.
I don't think so.
I'm not sure.
I know.
I understand.
What? (I didn't hear you or I didn't understand)
Can you repeat that?
Can you say that slowly?
Can you say that again? Can you repeat that?
Can you explain that? Can you say that a different way?
What is that?
What do you call that?
What does X (a word in the new language) mean?
Is there a word for (some description in the new language)?
How do you say (some description in the new language)?
How do you say 'Y' (a word in your own language, not in the language being learned)? (if you are so lucky to already have someone bilingual as a teacher)
How do you spell 'X'? (if you are so lucky as to have a common writing system)
Of course.
Not at all, of course not.
Really?
Are you sure?
I can't tell the difference.
Do people really say that? Does everyone say that?
These should be a necessary part of the elementary language curriculum in any language. Also when translated into these other languages (the native language to be learned) they should be translated literally or formally, but have the corresponding way the natives say it.
For whatever language you're learning, find/translate/get these phrases in the new language and they'll speed up your fluency. The idea is to speak with awareness in the other language, to act as a native speaker would in their language. (OK, no native speaker would use many of these because of pragmatic concerns, not wanting to look like you don't understand).
You can always point a finger to get basic nouns, but at some stage (like lesson two) the nouns will get too abstract to point at. You can point at different examples of food but not 'food' itself. Likewise some verbs you can show, "I am running", but they'll get abstract even quicker "I have".
I've collected some phrases that should be a special section of its own in language learning. They are intended to help you bootstrap into a language, if you are so lucky to find yourself in this intermediate scenario.
You really need two kinds of things, a set of bootstrapping utterances that a normal fluent adult (works fine for kids too) speaking the language already would ask if they just forgot something. And then you want a set of things that a normal fluent adult would say as a matter of course, those little in between words, um's and oh's, most likely not in the dictionary.
Bootstrapping words
I don't understand.
I don't understand that word.
I don't know.
I don't think so.
I'm not sure.
I know.
I understand.
What? (I didn't hear you or I didn't understand)
Can you repeat that?
Can you say that slowly?
Can you say that again? Can you repeat that?
Can you explain that? Can you say that a different way?
What is that?
What do you call that?
What does X (a word in the new language) mean?
Is there a word for (some description in the new language)?
How do you say (some description in the new language)?
How do you say 'Y' (a word in your own language, not in the language being learned)? (if you are so lucky to already have someone bilingual as a teacher)
How do you spell 'X'? (if you are so lucky as to have a common writing system)
Of course.
Not at all, of course not.
Really?
Are you sure?
I can't tell the difference.
Do people really say that? Does everyone say that?
These should be a necessary part of the elementary language curriculum in any language. Also when translated into these other languages (the native language to be learned) they should be translated literally or formally, but have the corresponding way the natives say it.
Quasi-language
Quasi-language is utterances that are from the mouth but are not terribly dictionary oriented. To be a native speaker of a language, you should be able to 'say' these kinds of things (translated appropriately of course).
Uhhh, ummm - a 'spacer' between words while you think of what to say next instead of leaving a pregnant pause
Uh-huh, yeah - very informal yes
Unh-unh, nuh-unh, mn-mm - very informal no
Ow - an exclamation of mild pain
Oops - if you dropped something or made a mistake
Tsk-Tsk - registering disapproval
Ah - registering understanding
Oh - registering mild surprise
Hey - to get someone's attention loudly
Shh - to tell someone to be quiet
Uh-huh, yeah - very informal yes
Unh-unh, nuh-unh, mn-mm - very informal no
Ow - an exclamation of mild pain
Oops - if you dropped something or made a mistake
Tsk-Tsk - registering disapproval
Ah - registering understanding
Oh - registering mild surprise
Hey - to get someone's attention loudly
Shh - to tell someone to be quiet
Of course, some of these may be US/AmE particular and you 'just don't say it' in other 'languages'.
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