Holidays

I've talked about repetition; the 75 times you need to really acquire new language (see previous post).  Well holidays are a perfect way to use some of your English again and again and again.

If you are studying in an English speaking country, this might be especially useful for you.  Think about the questions you are asked when you return from holiday or just a long weekend.  They are always the same:

“Where did you go?  What did you see?  What did you do?  Did you enjoy it?  Who did you go with?  What was your favourite place?  Oh, I’ve been there, did you visit ______?  What did you think of ______?”

What a wonderful opportunity for your English!  You know what questions to expect and you can learn, prepare and rehearse your answers.

Let's look at a few phrases you can use for each of these questions.  Remember, vocabulary is good but learning and acquiring complete phrases helps with fluency.  To make this post prettier, I've also included some photos of a recent holiday I had on the border of Argentina and Brazil.  Enjoy

The ruins of a Jesuit mission, San Ignacio Mini, Misiones, Argentina

1.     Where did you go?

I spent a few days in… (you stayed in one place)

I spent a few days travelling around… (you stayed in one general area but visited a few specific places in that area)

I went/travelled up to… (if the destination was north)

I went/travelled down to… (if the destination was south)

I went/travelled over to… (if east or west)

I went with some friends up to…

In the background is Paraguay, on the right is Brazil and I am standing in Argentina!

2.     What did you see?

Well, where to begin? (a rhetorical question for yourself, which gives you more time to think and explains you have a long story to tell)

I saw lots of stuff actually.  I saw… (then give a list)

The waterfalls at Iguazu on the Brazilian side.

3.     What did you do?

What did I not do? (a great reply that explains you did a lot of things – make sure you really emphasise the ‘not’ and say it with a smile on your face)

I did a bit of… (climbing, shopping, sunbathing, kayaking, hiking, waterskiing, reading… the list goes on and on and on)

I actually did a lot more than I expected.  I… (then give details – this is if you did more than was in your original plan)

Not as much as I’d wanted.  I… (then give details – if you did less than was in your original plan.

4.     Did you enjoy it?

Definitely!  It was exactly what I wanted.  (it was a perfect vacation and it is what you excepted)

Definitely!  It was exactly what I needed.  (it was perfect and helped you to relax)

Immensely!  (100% brilliant!)

Very much so, yes!  (90-100%)

Hmm, not that much because… (30-40%)

Yeah, more or less, but I think _______ could have been better.  (your vacation was 50/60% and there are one or two things you didn’t like – for pronunciation help with this, take a look at this previous post)

The Iguazu waterfalls on the Argentinian side.

5.     Who did you go with?

I just went by myself (no travelling companions; alone)

I went with…

I was going to go by myself but I ended up going with _________. (the original plan was to go alone but this plan changed and you went with another person)

6.     What was your favourite place?

Well, I particularly liked… (you want to talk about a specific thing that you liked on holiday)

________, without a doubt. (a tag at the end of the answer to explain that one place was much better than all the other places)

That’s a difficult question.  I guess I’d have to say… (if you are not sure about your answer or there was more than one really good place)

I probably enjoyed ______ more than anything else. (this is not as strong as ‘without a doubt’ and shows that there were a few things that you really enjoyed)

Breathtaking and spectacular, isn't it?

7.     Oh, I've been there.  Did you visit _____?

Yeah, what did you think of it?

Of course! (an obvious place to visit that would be impossible to miss)

No, we didn’t have time to go there.

No, we didn’t have the opportunity to go there.

No, I really wanted to but…

8.     What did you think of_____?

I thought it was spectacular.  (amazing)

I thought it was breathtaking.  (very impressive)

To be honest, I wasn’t very impressed with _______ because...  (under 50%)

It was alright but not as good as everyone was saying. (50-60% but people told you that it was 100% amazing)

It would have been great but it was spoiled by… (a good place/event was much less fun because of something that happened – bad weather, for example)

Don’t Be Afraid of Getting it Wrong!

I was reading an article a couple of weeks ago about how the C.I.A. in the United States is investigating language learning.  If you don’t know, the C.I.A is the Central Intelligence Agency and very basically they are spies! Obviously, multiple languages are very useful for this.

Well, the article was not as interesting as I expected (click here if you want to read it) but this article had one paragraph that "jumped out" at me (it got my attention).  Here is the important part for you:

“Another surprise came from studies of Spanish-speaking immigrants, because neither age nor language proficiency seemed to predict how quickly the immigrants picked up English. Instead, the fastest learners showed both the greatest motivation to learn and a willingness to use English at every opportunity despite being bad at it (at first).”

Ok.  So in general, the people who achieve the most in learning a language are those who find motivation and are not afraid to use their bad English.  It is like a muscle in your body: the more you use it, the stronger it gets, and we all know the phrase “Use it or lose it!”.  Well maybe we can change this phrase; "It's better to use it badly than lose it."  So I  return to the topic of motivation and opportunity for learning English, something I talked about a little bit in a previous post.

Finding Motivation

This is difficult.  Personally, I don’t think I have this.  If I look at myself as a Spanish language learner, I see a lack of motivation.  I want to learn and improve my Spanish but I don’t need to improve it.  But if I knew that I needed to become much better for a test or for a job, then that would give me much more motivation.

Finding Opportunity

For me, this is easy: I’m living in Argentina!  I’m staying at a Bed & Breakfast where they don’t speak English!  I have lots of opportunity to practise my Spanish here.

So, is Gordon improving?  No, not really.

Why is he not improving?  He has opportunity but doesn’t really have motivation.  He needs both!

Now, I am NOT saying that you need to move to another country to learn the language (although that does help).  You can find opportunities everywhere, especially with the Internet.  Motivation can only come from you.  For me, that’s what I am working on.

What do you do to help motivate yourself?  I would love to know your ideas.

Gordon

P.S.  One final point about getting it wrong and making mistakes.  Yes, of course you will make mistakes and you will make lots of mistakes.  Nobody does anything perfectly without lots and lots of practice, and practice is when we make mistakes.

Is English Difficult to Learn?

This post is inspired by a similar post on Warren Ediger’s Successful English blog.

Personally, I always thought English is an easy language for giving information but a difficult language for getting information.  As I continue with my Spanish studies, I think this is probably true of most languages.

For example, a low level learner’s vocabulary in English can be good enough to explain a problem they are having.

“I have very bad stomach-ache.”

But understanding the huge variety of possible replies needs a wider vocabulary (we say “wider” for vocabulary, not “bigger”).

“You should go to the doctor.” 

“You might want to see a doctor then.” 

“You’d best go and see a doctor.” 

“I’d go to the health centre, if I were you.” 

“You’d better make an appointment with the GP then.” 

“Do you reckon you need to see a doctor?” 

“There’s a clinic on the next street if you want to drop in.” 

“It sounds like you could do with an appointment to see the doctor.” 

“It’s probably a good idea to see your GP then.”

Think about all of these different phrases and parts of language you might need to understand the reply. There are modals verbs like ‘should’, ‘would’, ‘could’ and ‘might’.  Phrases like “You had better + verb” or “You had best + verb” which we use for suggestions.  Direct questions using phrases like “Do you reckon…” or indirect questions “…if you want to see him.”   The change in title from ‘doctor’ to ‘GP’ or not talking about the ‘doctor’ but about the ‘clinic’ or the ‘health centre’.  The variety of verbs you could use; ‘see a doctor’, ‘make an appointment’ and ‘drop in at the clinic’.

As you can see, there’s a lot of English that you might get from this one simple sentence, “I have very bad stomach-ache.”  For me, this also shows that vocabulary needs to be learned in phrases around topics instead of learning the grammar first.  What I mean is that there are some complicated conditionals in there "I'd go to the health centre, if I were you."  Do you think you should wait until you are Intermediate/Upper-Intermediate before you can understand that and reply to it?  You need a doctor!

But I don’t think this problem is limited to English because I know I have the same problem not understanding replies to what I say in Spanish.

One of my problems in Spanish is anxiety.   My worst skill is conversational listening.  This is very different from passive listening.  I can sit in a café or pub and listen to a group of people speak in Spanish and I will follow the gist of the conversation (gist = the general idea, the main points).  But listening in a one-to-one conversation is more difficult because you have less time to think about the language you are hearing and you need to think about what you want to say as well.

The problem is that worrying and anxiety do not help learning.  So how do we stay calm?  Well, it is good to work together with other people who also want to learn English or other people who want to help you improve your English.

So, is English a difficult language to learn?  Well yes, and no.

The main points I haven’t mentioned here are motivation and opportunity.  Are you motivated to improve your English?  What is your motivation?  Do you have the opportunity to use your English?  These are also important questions to ask if you want an answer to the question, “Is English hard to learn?”

What do you think?  As always I look forward to your opinions.

Gordon

P.S.  And for a more humorous opinion about why English is so difficult, click here.