- In this video,
I'm going to be sharing a really simple technique
which will help you speak the language you're learning
with more confidence.
(upbeat music)
Hi, I'm Mark from Coffee Break Languages
and, this morning, on my coffee break
I thought I would talk a little bit about a technique
which I use all the time when I'm speaking
one of the languages I'm learning.
I'm sure, like me, you've experienced that situation
where you're a bit nervous about speaking in the language,
so you've thought carefully about what you're going to say,
you've mastered the phrase
or the question you're going to ask,
and the moment arrives for you to utter those words,
and you manage it, almost perfectly.
Well, maybe your pronunciation could have been a bit better
but from the look on the face
of the person you're speaking to,
they've understood you. Result!
That is until you hear the reply
and it's not quite what you were expecting.
It's not what was written in your textbook
or the sample conversation you've listened to.
In fact, this is one of the most common challenges we hear
about here at Coffee Break Languages.
You can say things,
but understanding responses is a whole different story.
So, how do you combat this feeling of inadequacy?
How do you prepare for all eventualities?
I think the key is in anticipating
what someone may say in response to your statement
or question.
And by that, I mean all the possible responses.
In fact, I actually like to try to work out multiple options
before I get to the point of speaking in the first place.
Of course, this isn't rocket science
our brain is doing this in our native language all the time.
And we can react quickly to information
even when we don't expect it.
But, when it comes to a new language,
the language we're learning, it's a different story.
We need to train our brain to make those connections.
Okay, it may help to look at an example.
Imagine you are making a phone call to check on the delivery
of a parcel that you've sent to your friend.
You want to find out
why the parcel has not yet been delivered.
You need to anticipate some of the possible responses
to your question.
For example, what if the parcel is being held at customs?
Do you know the verb "to hold"? "Is being held"
is a passive structure
and there's a chance that this kind of explanation
may well be said in the passive
because the person or organisation
who's "doing the holding" isn't really important.
It's the fact that it's "being held" that's important.
But, are you ready to understand that passive structure?
Don't worry too much about this.
The fact is you probably will recognise the verb
and if you recognise the verb,
the chances are, you'll be able to guess
the passive meaning.
But, are you familiar with the word for "customs"?
What if the parcel has been lost?
It's not good for you or your friend
to find out that the parcel has been lost,
hopefully it'll be found.
But do you know the word for "lost"? Does "to lose"
have an irregular past participle
in the language you're learning.
And, most importantly, do you know how to react with a
"mamma mia!" or "oh là là"
when you discover that it's been lost?
Here's another possibility:
the delivery drivers are on strike.
Would you know how to understand the verb "to strike"?
Will there be more information given,
for example, will you be listening for a day of the week
or a date when the strike will be over?
What else? Import charges have to be paid.
So "import charges" is quite a technical bit of vocabulary
which you might not necessarily know,
but I'm sure the chances are
you will recognise the verb "to pay".
In this case, you may need to follow up with a question
about whether you can pay over the phone
in order to clear the package for delivery.
So you may want to make sure
that you can formulate that kind of question.
Of course, there are many other possible situations
or explanations for the parcel not being delivered
and of course we could take this much further.
It may also seem that this whole process
is quite time-consuming, quite long,
but I think there are two things
that we need to focus on here.
First of all,
your brain can work a lot more quickly
than the speed of this video.
I'm sure that, as you've watched me
talking about these different scenarios,
you will already have thought up
a number of other scenarios.
Secondly, and perhaps, maybe even more importantly,
you know you. You know what you already know,
so you can skip quickly through some parts
of the anticipation process
and just focus on any new words or phrases
you may need to learn.
I'll let you into a little secret.
This whole process is exactly what I had to do
a couple of weeks ago,
when I had to call the Madrid office of UPS.
You may have seen some of our Q&A videos
in which we answer your questions.
I was sending some Coffee Break Spanish t-shirts
to Marina, along with some equipment
for her to film her parts of the video in Spain.
However, I had posted the parcel ten weeks previously
and it still hadn't reached her in Córdoba.
Now, according to Google maps,
I could have walked from Scotland to Córdoba and back
in less time.
So I wasn't too pleased.
Anyway, I was about to phone the Madrid UPS office.
Now, I'm fairly confident in Spanish,
but I'd still given some thought
to the various possible scenarios
to make sure that I was ready to deal with the conversation.
However, what I didn't expect
was the person I spoke to
clearly had some kind of Guinness World Record
for being the fastest speaker of Spanish alive.
No matter how many times I asked him to slow down
or repeat things, he just kept firing off
this ricochet of supersonic Spanish,
which was completely impossible to understand.
So, even with anticipation and planning,
it's not always easy.
I have to say that I was quite relieved
when Marina herself called the same number later that day
and found the man equally impossible to understand.
Quite a relief!
So, what do you think?
Do you go through this anticipation process
when you're preparing a conversation or a phone call,
or do you just go for it and hope for the best?
I'd love to read your comments.
Let me know too if you'd like me
to make more of these videos.
I'd also like to suggest
that you subscribe to our Newsletter.
You'll get weekly language learning tips from me
and monthly updates from the team
with lesson updates, reading texts
in the language you're learning, and cultural information.
Go to coffeebreaklanguages.com/newsletter
or click the link which you should see up here.
That's it for this video.
If you've enjoyed it,
make sure you give it a 'like'
and don't forget to subscribe to our channel
for more help and inspiration for your language learning.
By the way, you'll be pleased
to know that the t-shirts did finally reach Marina
after being held at customs,
then lost for three weeks
and we did have import fees to pay as well.
But I suppose we should be thankful
that there wasn't a strike to add to the list of problems.
Thank you for watching, happy language learning.
And of course, happy CoffeeBreaking!