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How many words do you understand in a conversation?

Hello world!!

Many people,  in their learning process, can get a bit frustrated now and then about their ability to understand local people, films, tv, etc.

And I would like to tell you, thats normal .That’s  a process that increase by exposing yourself to the oral language, and the key  is to use our experience in our mother tongue  to figure out whats the conversation about. You may fail but that’s not important, at least in random and social conversations (Not for bussiness or legal stuff :))

So Im going to tell you about my experience with english, not perfect still, but…

I learnt english in school and academies for 6 years, yeahh thats a lot, I should have been able to manage in different situations  after that , dont you think?

Obviusly  not, I arrived to UK quite confident about my level.  I step out of the plane and that was it. I didnt have a clue what they were talking about, nothing, I felt I have been learning another language all these years.

Time pass , and from O% per cent the first month, I got  to 20% the next 3 months,  and keep on increasing as I  exposed myself  to the oral language. It took me a few years, lots of funny misunderstoods, and lots of situations to get confident with my level. Still today I dont understand 100% when a group of natives are speaking, but I can figure out what are they talking about, and Im able to understand 80%-90% depending on the topic.

So  these are my conclusions.

  1. Dont worry if  you only understand a few works, this will  get better little by little.
  2. Expose yourself to the language u are trying to achieve as much as u can, and enjoy it.
  3. Lots  of informal conversations in different languages are similar, so if you pick up a few words chances are high you are right about whats going in. And if not, no worries, nobody is going to judge you for this and in any case it could just finish in a funny anecdote .

Would you like to share  your experience learning a second or third language ? Write in REPLY.

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