[Chat] Can u talk to foreigner smoothly?

[＊茶米＊ 10]

My sister's boyfriend who comes from England recently.

Ha ha!

No matter how the great grade in English is, I still afraid of talking to him.

I've tried my best :D

When we were chatting , I found that we always have the words like "yup","sorry","cool","haha it sounds great"... etc...

It makes me feel that it was embarrassed.

How about you guys?

Can you teach us about the skill that can make your conversation more smoothly, or share with us your personal experience ^^ ?

[JackHsu 10]

UMM...i learned english since i was 4 ( kindergarten ? i think ...

i don't know , it's a kind of feeling ,

you can pretend that ur talking to a friend not a foreigner ,

then u will feel that ur speaking chinese but not english

( hard to explain , sry XDDD

well, that's my opinion, u can have ur way to talk , XDDD

[＊茶米＊ 10]

UMM...i learned english since i was 4 ( kindergarten ? i think ...

i don't know , it's a kind of feeling ,

you can pretend that ur talking to a friend not a foreigner ,

then u will feel that ur speaking chinese but not english

( hard to explain , sry XDDD

well, that's my opinion, u can have ur way to talk , XDDD

it's easy to say but it's hard to do. XD

anyway, practice make perfect, isn't it? ^^

[JackHsu 10]

it's easy to say but it's hard to do. XD

anyway, practice make perfect, isn't it? ^^

yeh ur right =]

i think u can do that , i have faith in u =]

[Julia H. 10]

ya practice makes perfect.

i don't have many opportunities to talk with a foreigner (pale faces). :(

but i think talking to the babysitter from Philippines or Indonesia is much more easier.

ugh idk, maybe you could say that's just feeling. or it's just because i have more chance to talk with babysitters from Southeast Asia. the more times you speak, you'll get used to it easier.

[MikiRei 10]

Can you teach us about the skill that can make your conversation more smoothly, or share with us your personal experience ^^ ?

Talk more. Do a bit of reverse logic here.

Example:

Q: Why am I able to converse in Chinese so easily?

A: Because I converse in it 24/7. I'm USED to it.

Now reverse this:

Q: How are English speakers able to converse in English so easily?

A: Because they converse in it 24/7. They're USED to it.

Solution: Converse more in English and you'll get used to it.

Good luck!

[狂傲墨客X 10]

well, just talk more often and you'll get used to it.

talking to foreigner isn't as hard as you think it'll be

[trois3 10]

Try to think in English and use easy words to describe what you want, how you feel .....There is no need to polish your expression and no need to speak as a Native in the first beginning.. People interest in the content of the conversation, not the rhetoric.

[timothyhses 10]

When you speak in Chinese, there's a flow of words in your mind that goes slightly faster than you speak, no? What you don't want to do is, don't think in Chinese, and translate it into english as you speak, that way you stutter a lot, and often drop words(like when you can't remember the correct translation for it in english)

What you want to do is think in English as the previous post suggests, 'flow' in English, and whenever you can't think of the word you're trying to use, side step it, substitute it with another word, or say the sentence all over again in a different way.

Also, try to speak slowly, so you got time to think about what you're gonna say. People understand its hard to speak in a second language, let alone converse fluently lol, think about what you react to a foreigner speak chinese, and that's how they think of you.

good luck, and hope i helped!

[yutsao 10]

nah, i usually just say nothing but "uhhh.."

[阿Ｂ一口一 10]

speaking is important to learn English.

but we often don't have the chance to chat with foreigner.

[txreformer 10]

There are many foreigners on Facebook, where we can chat.

[雲淡風輕 10]

Don't be nervous infront of them.

Try to think in English or you can use simple vocabuary to translate your feelings from Chinese too.

Don't think too much its not a quiz.

Langues are suppose to express how you feel and for people to chat , not to make you feel depressd. =)

Don't be afraid!!!

[sasd 10]

ah, when I am in front of a Chinese, we can just talk in English ( or Chinglish, I can't tell, haha) without pressure.

however, if a native speaker talk with me in his mother tongue, I turn to like a beginer and can simply use body language to answer him.

maybe that's my problem.

[MikiRei 10]

No matter how the great grade in English is, I still afraid of talking to him.

Just noticed this part.

PLEASE just try and talk to him as much as you can. Forget about being scared. He probably can't even speak an inch of Chinese so you should feel good that you can at least converse with him in English in some degree.

That and it will make him feel more welcome. My parents hardly talk to my boyfriend because they feel intimidated even though he'd like to strike a conversation with them. Thankfully these days my mum makes A LOT of effort and my dad too to some degree - but it did take them 3 years.

The other complaint I got was from my friend's dad. He complained how my mum never wants to make friends with him - even though it's because my mum freaks out and is too embarrassed to talk to him so seriously, just try and talk to him and forget the embarrassment. They'll appreciate it a lot more than if you act all scared and shy away.

[anniebaby 10]

Our school had two guys from England as exchange students a few weeks ago. Language wasn't a big issue, but their sense of humor was difficult to understand. Though I studied in England when I was young, there was still a huge amount of cultural differences between us.

As for communicating with foreigners, don't be ashamed to ask if you don't understand what they are talking about. I'm sure they will understand the fact that we aren't native speakers. =)

此內容已被編輯, November 23, 2010 ,由 anniebaby

[雲淡風輕 10]

Our school had two guys from England as exchange students a few weeks ago. Language wasn't a big issue, but their sense of humor was difficult to understand. Though I studied in England when I was young, there was still a huge amount of cultural differences between us.

As for communicating with foreigners, don't be ashamed to ask if you don't understand what they are talking about. I'm sure they will understand the fact that we aren't native speakers. =)

GUYS???

seriously???

I thought that "foreign" boys would be covered by girls when they entered girls school.

[化工鼠 10]

Avoid using difficult words.

[飄浮幻雲 10]

Bro, just relax and try your best? Don't let those foreigner scare you!!! LOL

Well, definitely, it's quite hard for us who have grown in a Mandarin speaking country for ages without many English speaker around us to speak English to those who speaks English all the time...

Just try you best and keep talking with him and have fun =D!

[貝v貝 10]

Don't be nervous infront of them.

Try to think in English or you can use simple vocabuary to translate your feelings from Chinese too.

Don't think too much its not a quiz.

Langues are suppose to express how you feel and for people to chat , not to make you feel depressd. =)

Don't be afraid!!!

i agree ur viewpoint...

to be honest...

my teachers here have told me the same words ...

they said the most important thing when u chat in english is

don't be afraid of making mistakes...

it's not important that if u make a grammer mistake...

as long as someone u r talking to can understand ur means...

it's ok...

i think we r afraid of talking to foreigner...

cause we rn't used to think in english

if u c do it one day...

u c talk to others in english smoothly...

此內容已被編輯, June 12, 2011 ,由 IAM貝貝

[l151881534 10]

well bro.. just talk when ever you have chance, and be WILLING to make mistake since people<aka foreigners> would correct it for you if you ask them i guess(?)

at least the people i know all did that.. and yes i do speak fluent english<an attempt to answer the question you asked>

[弟弟寬 10]

just relax~

don't be afraid of making mistakes

practice more and you will make!!

[艾喵喵 10]

Maybe you can try some special way.

Teach him Chinese！

[瑜兒 10]

Well ya just practice more I guess

Try to talk a lot , talk about everything dat comes to ur mind:-)

[好個輕功水上飄 10]

La práctica hace al maestro:)

My English is poor now ......

Even my poor Spanish and Italian is better than my English because I don't use English in my college life.....

(Okay,Italian might not be......)

Use it , just use it.

此內容已被編輯, January 29, 2012 ,由 好個輕功水上飄