How do You Know You’re Comfortable Speaking a New Language?
When you move to a new country, it goes without saying (oops, a Pun!) that you will have to learn a new language. Depending on your skills and personality, this could be easy or difficult. It could take months, or it could take years. But, how do you know that you’re comfortable, and well-versed in a language?
In my experience, there are a few signs when I know I, or someone else, is getting comfortable in a foreign language. Here are some of the clues I’ve noticed:
- You wake up and realize you not only remember your dream, but it was in the language you’re studying! This happened to me when I studied Japanese. It means to me that your subconscious is absorbing the language and you are starting to “get it”
- You can hold a conversation with a total stranger for 30 minutes. I observed one of my best friends doing this, after she told me she could hardly speak the language! Being able to talk about “nothing” and “everything” with someone you don’t know is a sign that you’re comfortable enough to converse without a text book, and that your brain is starting to automate words and phrases rather than you consciously thinking of your words
- You can make jokes and “one-up” someone. On one of my experiences living in France, I was at the dinner table with my host family. It was the night after Bastille Day, during which I had gone to a Bastille Day dance in the town with a few members of my family. My host brother, who had not joined us at the ball, took a sip of his soup, and asked me (in French, of course!) about the ball. With his eyes cast down at his spoon, very seriously contemplating his spoon, he asked, “Did you dance with a monkey last night?” I replied, “No, because you weren’t there.” The entire table (and there were at least ten people) erupted with laughter and he practically dropped his soup spoon. It was at that moment I realized I could keep up and surprise them, that made me understand I was as capable in French, as in English, of being a smart-a$$.
For those of you who have, or are, studied another language, what are the moments that you noticed you were comfortable speaking it?
22Apr
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