The road to fluency

Hi. My last article received a great deal more attention than I could have ever hoped for; and for this I’d like to thank you all as my message has been spread. I appreciate all the comments and e-mails you were kind enough to send to me, it seems that my criticism of the pseudo-polyglots was justified. 

I speak English fluently

The war I’m waging against the pseudo-polyglots has spread as far as LingQ, an online language-learning community. It was there that I met Lilac, who, as one of many, complimented me on my English and also suggested that it would be a good idea to write an article on how I learnt it. In fact, unlike so many others in the language-learning blogosphere, I am actually fluent in a second language and, therefore, I presume I must know what fluency is and how one can achieve it. If you’re expecting some magic pill here or some three month/one year solution I’m going to have to disappoint you. Reaching my current level in both written and spoken English has involved a great deal of work.

First step – work, more work and… some more work

I remember attending English classes when I was younger and although I didn’t learn much I was exposed to English to a certain degree. I started taking things more seriously when I was about to graduate from high school and needed to take my matura (the Polish equivalent of GCSE) in a chosen foreign language. It was hard work; I remember nights spent home alone with a dictionary and grammar textbooks.

As it turned out, all my efforts paid off and at the age of 19 I passed my matura and scored 76% in English. Hours of study gave me the foundations for being able to communicate effectively. My vocabulary was nowhere near my current level, but rich enough for me to get by. I had a basic understanding of English grammar and my accent was very thick. I decided to move to England. As it turned out my language skills were only just good enough…

News flash

Right, so I moved to England. I was indeed equipped with the basic skills and I could converse in English, but it didn’t change the fact that I was absolutely terrified when I first heard natives speak to me and I don’t think I understood any more than about 50% of what was said unless repeated slowly and more clearly at my request. I knew that I’d thrown myself in at the deep end and it was a sink-or-swim situation. There was no option but to adapt… I could, of course, leave but it’s not in my nature to give up!

A mistake made by many a foreigner

I socialised a lot with the locals and this was key to acquiring English. Many people go abroad thinking this will somehow miraculously make them speak a foreign language. It doesn’t work like that. I’ve met Poles, Russians, Chinese, Spanish and many others who emigrated to the UK in little cliques or families and then tended to remain within these communities, working and living together – speaking their own language the majority of the time. The two Russians I shared a house with felt at home in their little enclave, speaking in Russian, eating Russian food and continually cursing in Russian too. Despite the fact that they had both lived in England for much longer than me, their English was dire. I made a point of not getting involved with fellow Poles while in England and would rather socialise with the British. As time went on I felt increasingly confident and understood much more of what was being said to me.

Serious killers don’t have any pennies on them

Don’t worry about any errors you might make when speaking in a foreign language. These are inevitable and sometimes of entertainment value. Every time I was asked for pennies in the shop, I'd blush as when pronounced it resembles the Polish equivalent of penis.  I suspect that Spanish speakers might be similarly surprised upon seeing pene on Polish menus (Polish for a certain type of pasta but Spanish for penis). Yummy! I also remember confusing a serious killer with a serial killer and one of the kids I used to teach English described an unfortunate event from his mum’s life as follows: My mum broke her rib and got laid in the hospital.

Fluent in body language?

Socialising is fun so the hard work I remembered from school soon evaporated from memory. I was becoming fluent at English and guess what? I wasn’t even trying! Pseudo-polyglots claim to be able to speak a foreign language pretty much straight away, skipping any hard work or intense exercises. That’s utter drivel. I’d never buy their useless e-books but I’d gladly pay to see them attempt to speak Polish without any initial study; better than any comedy methinks. If it weren’t for my past efforts I would have never been able to communicate in English at all. You need to memorise basic vocabulary at the least and learn about general grammatical concepts first… unless your aim is to, while speaking, completely exhaust yourself by gesticulating wildly!

Next step - more studying…

In total I’ve spent over 2 years in the UK, living and working in different environments and regions of the country. I have socialised with British people from various social classes as well as with many foreigners. While working as a client service administrator I familiarised myself with both formal English and office jargon. I learnt slang and idiomatic expressions - first those typical of the south of the country where I used to live in Cambridge and then in Welwyn Garden City (Hertfordshire near London), then those typical of the north (Cumbria precisely). When I returned to Poland and started studying English at University I realised that a lot of habits I’d brought back from England I needed to get rid of. Colloquialisms, slang expressions, regionalisms and even variations of British accents are frowned upon when your teachers expect you to speak coherent RP English, also referred to as Oxford English. Living in England was a lot of fun, but studying is now helping me select the positive aspects of what I acquired unconsciously and what, perhaps, I’d be better off without in order to speak academically-correct English.

How should you do it?

I won’t give you the answer to that question, but remember to never let anybody dictate to you what learning methods are best. You need to work it out for yourself as we all learn differently. I used to teach English and I could easily observe that some of my students remembered things better from writing them down, some from reading them out and some from hearing me say them. I think what’s important is to use a variety of learning processes. Nowadays study material in foreign languages is readily available and I find that listening to the radio or watching some television in your target language is helpful as you get used to real language in use. Finding yourself a tutor is definitely a good idea too. I’ve recently started learning Spanish and although I’m making great progress on my own I’ve arranged for lessons with a native Spanish speaker. Iván, if you’re reading this: Muchas gracias por tu ayuda. Eres el mejor profesor de español del mundo. It’s worth having a tutor even just to have somebody to ask about your doubts or confirm your assumptions. Whatever you do, just so long as it works for you that’s all that matters. Don’t let the pseudo-polyglots tell you flashcards are a total waste of time and studying is bad for you and that the only way you should learn is the way they do, as that’s about one of the most ignorant things one can hear from them.

Good luck with your studies everyone.

Why English?

I was asked on Twitter the other day how come I decided to study English. The question struck me as practically impossible to answer as I can hardly remember how/why I started. That doesn’t mean I’ve been learning English for a very long time, quite the opposite. I simply started learning it for no big reason and without paying much attention to it. It was simply one of these things I used to to do “on the side”, similar to what I now intend to do with Spanish. There’s a faint hope down there inside of me that perhaps I will be able to speak Spanish to the same level. We may then say that Spanishfocused.com is a work in progress. For the moment though, I am studying English for certain reasons. Let me start.

When Poland was a part of the Eastern Bloc the need for English to Polish and Polish to English translators just wasn’t there. I remember one of my lecturers telling me how difficult it was to study English, obtain the materials etc. He remembers students from England coming to visit Poland in the 80’s for exchanges bringing plates, forks and mugs thinking they might not get these in Poland... We may find it amusing today but not when we realise how little communication there was between the East and the West. While Poland was behind the Iron Curtain Russia was obviously the main focus and Poles had to learn Russian at school, just like both my parents did. It is no longer compulsory and nowadays pupils learn English or German. The fact that English has now gained the status of an international language helps as it is easily accessible - not only is the internet full of it, but you can buy English books, newspapers and movies practically anywhere.

Polish to English and English to Polish translation is of great value for both sides and effects a greater understanding of enterprise and culture. Suddenly, within the last 20 years the need for Polish native speaker with fluency in English has dramatically increased and is still on the rise. Translators, interpreters, teachers... I came across this article today. The author complains of how he went to Poland and couldn’t find a single person to hold a conversation with him. This is, I suspect just a bit of an exaggeration, however, it depends on where in Poland you go. You are more likely to find speakers of English in bigger cities and tourist locations, but truth be told, the overwhelming majority of Polish people neither speak nor understand English.

Google Translate doesn’t solve the problem either. Anyone who has tried a translation engine will know that the results can often be comical and occasionally worse than useless. Anyway, my point is, for translation we need skilled and highly-qualified professionals and this is where many young Polish people, including me, see their future. Sweat and hard work seems to be followed by a worthy prize, so despite the occasional nervous breakdown I’m trying hard not to give up.

Finally, thank you for all your feedback, it always lights up my day to receive emails from you. I can't think of any better motivation.

The definitive article?

A quick recap for those who don't know, indefinite articles in English are used when you are referring to an object in general (not a particular one). Here are some example of the indefinite articles a and an in use

I'm reading a book
I'm eating an apple

In English the word the is a definite article, use it when you are referring to something specific (sometimes something you have previously mentioned).

The book I'm reading is very interesting

Foreign learners often get confused over which ones to use. Or maybe in their native languages definite and indefinite articles aren't used and they simply omit them in speech. This can have the effect of making them sound rather abrupt/surly in conversation. To complicate matters further, there are occasions when it is quite correct to drop the articles.

I like reading books (no article needed here)

When talking about abstract concepts such as feelings the article is often dropped.

Love is a many-splendoured thing (here the a is the indefinite article attached to the word thing)
Hate is a destructive emotion
I can feel the love in the room (here we are talking about specific warm feelings in a specific room)

Sometimes the word "the" is emphasised slightly.

I met a great guy at the library, I think he may be the one.

(this implies that this person is the one that you want to spend the rest of your life with)

Mr Right turns into Mr Angry when he is having problems at work and confides in his girlfriend "My boss is driving me crazy, sometimes I want to hit him". Apart from advising him to go on an anger management course here are a couple of pieces of advice she may offer.

Violence is never the answer
Violence is never an answer 

The difference between these two is quite subtle. The first sort of implies that out of all the possible answers violence is one of the possible answers (albeit inadvisable). The second answer suggests that violence shouldn't even be included in the list of possible options.

You will often see definite articles used in sayings and idioms, e.g.

The pen is mightier than the sword

Consider the following (grammatically correct) alternatives

A pen is mightier than a sword
Pens are mightier than swords

The original version is best, we're talking metaphorically here. The pen is a symbol of language and rhetoric, the sword is a symbol of weapons and violence in general

Hopefully the examples I have given have helped to clarify the matter. Ultimately, practice makes perfect.

Mastering Negativity

Learners of English face a formidable task. Certain areas of the language seem to have very few rules that you can learn. Instead you have to memorise all of the various different exceptions. One of these areas is forming the negatives (opposites) of adjectives and adverbs. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, adjectives are descriptive words and adverbs describe the manner in which an action takes place.

Sometimes it is ok (and occasionally preferable) to add the word 'not'.

I'm not hungry
The shop assistant was not at all helpful

Usually, though, the negative is formed by adding a prefix to the word for example someone who is not helpful is unhelpful. Unfotunately there are several prefixes to choose from, including “un”, “in”, “im”, “dis” and there aren't really any rules that you can use to choose the right one.

In Polish the negating prefix is most commonly "nie". Wygodny (comfortable) becomes niewygodny (uncomfortable) in the negative. Not all Polish words starting nie are negative forms of words. Take for example Niedziela (Sunday) and nietoperz (bat). The same is true in English, but to an even greater extent:

Something that is inflammable should be treated with more caution than something that is merely flammable
Indifferent is not the same as "not different"

Furthermore, there are words which seem to be negative forms of words, but you can't reverse their meaning by simply removing the prefix. Take, for example, inept (clumsy), there is no such word as "ept". The opposite of inept is skillful. So, there you are. Negating English adjectives and adverbs is just something that needs to be learnt on a case-by-case basis. Another one of the “joys” of the English language.

Misnomers

Misnomer is "an incorrect or unsuitable name or term for a person or thing". A classic example of this phenomenon is “koala bear”, in reality it’s not a bear.

In my everyday life I see less extreme, but more personally irksome, examples of misnomers. Why do people insist on using the word express when something is patently not. Microwaveable rice can be nuked in less than two minutes and quite deservedly earns the title express. Trains that travel in excess of 100mph and make relatively few stops also earn the express title. However, the Pizza Express restaurant that took 45 minutes to bring me my garlic bread in a relatively empty restaurant should have the word express immediately removed from their signage and simply be called "Pizza".

Tesco Express stores also vary greatly in terms of how quickly you get served. Similarly with express checkouts at supermarkets. Some supermarkets are aware of this fact and refer to these checkout lanes as "basket only". Others mark theirs with a sign saying something along the lines of "10 items or less". There is always someone who will have eleven or twelve items and spoil it for the rest of us. The pedantic amongst you will know that the correct phrase is "10 items or fewer". This is a grammatical sin not quite as grave as the so-called grocer's apostrophe (where the sign maker puts in apostrophes for no good reason, e.g.  "Cabbage's £1 each")

Mild confusion can arise from other descriptions. I am always disappointed by the term "All-day breakfast" when I find that it only takes me five to ten minutes to eat it. Ah, I see now, it is available all day.

One thing that always makes me chuckle is the sign "Family Butcher". Instead of visions of a family-friendly butcher I imagine a wild-eyed madman with a meat-cleaver chasing a family round their living room.

There are government bodies that exist solely to make sure that we are not misled by advertisers. They randomly sample boxes of cereals and weigh them to make sure we’re not being cheated and send burgers to laboratories to determine how much meat they really contain. Their concern for our welfare does not yet extend to borderline abuses of the word “express”. If a well-paid job arises for a pizza-delivery time-checker I’ll be first in the queue to apply.