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How to Talk Like a Native Speaker | Marc Green | TEDxHeidelberg
How to Talk Like a Native Speaker | Marc Green | TEDxHeidelberg
TEDx Talks
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17:38 · Jan 9, 2018
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Translator:
Phuong
Cao
Reviewer:
Leonardo
Silva
My
story
starts
in
Moscow.
Translating…
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Karaoke
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0:11
Translator: Phuong Cao Reviewer: Leonardo Silva My story starts in Moscow.
0:13
I was 15 years old.
0:16
My best friend and I, we were part of a group of Westerners,
0:19
visiting the Soviet Union.
0:21
This was in 1987, a few years before the fall of the communist regime.
0:30
We were given an official tour guide who was assigned to us.
0:33
And the tour would start in the morning,
0:36
and we were checked in to our hotel rooms for the night.
0:38
My friend said to me, ''Let's go outside and look at the city.''
0:44
I thought it was a great idea.
0:45
Dumb idea.
0:47
So we grabbed our coats,
0:49
and we snuck out past security and into the street.
0:53
We found the entrance to the metro.
0:55
The Moscow underground transportation system is the deepest one in the world.
1:01
The ride down the escalator took a full minute.
1:05
Once we were down there, my friend headed right to an open train,
1:08
and I pulled him back and said, "Wait!
1:10
Let's write down the name of the station
1:12
so we can find our way back."
1:13
So I had a notepad, and I took a notepad,
1:16
and I wrote down the letters of the station,
1:18
and we hopped down the train and went on train hopping.
1:22
And that was fun because - Well, actually, it was weird.
1:25
There were a lot of people, probably all coming home from work.
1:28
They were all dressed in brown and gray clothes, and it looked very,
1:32
very different from what we were used to at home.
1:34
But the stations were lovely.
1:36
There were stations with statues, with paintings on the wall, and glass displays.
1:43
It was really like museums.
1:45
We would never have expected that.
1:47
And everything was perfectly clean.
1:49
Well, what was weird though is that the people - nobody seemed to speak,
1:55
and everyone seemed to be looking at us
1:57
and it kind of weirded us out.
1:58
So after about 20-30 minutes,
1:59
we'd had enough and we wanted to go home.
2:02
I showed my note to someone and they directed me over there.
2:06
Then over there, I showed my note to another person,
2:09
and they directed us to the other way.
2:10
And then a third person directed us sideways.
2:13
That was a little confusing.
2:15
Aw, then I saw it.
2:16
Over the stairs, the sign.
2:17
It turned out I had written down the Russian word for "Exit."
2:26
(Laughter) So we headed upstairs and we found a taxi.
2:30
That was great.
2:31
And we told the driver, you know,
2:33
"Intourist Hotel," and then he was willing to take us.
2:36
And I remember sitting next to the driver, handing him 50 rubles.
2:40
And he looked at me and he said, (Russian) No, dollar!
2:42
(Laughter) Fifty dollars?
2:46
That was like I don't know 20 times that amount or something.
2:49
That was not an option for us.
2:51
So we had to get out of the taxi, and he drove away,
2:53
leaving us standing there.
2:55
It was a cold night, and you know everything was strange for us,
2:59
and we were teenagers, and we were pretty nervous, didn't know what to do.
3:03
Well, we started walking.
3:04
We walked to the end of the block.
3:07
We turned the corner.
3:08
And 200 yards in front of us, the Intourist Hotel.
3:15
(Laughter) Well, this experience affected me in two ways.
3:18
The first is that anytime after this trip
3:22
that I would hear anyone speak Russian,
3:24
I was just cringe.
3:25
(Laughter) And the second one is
3:28
that it taught me the importance of understanding the local language
3:31
when you're traveling.
3:32
And it actually led to me learning another four languages fluently over the following
3:38
years.
3:41
Now, before I go on,
3:42
I'd like to know in the audience - Can we have a little bit
3:45
of light maybe in the audience?
3:46
I'd just like to know who's - By a show of hands,
3:51
who is not a native English speaker?
3:54
It must be 99%.
3:58
(Laughter) Anyone who doesn't speak English, stand up!
4:03
(Laughter) Alright, so I can assume all of you have, you know,
4:06
gone through the process of learning a language.
4:09
Anybody who speaks three or more languages?
4:12
Wow, that's maybe 70%.
4:16
Four or more languages, anyone?
4:19
That's still quite a bit.
4:21
Anyone speak five or more languages?
4:24
Wow, come see me during the break.
4:27
(Laughter) To me, learning a language is...
4:30
For me, it's like a deck of playing cards lying faced down on the
4:34
table.
4:34
As you start learning and understanding, the cards start opening up for you.
4:41
Now there's no standard way of classifying this.
4:45
But as you learn, you reach certain milestones.
4:47
And the first one would be
4:49
when about 25% of the cards are turned up,
4:51
you reach like a basic level.
4:52
At this level, you have a base vocabulary, some grammar,
4:57
and you're able to have maybe very simple conversations and communicate a little bit.
5:02
And your study goes on until you reach this magical point of fluency,
5:08
what we call being fluent in the language.
5:09
Now what does it mean, being fluent in a language?
5:12
It means that you've turned up more than 50% of the cards in the
5:16
deck,
5:16
and that is the point where you have - where the language becomes part
5:22
of your subconscious so
5:23
that even if you don't use it anymore for 10 years
5:26
or longer,
5:26
you will not forget it.
5:27
You can get back into it within a very, very short time.
5:31
So this is a level where you're comfortable thinking in a language,
5:40
and comfortable communicating in a language.
5:43
Now, some people go on and, you know, reach like a mastery level.
5:47
By that time, you know classic literature in the other language
5:50
and have maybe in-depth knowledge of specialized fields.
5:53
That's often the point taken in academia.
5:55
For me, when I learned my first foreign language,
5:59
I had a head start
6:02
because I was born to a German-speaking mother
6:06
and an American father.
6:10
Now, when I was a baby,
6:12
I didn't really understand
6:13
that what my parents were speaking to me were two separate languages.
6:16
But by the time I was two years old,
6:18
I had figured it all out.
6:21
Women speak only German.
6:24
(Laughter) Men only speak English.
6:27
(Laughter) Imagine the fun my parents had when they introduced me to couples.
6:35
(Laughter) Being a bilingual was actually pretty helpful in learning my first language.
6:41
It definitely helped.
6:43
If you're - But it also gave me something else.
6:49
It gave me two identities and the ability to switch between them.
6:55
When you're a native speaker of more than one language, then your personality,
7:02
your humor, your value system, they change as you switch languages.
7:08
This can have huge advantages.
7:11
I mean, some studies have shown an increased problem-solving ability
7:16
or even a higher resistance to Alzheimer's disease.
7:18
But what I'm almost interested in is
7:21
that it's actually given me a lot of social benefits.
7:24
When you're a native speaker,
7:27
then you feel at home among native speakers or in a culture,
7:32
and also native speakers accept you as one of theirs.
7:37
Now is this only relevant to native speakers?
7:40
And that's the big question.
7:43
But wouldn't it be cool
7:45
if a person learning a foreign language could actually develop another identity
7:52
and actually enjoy the social benefits of a native speaker
7:57
that go beyond communication skills?
8:01
Well, that's what happened to me.
8:03
I was able to do that,
8:04
and I want to show you from my experience how I think this can
8:09
be achieved.
8:10
So if we say this green area here is the level of the native
8:14
speaker,
8:14
the first thing to note is that on your way to reaching fluency,
8:19
there is not really any shortcut.
8:21
There are some methods
8:23
that you can use such
8:24
as the Burrito Principle where you identify 20% of the most effective materials to
8:30
study.
8:30
There are some apps, like stuff for time-spaced learning, that increase vocabulary retention.
8:35
They save a little time, but in the end,
8:37
there's no way around working with the material, practicing it,
8:40
until you reach the fluency level.
8:43
But the second thing to note is
8:45
that going from fluency to mastery is a much slower process,
8:49
and it requires proportionally more effort.
8:53
That's why most people - they just stop at fluency.
8:56
They know how to speak English, good enough,
8:59
and they don't even attempt to venture on, and I can understand it.
9:04
But the good news is, to get the benefits of a native speaker,
9:09
at a native-speaker level,
9:11
you don't have to go through mastery in the academic sense.
9:16
In fact, you can skip this step altogether.
9:22
So if you think about it,
9:25
there are many native speakers do not have an in-depth knowledge of specialized fields
9:28
or sophisticated vocabulary.
9:30
So, that's not really what is required.
9:32
So how do you do it?
9:34
What is required?
9:35
Well, I want to give you three areas to focus on
9:41
when you're learning and interacting with native speakers.
9:44
The first is: work on eliminating your accent.
9:49
I'm aware I said eliminating.
9:51
It should be at least minimizing it.
9:54
This is, in my opinion, the most overlooked aspect of language learning today,
9:59
but it's also the most important one to reach what I call a native-speaker
10:06
level or a speaker-like level.
10:09
If you communicate without an accent or almost without an accent,
10:14
this changes how natives behave towards you unconsciously,
10:17
and it also gives you an ability to adapt to a new self-image.
10:22
The best way that I've found - the best exercise I've found to improve
10:27
your pronunciation is what I call the perfect-sentence technique.
10:31
What you do is you find a native speaker to help you,
10:34
and you take a book in the foreign language,
10:37
you open it at a random page, and you read the first sentence.
10:40
Then, you ask a native speaker to rate you on obvious accent, slight accent,
10:47
no accent.
10:49
Then the native speaker will read this sentence back to you.
10:55
You have to listen carefully and then you repeat.
10:59
And you repeat this process over
11:01
and over until the native speaker tells you
11:03
that he can no longer hear an accent
11:05
when you read the sentence.
11:06
Now, I realize it can take a very long time even just to get
11:10
one sentence right.
11:11
But I promise you if you are persistent,
11:14
and if you patiently work on this,
11:16
you'll be amazed by what happens to your accent.
11:20
The second area to focus on is using verbs and expressions that locals use.
11:28
Now, we all know the situation that vocabulary can be region-specific.
11:34
Like, in the US, you use "stand in line."
11:36
In the UK, you "queue."
11:38
That's all good.
11:40
But sometimes, the spoken word is so different,
11:44
the speech is so different from what you get in textbooks,
11:47
that the books are almost useless if you want to converse with natives.
11:51
I want to give you an example.
11:53
In the French language, there are words like "le travail," which is "my work."
11:59
A French person talking to his friend would probably say "mon boulot,"
12:04
which is a completely different word.
12:05
The same for "the clothes," "le vestments," but you'll hear "le fringues."
12:07
Or money is "l'argent,"
12:07
but people say "le fric," "le sou,"
12:07
or many other expressions for this.
12:07
So, obviously I'm only scratching the surface here.
12:07
But here you actually have to learn all of these words
12:08
and expressions one by one.
12:08
And of course, you have to interact with natives to do that.
12:08
But after you reach a critical mass that you're comfortable with,
12:08
it'll actually be easier when you encounter something new.
12:08
You'll just pick it up in one go, like native speakers would,
12:08
who hear words or expressions that they didn't know before.
12:08
The third area to work on is adopting cultural traits.
12:08
What do I mean by that?
12:08
So let me ask you: what does this gesture mean to you?
12:08
Any Italians here?
12:08
(Laughter) OK, now, depending on what culture you're from, this could mean something rude,
12:08
or it could just mean it's something incredulous, like, "Why did you do that?"
12:08
Or, "How could you?"
12:08
Or it could just be signaling food, "Give me food!"
12:08
Interesting!
12:08
In the Middle East, this is just a standard way of signaling "Please, wait!"
12:08
So these kind of traits you have to internalize, and sometimes,
12:08
they're hard to spot, and it takes a lot of active listening.
12:08
I want to give you a few more examples.
12:10
So imagine I am with three of my friends: an American, a German,
12:10
and a Frenchman.
12:10
And, like, we're walking and maybe the American bumps his head,
12:10
and his initial reaction might be, "Ouch!"
12:10
That's how you say it in English.
12:10
But the German that, you know, gets, I don't know, elbowed in the crowd,
12:10
he would say, "Ow-ah!"
12:10
(Laughter) And the French person might step on the nail and say, "Ay!"
12:10
(Laughter) So this, of course, in your target language,
12:10
this is something you have to observe and also internalize,
12:11
and it has to become part of you.
12:11
If...
12:11
Again I'm with these three friends, and I sit with them,
12:11
and let's say I serve them tea, and I ask the American,
12:11
"Would you like a biscuit with your tea?"
12:11
And if he answers in the affirmative, he might say, "Uh-huh!"
12:11
And I can ask the German, "Do you know what tea this is?"
12:11
He'll say, ''Mm- hmm!''
12:11
And then I ask the Frenchman, "Do you like this?"
12:11
He'll say, "Hmm!"
12:11
(Laughter) So these difference, they really require active listening.
12:11
So all of these three things that I told you which is pronunciation,
12:12
and colloquial speech and adopting cultural traits,
12:12
they all require that you interact with natives as much as possible.
12:12
Ideally, you should fully immerse yourself in the culture.
12:12
Now if you have the chance to live abroad for a while,
12:12
that will be great.
12:12
Or maybe live among natives in your hometown.
12:12
Perhaps just have a romantic relationship, or even just spend time, you know,
12:12
with co-workers.
12:12
So, romantic relationships, I could do a whole talk about that.
12:12
(Laughter) That works really well for these things.
12:12
But yeah - So this will be different for everybody, of course.
12:13
But even when you're not around natives, your learning must not stop.
12:13
Because what you can do is you can watch TV shows and films,
12:13
you can mimic the characters,
12:13
you can write down anything that you haven't heard of before, and practice that.
12:13
I also want to encourage you to learn the lyrics of songs.
12:13
Songs are really great because they tell stories.
12:13
And they not only help your pronunciation when you sing them,
12:13
but if they're emotional, they can anchor these expressions into your active vocabulary.
12:13
And it's like speaking all day and really using the expressions unconsciously.
12:13
It's a great way.
12:13
So music, definitely.
12:13
The other thing you need to move towards native-speaker status is the right mindset,
12:13
and a belief that if you sound like a native,
12:13
express yourself like a native, talk like a native and act like a native,
12:13
you'll actually achieve a native-like level.
12:13
So if I could only leave you with one thing today, it would be:
12:13
work on your pronunciation.
12:13
Because pronunciation helps any stage of the learning process, even in the very beginning.
12:13
It'll speed up everything.
12:13
And it also is the key to reaching a native-speaker level,
12:13
or almost-native-speaker status.
12:13
So before I go,
12:13
I'd like to tell you how I was able to overcome my fear of
12:13
the Russian language.
12:13
It was a very, very elegant solution.
12:13
I married a Russian girl.
12:13
(Laughter) And I now have little kids in my home
12:14
that speak Russian to me every day.
12:14
(Laughter) So I want to thank you.
12:14
(Applause) And before I go,
12:14
I just want to wish you (Spanish) A lot of success with your language
12:14
studies.
12:14
(French) It was a pleasure to present for you today.
12:14
(Hebrew) I wish you lots of success with your studies.
12:14
(Yiddish) Thank you for listening.
12:14
Good luck to you all and...
12:14
(Russian) Thank you.
12:14
(Applause)
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