How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 38
And after you’ll have spent enough time with native speakers, chatting with them,
discussing something with them, doing something together, going out or partying with
them, really taking part in their talks, be sure – you WILL be able to express yourself on
any topic and without any doubt.
Continue keeping your vocabulary. But now divide the words not just by topics, but by
situations you may use or encounter them, or by styles. Some words are more commonly
used in literature. Others are reserved for official language. You may express the same
idea in one way when you discuss it with your friends and in quite a different way when
you are writing a magazine article.
Oral Communication – Discussions and Emotions
At this level discussions and presentations become rather important. Discussions may be
formal – you discuss something with your colleagues or business partners. Or,
discussions are informal - you discuss emotionally various daily life issues and situations
with your friends.
Formal discussions and presentations require some very specific vocabulary. Learn to
present something to your business associates. Read a newspaper article. Make your
judgment about it. It shouldn’t be anything serious or deep. It may be just who or what is
good, and who is bad. Present the article and your opinion to a native speaker or to your
teacher. Then discuss it with him. Just for the sake of discussion. Let the native speaker
correct you. If you have no one to drill with, you may drill presentation and discussion
against a wardrobe, as I described it for the Beginners level. Repeat your presentation a
few times, until you feel totally sure about it. Then take different points of view and
discuss.
What concerns informal discussions, native speakers will be the best helpers, too. Just
chat with them about your life – and about their life. Ideally, meet with them and chat
with them in person. Make friends and go out together. This is the way you can most
easily observe them in different life situations and try to copy their words and their non-
verbal communication. Notice the emotional part of your communication. That is rather
important, too. Nearly every discussion has some emotions involved. See how native
speakers use to express their emotions. Notice, which words and issues are more
emotionally charged, and which emotions do they bring about. And of course, this is a
good chance for you to learn the things that “everybody knows” or that “go without
saying” in the target society. Learn their slang and swear words. I don’t demand you use
them a lot, but at least get to understand, what emotions they express. Learn and try using
their filler words and exclamations. As a last resort you can chat through the Internet.
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved.
Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
