Talk to native speakers
My tip is to speak to native speakers as often as possible. You listen and you get accustomed to differents accents. If you speak the language you're learning among colleagues or people sharing the same interest, everyone needs and uses the same vocabulary.
Sent by: Dondard
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This is a qualified truth. While interaction with native speakers is indeed helpful and educational, for some it may turn out to be a demotivating and down-putting experience. I am a native Swedish speaker (although from Scania (SkÃ¥ne), where our dialect has an appaling abundancy of diphtongs and triphtongs). A year ago I acquainted some female tourists who had been learning Swedish at the business school in their hometown and were more than happy to practise their Swedish - until they heard my impenetrable skÃ¥nska dijalekt, which was lightyears away from the Standard Swedish (°ù¾±°ì²õ²õ±¹±ð²Ô²õ°ì²¹/³óö²µ²õ±¹±ð²Ô²õ°ì²¹) they had dealt with. While I did try to maintain a pronunciation close to ³óö²µ²õ±¹±ð²Ô²õ°ì²¹, my own dialect kept showing its ugly (?) face, and after a while we had to throw in the towel and resort to English. Ironically enough, they had, and have, the most beautiful Standard Swedish pronunciation and vocabulary and yet they returned home with a feeling of disappointment after three years of studies. I guess what I am trying to say is - if you are talking to native speakers and do not seem to understand half of what they are saying, do not feel discouraged or "stupid". Take it as a positive experience that will stretch your linguistic horizons. You say 'tomato'; I say 'tomahto' ...
Sometimes it's tough with your nose in a book, or listening to Chinese tones for hours on end. Guess what? That's not how kids learned their first language! They just talked away, made their mistakes, and had fun. So join a local language and culture club. Eat some noodles. Jabber on about the Olympics and say xiexie when your new friend breaks into English to explain where that silly prepositional clause should have gone.
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