Intro
|
| Chigusa: Welcome to a special Inner Circle Audio Lesson! I'm Chigusa and I'll be your host. My co-host today is the founder of InnovativeLanguage.com... Peter Galante! |
| Peter: Hi everyone! Peter here. |
| Chigusa: In this Inner Circle, we’re talking about... |
| Peter: How to Speak More of Your Target Language with Your Teacher |
| Chigusa: And you’ll learn... |
| Peter: One: How to Transition From Your Native Language to Your Target Language |
| Chigusa: Two: How You Can Apply This Tactic |
| Peter: All so you can master your target language and reach your goals! |
| Body |
| Chigusa: Listeners, welcome to the Inner Circle. |
| Peter: Last time, you learned all about tipping points… |
| Chigusa: …which are signs that you’re on the right track with your language. |
| Peter: And it’s when your free time transitions from usual routines like watching TV… towards the goals you really want, like mastering a language. That’s a tipping point. |
| Chigusa: And Peter, last time you promised us 3 minutes of Hindi conversation. You missed it the last time, remember? |
| Peter: I do remember. But, this time it was OK. So, I reached the goal. But again, recalibrating your goals is one of the most important things in your language journey. Never double down, just recalibrate. Don’t upwardly revise your goals, actually even lowering them is probably one of the most useful tactics. |
| Chigusa: That’s great! Did you do anything differently? Or did you just stick with your routines? |
| Peter: Well, I’ve been slowly transitioning from mostly speaking in English in my lessons with my teacher… to more Hindi and that really helped. |
| Chigusa: So what did you do? |
| Peter: That’s for today’s topic, so let’s get into the first part of today’s inner Circle |
| Chigusa: Part 1: How to Transition From Your Native Language to Your Target Language |
| Peter: So, if you remember our past Inner circle lessons, we’ve talked about something called… Preparation. |
| Chigusa: Ah yes. Where you prepare lines ahead of time for predictable conversations. |
| Peter: Exactly. Kind of steer things the way you want. For example, talking about yourself. That’s a predictable conversation that you’ll have. |
| Chigusa: Yeah, if you meet new people, you’ll always have to introduce yourself and talk about where you’re from and why you’re learning… and so it’s good to learn the phrases for these ahead of time, right? |
| Peter: But what I’ve been doing is a variation of preparation… it gets you speaking more with your teacher …and it helps you transition from speaking mostly in your native language to more in your target language. So, in my case, my native language is English, and I’m learning Hindi. So, our lessons are about 80% to 90% English nowadays. So, again, I’m trying to speak more Hindi. I’m always conscious - not exact - but conscious of how much time I’m spending speaking in the target language… or how much time we’re collectively spending in the language. So there’s collectively how much time you’re spending plus individually how much time you and your teacher are spending. |
| Chigusa: I see. So, what kind of lines did you prepare ahead of time? |
| Peter: Great question. Chigusa, if you were taking language lessons… What kind of questions do you think you’d ask your teacher the most? |
| Chigusa: Hmm, like, simply “what does this word mean” or “How do I say this?” kind of questions. |
| Peter: Exactly, you’re right. |
| Chigusa: Yeah? |
| Peter: So, here are a few of my examples that I’ve learned… and use throughout… every lesson. |
| How do you say something something something in Hindi? |
| Can you say that again? |
| Can you say that slowly? |
| What does X mean? |
| I have a question |
| What’s the difference between X and Y? |
| Can you give me an example sentence? |
| Did I say that correctly? |
| Can you also say… “X”? |
| What should I practice for the next lesson? |
| And probably one of the most useful ones is, “what is the opposite of, for example, “hot?” Often you kind of know some words, but by using this pattern, you can always double your vocabulary by asking how to say what’s the opposite of something. It’s also good to learn how to say “noun,” “adjective,” “verb,” and other parts of speech or grammar terms. |
| Chigusa: I get why these are good to know, but how does it help you speak more Hindi? |
| Peter: Okay, recurring throughout this lesson, try to remember about the percentages - the total amount of time you, your teacher - collectively you spent in that language. And from there, just keep that in the back of your mind. Well, let’s start with the most basic reason. Every learner wants to speak more of their target language, right? |
| Chigusa: Right. |
| Peter: But it can be hard if you can’t create your own sentences just yet. So, knowing lines like this gives you an easy way to speak more…. again increasing that percentage of time. |
| Chigusa: Ah, yes, because you have ready-made lines to use. |
| Peter: Exactly, And second, with preparation, the goal is to prepare lines for conversations ahead of time because many conversations are predictable to a degree. For example, you can 100% expect that native speakers will ask you why you’re learning the language… |
| Chigusa: …or if you’re talking with friends, they'll ask you about your weekend. |
| Peter: And if you’re talking with a teacher… There are questions that you will ask all the time, for example, “What does this word mean?” |
| Chigusa: Right, or you’d ask about the difference between two words with similar meanings or grammar rules. |
| Peter: Exactly. So it makes sense to learn these ahead of time. In my case, I use these to extend the conversation time. I’d ask. Then the teacher would reply. At the same time, I’d get to speak more Hindi, I’d get exposed to more Hindi… hear how my teacher replies, the sentence pattern she uses, and I get used to the language faster. And… our lessons are done more so in Hindi than English…not yet… but you can see how these small subtle changes can add up over time… and in the end, this will help me improve much faster down the line. |
| Chigusa: That makes sense! Alright, so Peter, what can our listeners take away? |
| Peter: Let’s get into the second part. |
| Chigusa: Part 2: How to Apply This Tactic. |
| Peter: Listeners, since you’re learning a language… It's normal for lessons to be predominantly in your native language. |
| Chigusa: For example, if you’re brand new to Japanese, Korean, or Spanish… |
| Peter: Then you’ll probably want English explanations. |
| Chigusa: But eventually, you’ll want to rely less on your native language… |
| Peter: …and learn in your target language. |
| Chigusa: And one easy way to do this is… to prepare ahead of time. So…. |
| Peter: One: Learn the most common phrases and questions to use with your teacher. |
| Chigusa: We mentioned them earlier… but you can get the list inside the PDF of this Inner Circle. You’ll want to learn how to say these in your target language. |
| Peter: …and knowing these lines will help you transition into speaking more in your target language… instead of relying on your native language. |
| Chigusa: You can also check out our Free Vocabulary list called “Phrases To Use With Your Premium PLUS Teacher |
| Peter: …which contains some of these lines. |
| Chigusa: Two: Start using these lines with your Premium PLUS teacher…. |
| Peter: …in our live classes, or with an in-person teacher… if you have one. |
| Chigusa: And this will get you speaking more of the language… and relying less on your native language. |
| Peter: Three: Here’s a bit of an advanced tip, but on top of the most commonly used lines… always try to prepare a new question or two to ask your teacher at your next lesson. For example, “I heard this word in a JapanesePod101 lesson. Can you tell me what it means?” Or, “what does this grammar point mean?” |
| Chigusa: This might be a bit harder… but by preparing new things to ask… you learn more in that lesson… |
| Peter: And you get to practice more than you usually would. In fact, I think some of the fastest language learners are those that bring extra to the table when learning… instead of just following along with what the teacher asks. |
| Chigusa: Four: if you’re a Premium user, you can leave a comment on our lessons using those phrases… |
| Peter: For example, “what does this word mean,” |
| Chigusa: Or, “what’s the difference between this grammar point and another?” |
| Peter: …and our teachers will reply to you in the target language. |
| Chigusa: Alright, Peter, so we talked about how to transition into speaking more with your teacher. Now, what about next month? What’s your next goal? |
| Peter: So, I think the next goal would be 4 minutes. Again, it’s not as ambitious. I’m not on that ambitious of a schedule this year but making progress does matter. So, recalibration to 4 minutes. |
| Chigusa: Great! Deadline? |
| Peter: May 31st. |
| Chigusa: Sounds good. And listeners, let us know what your small, measurable, monthly goal is… email us at inner dot circle at innovative language dot com, and stay tuned for the next Inner Circle. |
Outro
|
| Chigusa: Well, that’s going to do it for this special Inner Circle lesson for this month! |
| Peter: Bye, everyone! |
| Chigusa: Thank you for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
Comments
Hide