Create your own speaking identity
Introduction
I’d like to continue my Guiding You to Fluency series today. Here are the previous posts, in order, in case you haven’t read them all:
Last time…
I was telling you that you need less speaking practice than you think. A lot less. Reading and listening generally fuel speaking ability the fastest. However, there is one tremendous benefit to speaking lots, especially if you already have a strong vocabulary founation: it forms your idiolect.
Dialect vs idiolect
Everyone has heard the word dialect before. It refers to the way a region speaks a specific language (e.g., accent, vocabulary). An idiolect is kind of like your very own personal dialect. It refers to how you speak. It’s about who you are as a person when communicating; what makes you, you.
Creating your idiolect
Idiolects have many elements, such as:
Habitual choice of words
Habitual ways of structuring sentences
Pronunciation habits
Notice the key word: habit. An idiolect is all about how you speak habitually.
Forming speaking habits
There are a few ways to do this. First of all, talking to native speakers frequently will naturally help. Hire tutors (human or AI), find language exchange partners, and make friends. Talk to them as often as possible.
If you don’t have anyone to talk to, do role plays at home. For example, you may write out a dialogue between you and a hypothetical stranger you meet for the first time. What would you ask them? How might they respond? What would you say next?
Know your story cold
This is so important. You should be be able to talk about yourself confidently. Learning a language generally leads to meeting new people. They will want to get to know you. I find it tremendously helpful to prepare in advance.
The best way to do this is to write out your own biography in detail; almost as if you became famous overnight and were asked to give a 60-minute Ted Talk walking the audience through every facet of your being.
It’s actually a personally transformative experience. I’ve found it feeds the soul as much as it does improve your overall ability in your target language.
Get to know you questions
You will not give a 60-minute presentation to every person you meet about every intricate detail of your life (lol). Therefore, after you know your own story, the next step is to map out the first part of get to know you conversations.
I do this simply by memorizing 5-10 questions I know I like to ask people by rote. I’ll drill them at home so that I can say them naturally.
Fillers and acknowledgements
People forget about these. I like to learn filler words in the target language in advance (e.g., um, so, like, y’know). I will also learn ways to acknowledge that I understand what the other person is saying (e.g., cool, I see, interesting, wow) along with a few phrases to use just in case I don’t understand (e.g., could you repeat that, could you speak slower, what does ___ mean).
In short…
If you do the following, you will have taken the first steps to building your idiolect and speaking with confidence.
Know your personal story
Prepare get to know you questions
Learn filler words and acknowledgements
Practice speaking with native speakers frequently
A final note
I find intensive speaking practice is best done in bursts. It’ll ramp your abilities up quickly, after which you really only need to talk to someone occasionally (I generally say at least 2 times per month as a guideline). Reading and listening, on the other hand, is best to do daily.
Thanks for reading!
Azren
Calgary Language Nerds owner
https://azrenthelanguagenerd.com