Travel Blog 6: Everyone thinks I have a B2, but I don't
Six tips you can implement today to improve your ability to interact with others in another language
There is a 颱風假 in Taipei today. This translates to a Typhoon Holiday.
Typhoon Khanun has caused closures in Taipei. Because of that, I’m taking advantage of the day at home to work on my business. The main tasks on my list revolve around getting refocused on my professional goals and plan of action to progress toward them. Since I spend most of my energy nowadays on improving my Mandarin, I haven’t given my professional life as much time as I would like. I feel like I’m coasting.
Goals are important for my mental health. Without them, I feel directionless.
Achieving my goals isn’t what matters most to me. Instead, I want to be able to look myself in the mirror at the end of the day and think, “you did good today.” When I’m at my best, I think through what actions I would need to take to have a “good day” in advance and strive to take said actions.
Speaking of goals, recently I have had three goals in Mandarin while I’m here in Taipei.
These goals are:
Speak clearly with correct pronunciation and tones.
Speak grammatically correctly and phrase my sentences like a native speaker would.
Get my point across without fumbling over my words.
The first goal is relatively easy for me - I just need to slow down. I focus on spacing out my words, articulating myself clearly, and pausing before replying to a complex question so that I can figure out what I want to say before opening my mouth.
Executing on the second and third goal is a little bit more complex.
As a disclaimer, the second goal is not advisable for everyone. If you feel you are prone to be too self-conscious, you would likely psych yourself out and feel far too anxious.
If I were to self-assess my current speaking and listening level, I would say I communicate at a low B2 on the CEFR scale. B2 is an upper-intermediate level. This aligns with an online vocabulary test I took earlier today. Below are the results, in case you’re curious. The test uses the HSK scale to estimate my level. To my knowledge, only Mandarin uses the HSK scale as an assessment tool.
What’s interesting is that I likely would not be able to pass a B2 test. I just know how to come across as having that level.
This is because I use the following communication strategies:
Circumlocution
This is defined as the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea by Merriam-Webster dictionary.
As a general rule of thumb, I feel that circumlocution is to be avoided. However, it’s a useful tool when I don’t know a specific word in Mandarin.
For example, the other day I wanted to talk about the expulsion of Indians from Uganda in 1972. I definitely don’t know how to say “expulsion” in Mandarin. Therefore, I ended up saying something to the effect of, “My family had to leave Uganda in 1972 because of a dictator who made all the Indians leave the country.”
Using circumlocution helped keep the conversation flowing smoothly.
Conversation mapping (often on the fly)
I learned about this concept initially from Andrew Bustamante. I can’t remember if it was in one of his podcasts or courses. I have modified that idea slightly to suit a language learner’s needs.
Conversations are often predictable. As a result, you don’t always need to understand everything someone says in order for you to be able to reply. You just need to know the range of possible things that someone said, or what they likely said.
Here’s an example. Yesterday I went to a restaurant with a few others and was asked a question by a waitress upon entering. I didn’t catch every word, but I know she said something about tables. She pointed vaguely inside the half-empty restaurant as she asked me the question.
Using the skill of conversation mapping, I know that she probably said/asked one of the following:
There are no tables left or that there is a long wait. This is improbable. There were clearly tables open.
Do you have a preference of where to sit? This was most likely what she said.
I replied by saying “it doesn’t matter, whatever works.” The waitress shrugged, said “ok” and took us to our table. It seemed that I, likely, was right and she had asked about where we wanted to sit.
If she had followed up with another question instead of taking us to a table, it would have been an indication that I had misunderstood. I would have then continued to listen to her and tried to figure out what she was trying to tell me.
I have made a separate video all about conversation mapping. If you’re interested, you can watch it here.
Asking questions to lead conversations
It’s easier to be the one asking lots of questions than the one answering lots of questions.
Asking questions is also a great way to get back into a conversation when you’re not understanding what the other party is saying. For example, the other day I was with a group of native Taiwanese people at an event. They were discussing horror movies and I wasn’t understanding a lot of what they were saying.
Therefore, before I completely lost track of the conversation I asked the group about their favourite horror movies. By doing this, I was able to find the thread of the conversation and become an active member of the discussion once more.
It is worth mentioning that the three strategies mentioned above are ideally implemented in situations where seamless interaction with another person is important.
When I’m in an environment where seamless interaction is not a priority, I don’t worry too much about circumlocution, conversation mapping, and leading conversations with questions.
This blog post has been a little bit longer than usual, so here’s a summary of the main points.
Here are the six things I do to maximize my ability to interact seamlessly with others in my target languages:
Try to slow down when speaking and get to the point efficiently.
Pause before replying to difficult questions to figure out what you want to say.
Focus on articulating myself clearly.
Use circumlocution to get around words I don’t know or use a synonym.
Use conversation maps, whether it be on the fly or by preparing in advance
Lead the conversation by asking questions
Thanks for reading this blog post. If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to contact me.
If you know the word "dictator" I'd say you're pretty high level, sir!!
Oh that's nice, conversational mappin. I will need your help, l just started learning Spanish any word of advice or direction for me