I’ve mentioned various times in my blog posts that I enjoy attending language exchange events here in Taipei.
It’s a great way to meet new people, speak Mandarin, and help others practice English. The other day I went to a language exchange event and met a man from England. He had an upper-beginner or perhaps low-intermediate level in Mandarin. The two of us were sitting at a table with a native Mandarin woman. For the purposes of this blog post, let’s call the British man Mark and the Taiwanese woman Cindy.
Every time Cindy spoke, Mark didn’t understand.
He kept saying things like:
Can you say that again?
I don’t understand.
Could you speak a little bit slower please?
However, each time when Cindy repeated herself, tried to slow down, or rephrase what she said, Mark usually didn’t understand. The problem was that Cindy, despite being asked to speak slower, wasn’t slowing down enough. Furthermore, she wasn’t always using words that Mark would understand.
The reason this happens is due to something called Linguistic Accommodation
I’ll be honest: even though I’ve known about linguistic accommodation for a number of years, I only recently learned that specific term. The theory describes the changes people make to the manner in which they speak in face-to-face interaction. In simple terms, Cindy had a hard time changing the way she spoke to ensure Mark could understand.
This is a common challenge for first language speakers.
I find that the hardest people to understand are those who do speak differently from what you’re used to hearing and who do not modify their speech sufficiently enough for you to be able to understand.
For example, last week I was at a friend’s house. She has a 10-year-old son and communicating with him was a struggle. Usually what happened was:
He would say something.
I wouldn’t understand.
His mom (my friend) reworded her son’s question.
I would then understand and reply to the son.
I had a similar experience in 2019. I was at a dinner party with one of my friends and her family. One of the individuals there was a senior who spoke in a mixture of Mandarin and Taiwanese. The others at the party acted as interpreters to help me understand what the lady was saying.
Anyone who speaks in a manner that is unfamiliar to you is usually hard to understand. Some examples of such people might be someone who:
Comes from a region with an accent you’re not accustomed to
Speaks quickly and doesn’t enunciate clearly. I met someone like this a few days ago - he literally spoke as if he were a video being fast-forwarded. I can’t remember the last time I’ve met someone who spoke so quickly.
Has a very high-pitched or low-pitched voice
Children may also fall into the category of people who are hard to understand. I have a Colombian friend who used to live in Calgary about 5 years ago. At the time, her daughter was 4-years-old and she only spoke Spanish. It was only upon meeting my friend’s daughter that I realized just how little experience I had talking to children in Spanish and I strained to communicate with her.
I had a C2+ level (high-advanced) when talking to adults and something approximating a B1 (low-intermediate) with a 4-year-old. It as a humbling experience.
One day, I once got into an argument with this 4-year old about the correct word for backpack in Spanish.
She asked me what was in my maleta. Maleta means suitcase.
I was very confused. I didn’t have a suitcase with me.
After a few minutes of going back and forth, I realized she was asking me about what was in my backpack. Children make mistakes in their first language, so I corrected her and said that the right word for backpack is mochila. The daughter insisted that I was wrong. She said that the right word is maleta. An argument then ensued.
Yes, I as an adult got into an argument with a 4-year-old.
My friend (her mom) then came into the room wondering what on earth we were discussing.
I told my friend all about how her daughter was saying the wrong word for backpack and that she wasn’t listening to me trying to correct her. I was convinced mom would take my side.
To my surprise, it turned out the 4-year-old was right. My friend confirmed that a backpack can indeed also be called maleta in Colombia.
Oops!
Experiences like this have taught me the importance of interacting with two different types of people.
Most importantly, find native speakers who you find are easier to understand. They make for ideal language parents. However, once you start to feel comfortable in your target language, it’s also not a bad idea to talk to people who you struggle to understand (e.g., people from another country, those with a different socio-economic background or with different viewpoints than you’re accustomed to, etc.)
To really reach a high-advanced level, this is a necessary step.
Thanks for reading this blog post! I recently finished the entire Azren’s Top Language Learning Tips series. Go check it out now if you haven’t already!
That was interesting.