Sometimes I listen to a speaker who's speaking from the heart, or trying to elucidate a difficult subject, or both, and imagine that it's a real-life conversation where I'm the only listener and I'm desperate not to be rude or hurtful by letting my attention wander at all. I imagine that at any moment, the speaker might interrupt him or herself to say, "Am I making sense? And are you sure the language barrier isn't too much? You are trying your best, right? You see how much trust I'm putting in you?"
I know it's not a great look for someone, especially a relative beginner, to push his own made-up methods as hard as I do, but damn it, you are tragically missing out if you've never tried this. Preferably while walking alone at night.
Ever play fantasy games like this to get your head in the right place?
On a related note, I think Nietzsche's remark about maturing by rediscovering the seriousness of a child at play might apply here.
A Listening Game I Like to Play
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A Listening Game I Like to Play
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Re: A Listening Game I Like to Play
I talk to myself in my head A LOT. When I first started learning German (ok, real time here, I still do it), I would have mini-conversations with myself, especially if I had things I wanted to (or could possibly need to) say to someone in real life. I'd go and drill these specific sentences in my head over and over again, and, odds are, I probably never used it in real life, but I COULD!
I've also found that just active listening in a TL is super hard, and passive listening is next to impossible, so I figure training those active listening skills is never a bad idea. Mental games are the brain's way of processing what we're learning, as far as I'm concerned. I like this idea. I might have to steal it.
I've also found that just active listening in a TL is super hard, and passive listening is next to impossible, so I figure training those active listening skills is never a bad idea. Mental games are the brain's way of processing what we're learning, as far as I'm concerned. I like this idea. I might have to steal it.
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Re: A Listening Game I Like to Play
MaggieMae wrote:I talk to myself in my head A LOT. When I first started learning German (ok, real time here, I still do it), I would have mini-conversations with myself, especially if I had things I wanted to (or could possibly need to) say to someone in real life. I'd go and drill these specific sentences in my head over and over again, and, odds are, I probably never used it in real life, but I COULD!
I've also found that just active listening in a TL is super hard, and passive listening is next to impossible, so I figure training those active listening skills is never a bad idea. Mental games are the brain's way of processing what we're learning, as far as I'm concerned. I like this idea. I might have to steal it.
If it makes you feel any less silly, I'll bet you've never walked around outside pretending to have conversations on the phone so you could have them with yourself on the sly. (But truly, I'd be more embarrassed if someone who knew German heard my bad grammar than if I got busted for faking.)
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Re: A Listening Game I Like to Play
Khayyam wrote:Sometimes I listen to a speaker who's speaking from the heart, or trying to elucidate a difficult subject, or both, and imagine that it's a real-life conversation where I'm the only listener and I'm desperate not to be rude or hurtful by letting my attention wander at all. I imagine that at any moment, the speaker might interrupt him or herself to say, "Am I making sense? And are you sure the language barrier isn't too much? You are trying your best, right? You see how much trust I'm putting in you?"
I struggle to even pay attention to people in my native language.
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Re: A Listening Game I Like to Play
Khayyam wrote:If it makes you feel any less silly, I'll bet you've never walked around outside pretending to have conversations on the phone so you could have them with yourself on the sly. (But truly, I'd be more embarrassed if someone who knew German heard my bad grammar than if I got busted for faking.)
THAT'S A GOOD IDEA!!! If I'm not singing to myself, I'm practicing conversations or sentences or monologuing in German. Especially when I'm mad, I'm super glad nobody can hear my horrible grammar! I'll be muttering under my breath, praying nobody hears.
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