tastyonions wrote:Yeah, this is the kind of practice you typically don't get when not using the language for daily physical situations. Language for tools is another good example. Because how fun is it really to drill a bunch of vocab like lug nut, flathead screwdriver, hacksaw, sander, on and on and on...unless you're really into home improvement or car repair I guess.
Aside from those specific types of vocabularies (which are indeed useful) there's the detail out of 'left-field' some TL speakers lack. Like e.g. pointing something out and describing things to someone, such as: 'it's over there behind that building with the red sun canopies...but you have to go through a gate in the car park...'
Now someone might object that this is set up to be awkward, but is it? I wouldn't say I always 'look for the translation' of what I would say in English, since saying things in other languages often just has a different approach. However I do want the same meaning and strength of expression. Let's say we go for standard French:
'C'est derrière ce bâtiment aux auvents rouges... mais d'abord il faut passer par une porte dans la clôture dans le parking...'
We need to know the word for awnings/sun canopies, and a fence. And do I use what I used for fence or do I use 'grillage'? Or palissade? We'd need to know that palissade is the type of thing made of thin wood you put round your garden rather than a 'clôture en fil de fer'.
So finding out what people tend to say in full sentences is a great approach. It's why, whenever I've said something unnatural in a foreign language, and it registers badly, I ask: 'how would you say it?'