Ask HN: How did you improve your communication skill in second language? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How did you improve your communication skill in second language?

8 pointsgogo6113 comments

English is my second language and I have never spoken till 20 years of my age. Now, I am 28 and my most of my work involve reading, writing and speaking in English.

I am very comfortable in reading and writing but when it comes to speaking, I always feel under-confident. How did you guys overcame?

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I'm a native Swedish speaker in Finland[1], blessed with the rights that come with a second official national language.

Growing up, I was something of a bookish basement dweller and didn't speak the majority Finnish language outside lessons in school. I did, thank goodness, read Finnish literature, comics, computer magazines.

So, when it was time to move away from home and I got my first real job that involved speaking a lot of Finnish, I had a couple of very awkward and terrible weeks at a corporate service desk call center. After that, I was fine, and grew more confident with Finnish as I developed a social life.

At the end of the day, it's all about speaking. Languages are meant to be utilized for communicating with other people, so you just have to find some way of doing that, I think.

I'm used to being clever and quick in my native language - and English - so I had to fight a lot of frustration with Finnish. I learned English and was comfortable speaking it in less than a school year, but English is also an easy language for a bookish and pop culture drenched Swedish speaker to pick up. Finnish has no relation to Germanic, or Indo-European languages, so it's a bit of an adventure.[2]

What I can say is that being the kind of person who can sit around and listen to conversations for a while and chime in with a joke or question always helped me fit in in situations where I don't feel like taking charge.

So, try and find your own social strengths and play to that.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish-speaking_population_of...

2. http://tasteoffinnish.fi/finnish/

Thanks. I agree it is mostly about speaking. I have been speaking a lot but still feel low confidence while communicating in important meetings.

Do you work in an international setting where everyone speaks English as a second language, with or without a strong accent? Or, do you find yourself surrounded by native speakers? Is good English a matter of status in this work context?

For some reason, I find it easier to speak good English around native speakers. I seem to have instant access to more idioms in my vocabulary and my pronunciation is better.

Personally, I sometimes get the feeling that non-native speakers of English try to impress each other. Whereas the native speaker tech biz expat crowd, or the pleasant persons among them, mostly seem pleased to be around people they can communicate with and are happy to accommodate.

Yes, i totally agree with you. I have been working in company where both native as well as non-native speakers are there.Always feel comfortable while speaking with natives ones.

I've learned two foreign languages living in other countries, and never been able to speak them: so don't do what I do!

But, of people that I've seen go from bad to good when they are immersed - the traits I notice is "persistence", "volume (amount)".

I knew a Russian guy whose English was beginner level. He came to every web meetup and submitted talks constantly. His first talks were... painful. But he just kept going! I didn't even notice the transition, but each talk was better than the last.

Another couple I knew would come to every work event and the would tell stories to everyone. Again, they started terrible - but there seemed to be some point where they just "clicked" and again, I didn't even notice they had become fluent.

When I tried to learn, I got too embarrassed would never talk. But I think you have to just be embarrassed and talk talk talk!

Yeah. Totally agree. Thanks a lot.

You have to speak it to be more confident. I’ve learned English on my own through books. But until I got my first gig and actively communicating with the client, the speaking part was subpar. You will quickly realize that you only use a small subset most of the time. And native speakers are very patient and helpful if you don’t know how to pronounce a word.

N.B. (Speak Haitian Creole and French natively, speak English well and can survive on my own in a Spanish speaking country)

1) Watching English movies, with subtitles (close captions) "on" is very helpful. 2) Reading aloud an English language newspaper, an article in a news category of your interest - say - Sports - read it aloud in front of a mirror, and then try and recollect as many sentences as you can from that article, with the newspaper down. 3) Finding a buddy to practice speaking English with. Can be online. Can be via text chat.

Practice practice practice. If you have trouble listening at speed, watch YouTube videos slowed down and speed it up .25x at a time until you hit normal speed then go beyond. If you spend less time processing input, you will have more time to process your output (response).

Repeat what you hear in such videos when you are alone to speed up the output process.

This has helped me with language learning immensely.

Alcohol also helps a ton with foreign language speaking. Are there any parties at work or events where you could have a drink or two? The confidence boost and positive speaking experience could have some carryover to sober work life. Other than that, give it time, push through until you don't care anymore, you will get there.

I found someone I could talk to; I set low expectations about my ability to talk and asked someone to correct me as needed. That's it.

depends on what you do outside of work too. you need to use it in social and informal settings. once you can relax and start using it colloquially then you'll get more comfortable.

no one speaks in english outside my work :(

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