Posted by John on March 05, 2001 at 08:06:35:
In Reply to: the whole Português thing..... posted by giveawayboy on March 05, 2001 at 06:05:09:
I don't have any real suggestions, but it seems that in all language study, everyone i have known, including myself hit a wall at a certain point where you can learn vocabulary and grammer all you want but conversing is nearly impossible. I think it has something to do with the thought process. You may even be able to construct sentences in your head, but when faced with a spur of the moment conversation you go blank.
Perhaps I do have some advice after all, actually it is from Tomomi in Japan, but he says you have to switch brains. Quit thinking in English and think in the other language. After some time you will be able to switch rapidly, or even use both, but when you are learning, you have to make a serious shift. Try NOT allowing English at all when you wish to speak Portuguese. This will stop the brain from dipping back to English, which if it hears will be the easier to handle, and will lose the Portuguese brain. Also, advice from Iako, Alisa's former roommate, speak out loud to yourself all the time, like "I am washing my hands. I am washing my hands to make them clean. I am using soap." And so forth, it helps to embed the phrases in your mind so they can spring out when needed. Hope that helps.
: Tonight was real tough. I go to this Brasilian Baptist Church at
: least once a month with my friend Elias, my Português tutor.
: Tonight in some ways was no different than any other night--
: however, I was particularly aware of my lack of ability in
: conversing. Perhaps it's since more people know me now and are
: trying to talk. I met a guy there named Paulo, from Curitiba
: (the second Paulo from Curitiba I have met). He seemed very
: nice. He talked to me mainly in Inglês, which was nice, but
: doesn't help me too much. One lady just told me flat out that
: she felt more comfortable talking to me in Inglês. I am just
: real tired right now. I feel discouraged, but I know that I am
: where God wants me with this language thing. It's not just a fad
: for me. I will keep pressing on, but if anyone knows any tips to
: help me progress faster into the conversational use of a new
: language--please help me. Thanks. Elias was bugging me though.
: He keeps telling me I need to sing Brasilian songs--I DO--but I
: am trying to tell him I need more conversational practice. O.K.
: I'm just bugged. Can you all pray for me.
: Thanks, Bill