1 ā How The Brain Naturally Works
āRewindingā a natural brain response. The brain hears sounds that it then transforms to get the message.
So when it misses a bit, it ārewindsā, trying to recall what has just been said, then catches on. And if it couldnāt hear well, it just guesses.
2 ā What Happens When A French Student Hears French
Now, most French students do something else. They add 2 phases.
When someone speaks French to them, instead of just
- hearing and
- understanding,
students of French
- hear
- try to transform into words they know
- translate into their own language,
- and then understand.
Some of them even visualize the words written in a sentence before translating it.
This requires a huge effort. And the brain cannot go through this process AND hear and process the rest of the sentence.
This is why students often āfreezeā.
A new approach to learning both traditional and modern French logically structured for English speakers.
3 ā What You Can do to Stop Freezing in French
First, when you are memorizing new French vocabulary, try to link the French words to images, feelingsā¦ not to the English words.
Most of the time, you do not need to translate ā it certainly works for basic concepts.
For example:
- āUn chienā: see the dog in your head instead of thinking āa dogā.
- āJāai faimā: bring up the sensation of hunger instead of linking it to āI am hungryāā¦ and youāll avoid the mistake of saying āje suis faimāā¦
4 ā Focus on the Contextā¦ And Guess!
Then, stay focussed on the context. Not only words can convey a message: looks, intonation, the rest of the sentenceā¦
When someone asked ātu veux du thĆ©?ā (would you like some tea?) if youāre seeing what happens, you donāt really need to hear the questionā¦ You can pretty much guess it.
Guessing is a huge part of fluency!
5 ā You canāt Always Trust Your Ears
Some time ago, I was in a car with my American friends. We had been speaking English all day, and I was jetlagged and tired. We were driving in the middle of the countryside, near Seattle. I was saying how pretty the landscape was: that day āthe mountain was outā and the view was just amazing.
She said: āWait till we go up the hill, then you can see moreā.
I heard: āSeymourā, and my brain immediately went to a giant carnivorous plantā¦ Like in āThe Little Shop of Horrorsā (I have no idea why! Iām not even a fan!!).
I knew it couldnāt possibly be what she said. āSeymourā had nothing to do with this context.
So I went against my ears. I let go of the evil plant imageā¦ and stayed focussed on here and now. It was very difficult to do! But I was able to hear what she said next ā it had still something to do with the view being so pretty.
I actually told her what had happened to me, she was able to repeat her sentence which I then understood, and we all had a good laugh!
Did this happen to you? Iād love to hear your story: please share it in the comment section below!
6 ā What if You donāt Understand Something?
If you donāt understand something, well, let it goā¦ focus on staying in touch with the flow of the conversation.
Chances are that the rest of the sentence will give you enough info to āfill in the blankā.
And if it doesnāt, then it will be time to say āje nāai pas bien comprisā (I didnāt get it all).
Comments