Does love for a foreigner help to learn a language: 3 real stories
'02.02.2018'
Source: lady.mail.ru
It turns out that a native speaker who is close to you almost 24 hours a day is not a guarantee of constant and high-quality practice.
The desire to better understand the beloved man motivates to learn a foreign language in a matter of months. But, alas, not always having a partner helps to overcome the language barrier. English teacher Olga Brain tells several stories that clearly demonstrate this.
Story One: Lin and Rudolph
- Mai name from Lin Li! - Lin proudly looked at me and smiled. We taught this phrase with her for two months.
Lin brought me to learn English her man, my friend Rudolph. I worked in Shanghai in an English language school for adults, Rudolph bought for Lin VIP-package. We practiced twice a week for the third month, but we could not go any further.
- Listen, how do you communicate with her? You came from work, for example. Sat down to have dinner. How do you talk? - we sit with Rudolph and our mutual friends in the bar. Lin about something fun chirps with Chinese girlfriends. I try to understand how Lin and Rudolph live happily together, not speaking each other's language.
- We live very well, this is the best woman in my life.
She always smiles, always glad to see me. We watch movies in English with Chinese subtitles. I came home from work - she cooked soup. And I have enough conversations at work, ”Rudolph smiles and looks tenderly towards Lin.
They met in the north of China, where Rudolph came to work under a contract for the automotive plant. Rudolph was cold and lonely, a sympathetic colleague recommended a good woman to him. Lin began to come to Rudolph on Fridays. Right on the threshold, he gave her a razor, soap and a toothbrush, then they pleasantly spent the evening, and sometimes all weekend. The hygiene ideas of Rudolph and Lin initially varied greatly, but then things got better, Lin got used to washing and brushing his teeth once a week on Fridays, and Rudolph was pleased with her company. So a year has passed.
Once Rudolph caught cold and fell ill. Lin, as always, came to him on Friday and found him in snot and fever: Rudolph caught the flu and had been at home for a couple of days, the food in the fridge was over. Lin quickly ran off somewhere, brought food and fed her lover.
- From the dog! Can you imagine she made me soup from a dog, and I ate it! I had no idea that this is a dog, not a chicken. Her grandmother always treats flu with dog soup, damn it! - He already tells me this story again, I am terrified again and shake my head.
Lin and Rudolph have been together for five years, she does not speak English, he doesn’t speak Chinese, she treated him for flu from dog soup and moved with him to Shanghai. He gently strokes her head and tucks a strand of hair out of her hair.
Four years later, I find out that he married her and took her to England. Lin attends courses to take an English exam - this is necessary for citizenship. Rudolph worries that she doesn’t have English with English, all her friends in England are Chinese, she is more comfortable.
Story Two: Christopher and Emily
Christopher is American. His wife Emily is French. I met them in Moscow, and we quickly became friends. Emily is a beautiful brunette, dressed with careless charm, quickly speaks English with a slight French accent:
- I told him: “In forty years I will not marry as long as possible!” I want to look gorgeous in wedding photos, and not with a face like a wrinkled ass! ” And he made me an offer a week before my fortieth birthday! She always does that, pulls up to the last, an unbearable person - she rolls her eyes. Chris smiles and pours more tea to her.
They have been married for ten years, two years. At home, Chris and Emily speak only English, all attempts to speak Chris in French, she makes fun and stop at the root.
“We cannot communicate in French at all.” Emily quickly loses her temper, she’s infuriated by my slowness and accent, she starts screaming or switches to English, Chris admits. - When I said that I was going to take the test in French, she laughed and said that I would never pass it. I do not think so stupid, but I'm afraid to take the test. To be honest, I’m generally ashamed to open my mouth and say something in French.
Of course, he passed the test, and once again I thought about how important the support of loved ones is, and how easily we can hurt the word of those we love.
Third story: me and my ex-husband
When we met my future ex-husband, I taught English. I had a beautiful academically correct language, good pronunciation, but there was no raisins, life in my intonations, my English lacked biting sentences and colors of Surrey County.
For several years of living together with an Englishman, my English has changed beyond recognition, I picked up all the most beautiful things and when they ask me what was the best in our relationship with my ex-husband, I answer without hesitation: English.
I was very lucky, and at least twice. Firstly, I am a linguistic maniac and a parrot - eagerly copying the pronunciation, actively absorb everything I hear, and ask, persistently dig out the interesting from a valuable source. I learned in the context of our life with him a bunch of idioms, expressions and turns.
Secondly, and, perhaps, this is even the most important thing, my husband never laughed at me, did not tease, did not joke, and never once let me feel that his English is better than mine. He corrected mistakes as tactfully as possible, if there was something funny, we laughed together, and then I remembered the correct version for a long time.
The articles were fine with me after I asked the restaurant "a bill"," Some account ", but he raised his eyebrows and said with surprise:" Honey, you do not want to count those dudes from the next table - they have eaten at least ten thousand, let's better ask for our account, "the billand for the rest we will buy you perfume. ”
In a relationship, we somehow have to learn each other’s language each time, even if at first glance we both speak the same language.
“If you want to learn Spanish - get a Spanish lover” - I don’t know, maybe. Rudolph and Lin showed me that linguistic exchange might not happen. But love and understanding can well happen even without a language component.
