How should I learn slangs?
Feb 06th 2009 20:12
I've been learning English for some period, and there is something I'm worried about.
Sometimes I get information from newspapers, magazines and websites,but in most cases textbooks written by Japanese lecturers (of course, assisted by some native English speakers).
When I watch Japanese TV programs, I notice a lot of slang (or dialect, abbreviation, etc) or verbal expressions, which I don't think are on textbooks for foreigners.
Likewise, there must be tremendous number of English expressions that we can't catch up with.
If I keep on practicing textbook English, many English words will remain unknown to me forever.
News is OK, but movies and dramas are too much for me.
It's a long way to go...
Sometimes I get information from newspapers, magazines and websites,but in most cases textbooks written by Japanese lecturers (of course, assisted by some native English speakers).
When I watch Japanese TV programs, I notice a lot of slang (or dialect, abbreviation, etc) or verbal expressions, which I don't think are on textbooks for foreigners.
Likewise, there must be tremendous number of English expressions that we can't catch up with.
If I keep on practicing textbook English, many English words will remain unknown to me forever.
News is OK, but movies and dramas are too much for me.
It's a long way to go...
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Textbook English...while it's not terrible, it's generally not a good idea to stick to it for too long. If you become immersed in the language you will become accustomed to slang.
I've been learning English for some period time now, and there is something I'm worried about.
Well, you could always practice by watching a DVD of an English TV show and pausing it when you find something interesting and then thinking about it to see how it fits in the conversation. It's pretty useful as long as you can pause it. ^ ^
Good luck!
>ravienne
Thank you for your comments!
I'm glad you two feel much the same way.
I'll have to learn from DVDs in the near future.
Thanks for your comment!
I'll try movies in the near future. : )
I've been learning English for some time now, and there is something I'm worried about.
While sometimes I learn from newspapers, magazines and websites, usually I am learning from textbooks written by Japanese lecturers (of course, assisted by some native English speakers).
When I watch Japanese TV programs, I notice that there is a lot of slang (or various dialects, abbreviations, etc) and other spoken expressions, which I don't think are in textbooks for foreigners.
Likewise, there must be a tremendous number of English expressions that appear during English TV programs that we wouldn't know.
If I keep on practicing textbook English, many English words will remain unknown to me forever. A good alternative word for "remain unknown" is "elude". "Elude" means something that you can't find, even if you try. It would work well here. "...words will elude me forever."
I'm OK with understanding the news, but movies and dramas are too much for me.(instead of "too much for me", try "over my head" or "overwhelming" "...dramas are overwhelming." "...dramas are over my head."
I have a long way to go...
Thank you for your advice!
As you say, if you want to learn a language, nothing is better than living in the country where it is spoken.
What a pity I should not be able to do that!
However, I think the most commonly known or heard of slangs come from America, so it'd probably be most useful to learn American slangs. The best way to do that is to live in America, but failing that, you could always watch movies and TV shows like the people above me have suggested.
Also, I find that certain interesting websites could be useful in helping you with slangs, such as http://www.manythings.org/slang/ - it lists down 280 most commonly used slangs (I think it's 280). I think it's pretty accurate (:
Thank you for your helpful advice!
I really agree with you.
There are many hurdles in learning a foreign language when you live in a place where it is not used.