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How many words should I know before entering an international business conversation?

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Before speaking in a foreign language, the first concern for many is: I do not know enough words. So, how many words should I know to feel confident during a conversation? If we start thinking about it, we have the same problem in our native language. We may feel inhibited by not being as eloquent as our car mechanic, tax lawyer or IT specialist. For German, the Duden dictionary company searched their text databases and found more than 17 million distinctive words. Most of them are rare words and/or technical words, of course. No native speaker knows all words in his or her native language. Conversations, even concrete ones, are really open-ended, unpredictable situations. We cannot know for sure in advance everything that will be asked or said. That is why, even in the age of AI, students are still afraid of exams, job applicants are anxious before a job interview and spouses worldwide have misunderstandings. Therefore, we will never know all the words than can be possibly s...
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Start specific, become more general later

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Many of us think, when starting a new language you should spend the first year, at least, learning only generic stuff. You need to learn the “general” vocabulary, the “basic” grammar. Only then can you start thinking about studying more specific vocabulary and grammar. The – wrong - idea is that language learning should be similar to math instruction. Yes, in math it seems to make sense to start from the basics in a gradual progression towards special and advanced topics. However, a language is more like a round cake. You can start eating it from anywhere you want. The “right” place to start is from your most urgent needs. Imagine that you are a migrant and you want to start working in your profession, be it a math teacher or a plumber. What vocabulary would you need during your first math lessons? What would you need for your first repair jobs? Yes, in both cases you would need to greet people, to exchange pleasantries and to say goodbye. However, you would need to know al...
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Who are the gatekeepers in speaking in a foreign language

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Have you too seen this advertisement for an AI language learning tool? A real human being is being corrected by an AI tutor. And the immediate reaction is: Oh, I am sorry. Many of us behave as if there was a gatekeeper hindering us from communicating in a foreign language. We feel we need to get some kind of permission to start communicating. We need first to have all the necessary certificates. Or some authority figure needs to officially allow us to open our mouth. The problem is that we are very insecure in our language skills. However, we will only start feeling more competent after practicing real-life conversation for countless hours. It is not the other way around. Yes, I know. There are lots of countries with crazy licensing laws where there are bureaucratic gatekeepers for almost every profession. But even in those countries you are still allowed to express yourself in a foreign language without any license. Yes, it makes sense to have practical tests befor...
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Why we need to train talking to bad people

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We live in a polarized world. Covid, migration, the Ukraine war, gender (and gender pronouns) or climate change: There is an ever-growing list of possibilities for division, for separating between our ingroup and the outgroup, between the good and the bad guys (and girls). Many of us simply refuse to speak to people with other opinions. We often hear this as an advice. You shouldn’t/cannot speak with evil people. Well, this is actually a very dangerous advice. The more we retreat from engaging in dialogue with people with other opinions and positions, the more vulnerable we become as communicators. This is one explanation why populist politicians are becoming so successful worldwide. Many establishment politicians have been living in a conversational bubble for years. They have been asked predictable and softball questions by more or less friendly journalists and colleagues. They have tried to build firewalls against their opponents. In short, they have relaxed the conversa...
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How to get out of your comfort zone in a foreign language

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We often hear life begins outside of our comfort zone. However, much of current Western civilization is geared toward making us stay in our comfort zones or safe spaces. As American Tyler Cowen shows in his book, “The complacent class”, Americans are less mobile and flexible than ever.  Germans, too, are well known for risk-avoidance and for preferring to stay their whole life with one morning newspaper, one company and one cozy house - with a carefully mowed lawn. We feel threatened when we are obliged to leave our comfort zone: forced to change our profession, to move to another city, to listen to new ideas, or to live with people from other cultures. In language learning, our comfort zone may be: Clinging to a certain accent, intonation or speed while speaking in a foreign language; Preferring visual or audio material; Avoiding unstructured tasks of producing our own sentences, and sticking to multiple-choice grammar exercises; Avoiding difficult audio material, while clin...
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The ladder vs. spiral model for language learning

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How we conceptualize our language learning deeply affects our attitudes and success in language learning. Many of us have – whether we are aware of it or not – adopted a ladder or “video games” model of acquiring a new language. This language learning process is divided into numerous levels. To move to the next level, you need to successfully graduate from the level before. In mathematics at school, it doesn't make sense to move forward before a student has grasped the basic tenets of arithmetic. But, is this a valid approach to learning a language? At first glance, much in the language teaching industry seems to reinforce such a model. Language proficiency, courses and standardized tests follow bureaucratically-imposed levels (like the ABC levels in Europe).   Whether intended or not, this often provokes unproductive attitudes and habits among students. Some curb their natural curiosity of playfully exploring the “territory” of a language: “I am still at A 1.2 level. This futu...
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Social anxiety and learning a foreign language

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Especially as psychologists, we need to abstain from labelling other human beings.   Yes, social phobia is a clinical diagnosis.   However, we all feel a certain uneasiness in social situations. Some people more than others.   When learning a foreign language, we tend to forget our psychological setup. We put the blame for out communication problems almost entirely on the new language. In reality, we need to work on both: on the foreign language and on our psychological limitations. The more we address our personal issues, the more we will succeed in the foreign language. But it works also the other way around. Improving in a foreign language contributes to higher self-confidence. Your self-image improves, as you demonstrate to yourself and others that you are capable of speaking in a foreign language. Becoming able to express yourself in a foreign language may also help you to open up emotionally. To speak about your emotions in a foreign language is actu...
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