10 situations you should practice in your language courses

If you are familiar with contemporary language education, you will understand that practicing conversation during lessons is a key element for success.

For previous generations, this was not the norm. Also due to classroom size and unprepared or insecure teachers, foreign language instruction relied heavily on pen and paper exercises.

The result: excellent grades did not equal being able to talk freely.

The next level is assessing how communication should be practiced.

For many language learners, communication is just one homogenous block of activity.

There are, however, considerable differences between

·        Preparing at home vs. reacting spontaneously

·        Talking to the teacher vs. communicating in small groups with other students

·        Focusing on playing it safe vs. experimenting with new ways of saying things

·        The complexity of the topic and the situation.

Ideally, you should practice situations that reflect potentially uncomfortable situations in your real life – privately and professionally. As with driving classes, you do not wish for accidents, but you train how to handle complicated situations on the street in advance.

Here is a list of general types of situations for role play, which you should also adopt to your concrete personal and private situation:

·        Selling something which is difficult to sell

·        Handling negative customer feedback

·        Mediating in a work-related conflict

·        Negotiating better conditions for yourself or loved ones

·        Asking for forgiveness for a situation you created

·        Admitting faults (also moral shortcomings)

·        Talking to a child (or adult) throwing a temper tantrum

·        Explaining something complicated from your profession to a non-professional

·        Helping others obtain clarity in a confusing situation (business-related or in their personal lives)

·        Helping a coworker or a loved one overcome personal limitations (e.g., stage fright)

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

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Do you feel a bit insecure when doing business internationally, maybe even in a foreign language?

Profit from new strategies, insights and techniques that will make you use foreign languages more successfully in international business communication.

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Gerhard Ohrband is a communication consultant, psychologist and author of 9 books from Hamburg/Germany. He speaks 11 languages fluently and assists individuals and companies in doing business in foreign languages.

 

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