I've noticed some interesting trends in how/when people do/should correct others' language during this last semester I've been living in Barcelona. I think more people should correct language errors in each other, with some caveats on how to do it politely. Thread:https://twitter.com/mechanicalmonk1/status/1213765844045615104 …
Later, this expectation of feedback makes my progress highly obvious. A smooth conversation with few interruptions is a heavenly rewarding feeling and makes the study grind at home far more motivating. I suspect this feeling keeps successful learners going.
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Eventually, the feedback mechanism becomes subtle and less of a jarring interruption. When I'm approaching speaking some idea where I know the odds of error are high, I slow my speech down and pause after those words for half a second.
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People who know me pick up that I'm smoothly prompting for feedback on what was just said, without killing the conversational thread There are so many options for listeners to give feedback just as smoothly. One of my faves is squinting your eyes to mean "Uhhhh, not quite"
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Another good option is the sideways Indian head shake, a powerful gesture I wish existed in more cultures. Great way to signal "Hmm, that was a reasonable way to do it. That works, not the way I would do it, but not bad."pic.twitter.com/Gp4jB7J2QI
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Finally, a smile and a thumbs up are a simple signal for successful reception of the message. It's also like a free way to make friends and should be done way morepic.twitter.com/ic9oZE6Axe
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Basically, these conversations are actually really smooth and occurring on two levels. There's a top-line conversation for the actual topic and a bottom-line conversation for feedback. The two lines rarely crash and the conversation is fun, although a bit strange to observers.
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It feels like a wonderful integrative experience. A balance of short-term "Let's talk about life" interests and long-term "Let's make future conversations even more skilled" interests. It's also fun to pull off. This is one of the most enjoyable parts of learning a new lang
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(For context, I'm at a C1 or C2 level in Spanish, where C2 is the max level on the DELE national language exam. Passing C2 requires understanding implicit connotations as well as legal, political, and social commentary)
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Some final comments: I noticed that not everyone "earns" this level of feedback from native speakers. My teachers stopped and corrected me on tiny errors of nuance, while fellow students who were ~80% to fluency were not and were only stopped on larger errors
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I suspect they subconsciously prioritize their feedback for topics where it can be most effectively absorbed and is most needed, given the speaker's current ability
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Second, I have not experienced a similar smooth experience in writing. I am still baffled by subtle differences in typographical customs. For example, why do some writers use these angular quotation marks instead of the regular ones? I've never seen these in Englishpic.twitter.com/5vDnV3fHrs
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