The Benefits of a Virtual Chat Room

"I certainly have not the talent which some people possess,” said Darcy, “of conversing easily with those I have never seen before.”

- Pride and Prejudice

If an English gentleman like Mr. Darcy found it painful to converse with a stranger, there is little wonder why non-native English speakers are nervous and intimidated when being put in the same room next to a fast-talking Yankee.

There is one kind of people who is ready to greet any Mexican he met in Spanish, even though “Hola!” and “Adios!” are the only two words in his Spanish vocabulary.

And there is the other kind, who can not muster all his strength to utter one word in anther language, even though he can read and write very well in that language.

Then, there are a lot of us in the middle. Longing to try, but cannot seem to find the right opportunity; wanting to learn, but don’t have enough hours in a day; hoping to improve, but fear of mistakes…

I started to use Skype to practice spoken language a few months ago. At almost the same time, I discovered Skypecasts, live conversations among multiple users. In these months, I have done things I couldn’t have imagined before. I talk to people from many different countries, in all walks of life, with all kinds of interesting experience to share.

In a world where Hollywood movies, American pop songs, blogging and podcasting are abundant, sometimes even overwhelming, the last fortress in language learning for a lot of people is the spoken aspect of it.

Luckily, innovative technology wowed us again by bringing spoken language learning into our living room. Equipped with free Skype software and a cheap but decent headset, anybody is well on their way to practice spoken language with another person or a group of people in the world.

Relieved of the awkwardness to be in the same physical room, even Mr. Darcy might be able to hold a conversation with his new lady acquaintances in the chat room.

Posted by Spread Your Wings

The Advantage of Talking to Other Non-Native Speakers

I’ve hosted Practice English Skypecast (group conversations via Skype) many times in the past a few months. Most of the time, the participants were non-native speakers talking to one another. Occasionally, a few native speakers—mainly from the U.S. and U.K.—came along.

Here is the question: if you want to practice your spoken English, are you better off to talk to an American or Brit, or talk to your fellow non-native speakers, who usually have all sorts of funny accents?

Sounds like a no-brainer question, right? During a conversation, understanding what other said in standard English would keep your two ears busy enough, who has the third ear to deal with accent?

Well, here is a surprising finding based on my hosting experience of Skypecast: more than likely, you will benefit the most by talking to your fellow non-native speakers because of one major gain: self-confidence.

When you talk to someone whose fluency level is slightly above or bellow yours, you has an instant sympathetic audience. You are going through the same struggle, and you are equally eager to learn. Thus, you are less concern about fear of making mistakes, but much more willing to speak out.

When your mind is relaxed, your tongue and ears work surprisingly better. You will be amazed by how much you understand each other without a third ear. That’s how you get instant gratification. That’s how you build up your confidence. And that’s what makes the difference.

Talking to a native speaker would bring the similar benefit only after your fluency level is fairly advanced. Before reaching that point, you could be listening to a fasting talking American bashing his president for 30 minutes non-stop without a chance—or courage—to utter a single word to him.

Why not listen to BBC News then?

Ring! Ring! Who’s calling?

It’s nine o’clock in the evening. The phone is ringing…

No, it’s not the phone. It comes from my computer.

I walk over and look at my screen. I don’t know this person.

I change my status to “Not Available” and walk away.

If you have used Skype or any other VOIP (Voice-Over-IP) or Instant Messaging software that supports voice calling (e.g. Google Talk or Windows Live Messenger), you are probably familiar with the scene above.

A couple of months ago I signed up on one of the language exchange websites. Ten minutes later, someone named Juan was calling me on Skype. I was taken aback.

I knew he found me on the language website I just visited. However, up till that moment, my Internet activities were limited to browsing web pages and reading web-based emails. Occasionally I would text chat with a friend. A real friend that is, someone I know in person. I’ve never visited any Internet chat room, let alone speak to a complete stranger one-on-one over the Internet.

I panicked. What should I do? My instinct was to hide immediately. Shall I log off? Or change my status to Invisible? It was too late. My finger already clicked the mouse mechanically without instructions from my brain. I hit the Answer button!

Juan’s “Hello! Hello!” resonated on the speakers. It was deafening.

“Come on, you’re a grown up women.” I told myself. I quickly pulled myself together and skimmed his profile. “Country: Venezuella." "This guy is not even in the same country. What am I afraid of?”

The next thing I know I was immersed in a pleasant conversation with this nice young man. His English is very good, albeit slightly accented. We started with some light topics like traveling to various parts of the world, learning English, Spanish and Chinese. Then we jumped to politics, talked about their famous president, or infamous, depending on which side you take, the upcoming election in their country and mid term election in the US. Half an hour passed before we wrapped up our conversation and said goodbye.

If you were like me, who had never talked to a stranger on the Internet but would like to practice a spoken language, I hope my story will encourage you to be a little adventurous.

For me, learning to speak a foreign language has never been the same since that first time I stepped out of my comfort zone and picked up Juan's call.

Posted by Open Your Wings

It's Easier to Build a Car from a Scratch

The North America Auto Show is on full swing in Detroit this week. The New York Times reporter Ezra Dyer went to the Cobo Center to check out the fancy metals and exotic models--the car, that is.

He was not surprised to find a few cars on display were from China. Everyone knew they were coming; after all, it's supposed to be the automobile's turn after toy, shoes, and DVD players had flooded the market. But Dyer was shocked by how Changfeng was presenting itself and the products it manufactured. He wrote a blog--yes, The New York Times blogs too--entitled Amid the Loud Bugle Calls, the Worker are Awakened.

While watching the Changfeng Motors “Image Propaganda Film,” Dyer learned that the company's pickups “have the pure blood of high brands”, that its cars equip with the "auto sofas", that its "workers are awakened amid the loud bugle calls" before they rushed to work. In the end, it concludes metophorically that “dragons are taking off and cheetahs are leaping forward.”

If your native language is Chinese, as mines is, you understand perfectly what these "propaganda" is trying to convey--sounding half sleek, half cliché in Chinese; if yours is not, well, it's sort of complicated to explain the type of the action that dragons and cheetahs take.

But it's not hard to see, for us Chinese, that to build a car from scratch is much easier; to speak a proper English, however, is really not our cup of tea.

A Hairdresser's Wisdom

I go to see Ada every a month or so for a haircut. A friend referred this Vietnamese hair salon to me. The first time I went, I expected to see a petite Vietnamese woman with a reserved manner, commonly seen in Asian. I didn’t know where I got that stereotype. The moment I stepped in her shop, however, I knew my stereotype be damned.

Ada is in her early 50s, about six feet tall, looks fat by American standard and obese by Asian standard, her hands are built like man’s. She greeted me loudly in English—“Honey, how are you!”—with a wide smile. I later learned she calls every customer of hers “Honey”, occasionally short for “Hon”.

During the next 30 minutes, she never stopped talking—mixing English and Chinese—while her hands were busy of fixing my hair. She talked almost as loud as she greeted, and she rarely needed my help to keep going. She laughed often too.

But her hands were nimble as if they belong to a petite Asian woman. In the end, she handed me a mirror and asked how I liked new me.

I became her regular customer from that day.

In each of my subsequent visits, Ada filled me in her life story bit by bit, all while the hair razor was humming along: born in a wealthy Chinese family in Saigon; came to America by boat when the war was over; raised a daughter alone in the U.S. while husband being held in a Vietcong’s prison cell; worked at various hair salons before opened her own.

Not an uncommon life story of many Vietnamese who settled in the U.S.

But Ada’s talent isn’t limited to her nimble fingers. She has a nimble tongue too. Over the period of a year, I’d overheard enough chats she had with her customers of various ethnical background, almost all in each respective native languages.
She told me her native languages were Vietnamese and a Chinese dialect called Chao Shan, spoken in the certain area of southern China. As far as I could tell, she speaks a perfect Mandarin and Cantonese. She may speak Laos and Cambodian too, but I couldn’t be sure. Her English, which she speaks most of the time, is accented and not always grammatically correct, but I seldom saw her American customers misunderstood her.

Having only a scant formal education at school (unluckily), she nonetheless picked up all these languages by herself. I told her once I admired her multilingual skills, and asked how she did it. “It’s like haircutting,” she answered in English, “the more you do it, the better you get”.

For her wisdom, I tipped more than usual that day.