PRACTICING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE – WITHOUT ALL THE INCONVENIENCE AND AWKWARDNESS
I think we all agree that, when you’re studying a foreign language, there’s no substitute for practicing it, even if you have been a self-employed translator for eleven years, like I have. But when I say “practice”, there comes a point where you have to accept that it’s better to look for opportunities other than just specified rigid pre-set tasks found in textbooks and the like. Scenarios which call for you to ad lib, and where there’s always the possibility of not quite knowing what direction is going to be taken.
Like common conversation in a foreign language, if we’re being honest. And why wouldn’t people expect you to do the same during any kind of trip abroad? Now, I find that agreeing to partake in such ad lib, non-pre-set language practice activities and proving yourself in them is likely to be accepted as the best way to prove any level of fluency in them. But even so, modern society and lifestyles are such that not many people are all that interested in face-to-face conversation these days (including me), which I can understand given that if you want to refer to something which will actually speak for itself during a conversation, most of the time all you need to do is include a link or an attachment if it’s an online chat; far more rarely will it be that easy when you’re talking to someone face-to-face.
But this is supposed to be about practicing foreign languages outside of a classroom environment in general – without all the inconvenience and awkwardness. I mean, anyone can just talk to someone else (and hope for the best), but what if there’s no-one else available? And that’s where I bring up the subject of letsplays, these being online videos of people playing computer games, mostly with commentary on them as the game progresses; ever heard of PewDiePie? I like in particular this Australian guy Rimmy’s Civ 6 letsplay videos, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ciTfp3VlyY They are so amusing to me. But what I really want to say here is that – when you’re watching such a video for the first time, at least – you never quite know what’s going to happen and what the creator is going to end up inclined to say before they actually say it… but at the time neither did the creator. I mean, there are moments in this video where this Australian guy shows surprise, and the specific content of what he decides to point out to the viewer is pretty much wholly determined by the unpredictable events that take place as the game progresses.
So what am I ultimately intending to say here? What have letsplay videos got to do with foreign language practice? Well, it never hurts to consider using modern technology for these things – even back at school, my teachers used to suggest that I watch foreign TV and listen to foreign radio: the news, game shows, whatever. If you can access these things, that is! But then you never have the chance to stop it and replay what you’ve heard if it’s something on TV or the radio which isn’t recorded and the speech is too fast or if there has been an expression which has confused you – you could ask for an explanation if there’s a person who could do this in the vicinity but it’s not easy to focus on both whatever explanation they would be at least trying to provide and what is being said on the TV / radio at the same time, and people don’t like to miss things from things they’re trying to listen to, you know? After all, this blog is about – I’ll say it again – practicing a foreign language without all the inconvenience and awkwardness. That is the intended overall topic here.
OK, so I have seen the video linked to in this blog multiple times, and that’s when it struck me: the notion of making letsplay videos, or just online videos about anything you like, with all the commentary in a foreign language – when you post it online, it’s much easier for literally anyone to hear you speak in the foreign language and critique on your language, if that really is what you want. Mind you, it’s best to be on guard about sharing your email address, I admit that; but if it’s a YouTube video people can be instructed to just leave comments about it, you know? And even if you don’t have WiFi where you live, the nearest library will; does getting a library membership even cost anything? I don’t know. Anyway, it’s just too bad that I have no video editing skills when it comes to making videos which are to be posted online – yet. It’s sad. Rimmy sure does, and look what he used it for here. But that said, good luck to him; and thank you for reading and bye.