Connectors in Madarin

I'm thinking that you might want to think about level specific connectors. I'll just speak for myself, but lots of connectors tend to overwhelm as quickly as the speech itself and adds no value for me. Plus, some connectors imply I understood what the hell they were saying, and I really don't want to convey that. So maybe for someone at a basic level conversation (they can do more than say, "hi"and understand more than "hi" back at normal Chinese spoken speed), I would suggest the following for Basic:

- did you say,... Nǐ shuō le (btw, I don't know that the Chinese is correct)......

- please repeat qíng zài shuō yīcì ...

- how do you say in Chinese....? zhōngwén zénme shuō

Any suggestions on important connectors to include, and ones best left out?

I also think that is a great idea... can you help? I've copied what you included above to use as a resource, but I would be glad to hear other suggestions! I'm begging for them, actually.

With that said, I don't think the list should be too large, and much of what I have above will be edited out, I think. The goal as I see it is to have a few phrases that you can use without thinking, so that you can keep the conversation going as you struggle with the rest of what you want to say.

It seems I've managed to kill off quite a bit of enthusiasm here ... I apologize for that.

Hopefully nobody minds too much the remark about my not being comfortable, a point not well worded. I was expecting really to hear back from people who disagree.

I still think CPod content is loaded with gold nuggets to be mined, and another good thing about doing that--we can ask questions about them on the boards as relevant to lesson discussions.

zhen,

"OK how about looking to CPod content--dialogues and banter between hosts--for the goods?"

...I couldn't agree more.Two of the first three examples that first popped into my head above came directly as a consequence of translating the banter in the lessons [and the other one from dialogues and banter I think],and I did have it in mind that if I found some time to look into this a bit more I should go back and look at some transcripts for examples.A lot of the time as you know the connectors in the banter can be minimal encouragers like grunts en,e,oh,etc.I also totally agree that we should be looking at what connectors are naturally used in Mandarin rather than translating from English.I really think we're on to something here thanks to Simon and I hope this thread keeps going.Dajia jiayou !!

Yeah I like those examples and also hearing what one has found useful in the field. I also like :

qing man man shuo yi dian

...though I think its power lasts about a maximum of one sentence,hehe.

FWIW, I think this is a great idea and a great list of connectors. What i've found by being at the intermediate level, and having to use Chinese in the real world, is that people are speaking too fast for me to use phrases like, "as far as i'm concerned, .." or "understandably". At my level, I'm merely drowning in understanding maybe 5-10% of real conversations in Chinese. The good news I suppose is that i'm getting exposed to them. But the bad news is that real Chinese isn't like cpod, but cpod is the best way to start.

When Chinese people ask me simple questions and sentences that I can also intuit from the circumstances would be asked, that also helps my understanding along, and then the connectors that are really helpful for me are:

did you say,... Nǐ shuō le......

please repeat qíng zài shuō yīcì ...

How do you say in Chinese....? zhōngwén zénme shuō

but of course, everyone would have a different set of 2-4 connectors, which is why you need a big long list, plus for those that are more advanced, they can take advantage of more connectors.

I agree, finding Mandarin connectors is the best way to go, not translating English ones into Mandarin. However, to get things going I am starting with the list Anthony provided. I plan on some editing after that and looking thru my book of phrases I have collected over time to see which ones should be included.

I am certainly not going to provide example sentences... though that would be fantastic to have. If another contributor would like to, 加油！

To reiterate in case it got lost above, if you PM me with your email address I can send you an invitation to work on the document with me and make things go that much faster/better. I'll also keep an eye on the post if someone wants to add something here.

Oh right, yeah. 真的不好意思。He gave connectors in Czech, with English translations. I'd still prefer smaller groups though I think (which will obviously not be able to cover as much), than the categories he has. But that's just me.

When I have more time I'll try to contribute.

Well, nobody has actually translated anything from English to Chinese here, yet. All the examples that have been given are connectors that are used in Mandarin, given English translations. This was the method used by Anthony himself and that's the method I envisioned in this thread. Unfortunately, contributions have been scarce.

yeah,excellent tidbit pretzell...could prove invaluable :)

I like it!

Sorry, simon, what I should have more cleary said was: I think that another connector should be something that is usually said on the questioner side, and that was "do you want anything else?" The first time it was said to me, I didn't understand it, even though I heard and understood all the words, and it wasn't said too fast. Frustrating.

BTW, I was ordering a latte when this was said/asked of me.

Sorry, simon, what I should have more cleary said was: I think that another connector should be something that is usually said on the questioner side, and that was "do you want anything else?" The first time it was said to me, I didn't understand it, even though I heard and understood all the words, and it wasn't said too fast. Frustrating.

BTW, I was ordering a latte when this was said/asked of me.

Pretzellogic, was that question addressed to me? In that case, I don't understand it.

what happened to the world wide web. *sob*

Unfortunately, google spreadsheets won't work here in China. But I have it set up as a Zoho Writer document, which we can work on together. PM me and I'll let you know how to access it. Thanks!

Just to be clear, that wasn't my list. It is Anthony Lauder's. I just took out the Czech and all the explanation in order to make it easier for us to work on translating them into Mandarin and as inspiration to come up with our own ideas, as he suggested we do in his comments.

I could try to translate some of orangina's list items, but as I have never actually spoken with a Chinese person, it seems to me less than ideal.

oh, good question... I assume he is freely sharing this info... But assumptions are what they are.

Great advice john,thanks.

I think rather than go out now and making this a separate large project,it would be better to just make a list on the run..ie.come back and add to this list when one hears a new connector.

xiao_liang,

I understand your concern. While most of these "connectors" are fine, there may be a few that shouldn't be directly translated into Chinese.

Rather than translating them all into Chinese, I recommend making a list from what you hear. Our podcasts are a great place to start... our Chinese hosts use "connectors" all over the place!

I'm interested in this, but again, I'm not sure of the cultural appropriateness of these connectors. Because chinese is such a differently structured language to European languages, often transliterating these Western-style fillers might actually sound awkward to western ears.

Would really appreciate input from the more advanced speakers, or Cpod staff on this one.

I have this as a Zoho Writer document, which means we can all work on the same document... as long as you have a (free) Zoho account. If that interests you, PM me and I'll send you the info you need. Of course you can reply here or PM me any contributions you want to make and I'll add them to the document. I'll continue to work on this as I have time, but I've got plenty of irons in the fire, so if a few people contribute even a phrase or two it will get done that much faster.

yeah,good point.That did occur to me.As I don't know any czech I have no way of knowing how much this was culturally appropriate,but anyway I was being somewhat flippant and the main point he was making was a good one and as you rightly point out we need to work out what's culturally appropriate in Chinese and apply that.I suppose I was just spying a situation where you could go overboard with this [too much language glue and you may end up bound up in knots....那，其实，实在我打算告诉你呢【不过千万别告诉别人】，啊，哦。。不好意思，我忘了我什么说。。。,but that's not to detract from it's usefulness to us as learners.

I got the feeling from some of these that they are culturally appropriate in Czech. Maybe thinking of language connectors in one's native language and translating would be a good start, but they should be modified as the learner gains experience. I think this is why English speakers so badly want to say 你好吗, as per the most recent QingWen. I think these little phrases with not much actual meaning are hard to predict in another language. For me, the goal is learning what phrases fit the same cultural purpose, not translating the phrases.

ok,well as I say,I think this guy has some really good advice.His example:

"Hello [that is a good question] [thanks for asking]. [First of all][I should say that] My name is Anthony [and between you and me] I am [actually] from England [I am happy to say that] I am married [As you may expect] my wife is Czech [and you may be interested to know that] she is [in fact] a political journalist."

..I think is much better than the "umm,er" one preceding it...definitely an improvement,smoother,more flowing and good practice.I think he is also really exaggerating it a bit to drive home a point here,but of course ultimately your goal would not be to speak so circuitously [but agree it is a good stepping stone..but one that if we were to take his example would need to be honed back somewhat] as people will sometimes tire of such beating around the bush and it could sound a little strange. It is [in a different way] reminiscent of the the clever dialogues that were produced in the wonderful TV series "Yes Minister".I mean "between you and me I am actually from England"...why the confidentiality? ..is there a war on I don't know about? ....but hey,he's just making a point I know and one worth noting I think.

Fourth and final bit:

Connectors Starter Pack

A Springboard

When I teach people about conversational intimacy, I give them a “starter pack” of about 100 connectors, and I present them here.

There is nothing magical about these 100 or so connectors. They are just a springboard to get people going.

As soon as possible you should be throwing out connectors from the starter pack that you don’t find useful and adding connectors you come across in real-life.

I like to break the connectors into ten groups, based on the type of thing they do in a conversation:

Opening Connectors

Opening connectors are used when somebody has just asked a question, and you want to start answering it.

thank you heartily

děkuji srdečně

that is a good question

to je dobrá otázka

that is such a difficult question

to je taková těžká otázka

once upon a time, long ago

kdysi, dávno

When you are asked a question, it can put you on the spot. Your mind can go blank, and soon you don't know how to even start answering.

Opening connectors are really useful for getting the first few words out of your mouth (“breaking the silence”) while you settle down to give the real answer to the question.

Imagine you are asked where you are from, and your brain is racing to first fully comprehend the question and second to come up with an answer.

You can get some breathing space by starting out with:

“To je dobrá otázka ...” then once the momentum is going your brain relaxes and it is much easier to keep going and say “… (I am from England) jsem z Anglie”

Filler Connectors

Filler connectors are throw-away phrases you can insert when you need a little more thinking time.

They give the illusion of deep pondering, or sharing something personal, which is exactly what you want while you think of what you are going to say next:

understandably

pochopitelně

frankly speaking

upřímě řečeno

between you and me

mezi námi řečeno

anyway

nicméně

well then

nuže tedy

well, as a matter of fact

no, ve skutečnosti

how can I put it?

jak bych to řekl?

I must say that

musím říct, že

firstly

za prvé

secondly

za druhé

I would like you to know that

rád bych, abyste věděl, že

I am afraid that

obávám se, že

now and then it seems to me that

chvilemi se mi zdá, že

after all

přece jenom

as far as I am concerned

co se mě týče

more and more

čím dál víc

actually

vlastně

all joking aside

konec srandy

now seriously

teď vážně

As an example, somebody asks:

“(Where) Kde (do you live) bydlíte?”

If your brain panics, or you feel that just saying a place name is too abrupt, you can throw some filler in there before the answer:

“(Between you and me) Mezi námi řečeno (I live in Prague) bydlím v Praze”

Apologising Connectors

When you make a mistake, or feel embarrassed, or you are about to put somebody in a slightly uncomfortable situation, it is all too easy to blush, panic, and revert to your own language.

Instead, if you have rehearsed the Apologising Connectors until they become part of you, you will soon find that your automatic reaction to embarrassment is to use one of them to defuse the tension.

They will get you over the embarrassment hurdle so you can carry on.

don't be upset, but

nezlobte se, ale

it was a slip of the tongue

to mi uklouzlo

I said it by mistake

řekl jsem to omylem

I am sorry that

omluvám se, že

Qualifying Connectors

Czechs tend to not be overly impressed with show-offs, so a bit of humility gets you a long way.

To soften a statement, instead of just saying something as if it is a fact, it can help to wrap it up with a qualifying connector.

There are loads of these, and you need to keep varying them throughout a conversation so you don’t sound like a robot stuck on replay.

to tell the truth

abych pravdu řekl

I presume that

já se domnívám, že

I hope that

doufám že

in my opinion

podle mého názoru

if that is true

jestli je to pravda

I don't know exactly

já nevím přesně

I would like to think that

chtěl bych myslet že

the way I see it is that

vidím to tak, že

as you may know

jak asi víte

I don't have a big interest in that

nemám velký zájem o to

if I understand correctly

rozumím-li dobře

as you already know

jak už víte

that isn't such a big problem

to není takový velký problém

that is a matter of opinion

to je věc názoru

as far as I know

pokud vím

I have the impression that

mám dojem, že

it is usually true that

obvykle platí, že

you never know, but

nikdy nevíte, ale

I haven't thought about it before, but

nikdy dřív jsem na to nemyslel, ale

if I am not mistaken

pokud se nemýlím

I am not certain whether

nejsem si jistý, zda

like every other man

jako každý druhý muž

I have my own opinion on it, but

mám svůj vlastní názor na to, ale

I am not such an expert, but

nejsem takový odborník, ale

So, for example, if somebody asks if you like Prague, instead of just blurting out “yes” or “it is a beautiful town”, you can increase you fluency by using a qualifying connector in front:

“(In my opinion) Podle mého názoru ... (Prague is a beautiful city) Praha je krásné město”

Agreeing and Disagreeing Connectors

Simply saying “yes” or “no” all the time makes a conversation sound like an interrogation session.

Add a bit more warmth to the conversation by using Agreeing and Disagreeing Connectors.

one hundred percent

na sto procent

without question

bez debat

exactly right

přesně tak

most certainly

zcela určitě

without doubt

bezpochyby

in no case

v žádném případě

that isn't true at all

to vůbec není pravda

that is an exaggeration

je to přehnané

in principle that is true, but

v zásadě je to pravda, ale

admittedly that is true, but

to je sice pravda, ale

that's one way to say it

i tak by se to dalo říct

only up to a certain point

jen do určité míry

certainly, why not?

určitě, proč ne?

I agree

souhlasím

As you gain confidence, you will find yourself using more than one at a time.

Somebody will ask if you agree with something, and instead of just saying yes, you will find yourself saying something like:

“(A hundred percent) Na sto procent … (without question) bez debat … (I agree) souhlasím”

Of course, you can mix in other kinds of connectors too. For example, a bit of filler:

“(I must say that) Musím říct, že ... (a hundred percent) na sto procent … (without question) bez debat … (I agree) souhlasím”

Elaborating Connectors

Often, when we are put on the spot with a question, we blurt out the simplest answer we can think of:

“Where are you from?”

“England”.

Whenever I have done that, I feel a bit relieved that I at least said something, but at the same time a bit awkward that our answer was so short, and disappointed in myself since I know I could have said more.

In other words, it is too easy to fall back onto talking below your real level of fluency.

We want to get over that.

You can rescue these situations by throwing in some well-rehearsed elaborating connectors.

They bridge from a simple blurted-out answer to something more in-depth that you now feel relaxed enough to say and proud to have said.

to be more precise

přesněji řečeno

and what's more

a co víc

while I am already talking about it

když už o tom mluvím

I would like to emphasise that

rád bych zdůraznil, že

should I explain in greater detail?

měl bych vysvětlit podrobněji?

allow me to say it another way

dovolte, abych to řekl jinak

that is to say

totiž

a sice

and more specifically

nevertheless

přesto

even though

I když

that sounds like

to zní jako

and that is why

a proto

jinými slovy

in other words

abych řekl jinak

to say it another way

So now, a question like: “(Where are you from) Odkud jste?”

Lets you blurt out a quick and easy reply and follow it up with an elaborating connector while you think of a more detailed answer:

“(I am from England) Jsem z Anglie …. (and specifically) a sice … (from Oxford) z Oxfordu”

Quoting Connectors

One way to create intimacy in a conversation is to share things that somebody else told you. It can feel a bit like inviting somebody very briefly into your close circle of friends.

Here, then, are a few useful connectors for quoting something:

she said something like

říkala něco ve smyslu, že

my wife pointed out that

moje manželka poukázala na to, že

recently, I heard that

nedávno jsem slyšel, že

my better half said

moje lepší polovička řekla, že

Of course, you may have to change these around a bit if you don’t have a wife.

And, as usual, you can combine these with other connectors to make the sentence keep flowing.

Switching Connectors

When you are really lost for words, a good technique is to give a very brief answer to the current question, and then switch smoothly to a completely different topic where you feel on safer ground.

now it occurs to me that

teď mi napadá, že

by the way

mimochodem

I have an interesting story about it

mám na tom zajímavý příběh

and besides that

a mimo to

oh, I nearly forgot

ach, málem jsem zapomněl

and one more thing

a ještě neco

on the other hand

zato

I remember trying to take this to the extreme one time, when asked about some music group I had never heard of.

I mumbled out that they weren’t my favourite group, and then used a switching connector to start talking about a movie I had just seen.

Since the woman I was talking to didn’t seem to be offended, I just kept going and practiced deliberately using switching connectors as much as I could.

We ended up chatting non-stop for an hour and a half!

Closing Connectors

When you have finished talking about something, you can just leave it to end there, or you can wrap it up with a closing connector.

To be honest, I find that I don’t use closing connectors often, but sometimes they feel just right.

that is all there is to say

tím že řečeno vše

that is all for now

to je pro zatím vše

to sum up

abych shrnul

and there is the problem

a v tom je ta potíž

I hope it is only a question of time

doufám, že je to jen otázka času

that remains to be seen

to se teprve pozná

Passing Connectors

Finally, a conversation isn’t a monologue – it is an exchange between several people.

Sometime it is useful and polite to “pass the baton” to somebody when the time comes.

can you tell me please

můžete mi prosím říct

would you be interested in us talking about something else?

měl byste zájem abychom mluvili o něco jiného?

and what do you think?

a co myslíte vy?

Third bit:

Conversational Intimacy

Conversational Intimacy Connectors

Conversations need to flow.

So, what is the language glue that we were missing that keeps conversations flowing?

Instead of saying "urm" I now fill the gaps (and give myself some thinking time for the next sentence) by using lots of what I call "conversational intimacy connectors".

These connectors are small glue phrases between burst of factual information, that show you are "sharing" your thoughts with the other person.

Build Relationships

You see, conversation isn't just about telling facts, but also about establishing relationships with people.

Conversational intimacy connectors help establish and maintains that relationship (so the listener feels better connected to you) as well as getting over the "urm" moments that make people uncomfortable.

Here are some examples:

"To tell the truth ..."

"Between you and me ..."

"I have to say that ..."

"In all honesty ..."

"I am proud to say that ..."

"I haven't thought about this much before, but I actually believe that ..."

Make the Connectors Automatic

I began to collection these connectors from conversations, books, TV and radio, until I had a list of about 50 of them.

Then I practiced these phrases dozens (maybe even hundreds) of times until I could say them automatically, without having to put any effort into thinking about them.

Then I studied each one in depth, and thought hard about it to think of real-life situations when it would be used. At first, I used imaginary situations, until I felt that I associated a given connector automatically with those situations.

My focus was so that whenever I faced a real-life situation that previously would have caused me some embarrassment, it would now trigger appropriate connectors without conscious effort.

An Example

In restaurants, the waiter will often bring bread to the table that sometimes I don’t want. It always felt a bit abrupt when I said:

“(We don’t want) Nechceme (bread) chleba.”

Likewise, in a supermarket it always felt uncomfortable to say straight away:

“(I need) Potřebuju (a bag) tašku.”

Sure, I could add “(Please) Prosím” to try to make it more friendly, but I was much happier when I discovered the useful (and widely used) intimacy connector: “(Don’t be angry, but) Nezlobte se, ale …”

It is a much “lighter” form of apology than it sounds – essentially a deferential way of saying “Sorry for the inconvenience, but …” – and it is very effective in any setting where you want to get friendly service.

In place of the notoriously frosty Czech service, you will usually get a smile, and sometimes even a heartfelt apology that it isn’t a problem at all, and you shouldn’t worry about it.

I recommend practicing this phrase over and over, imagining real life situations where you would use it. It will quickly become automatic, so that when you really do face those situations your instinct will be to use say:

“(Sorry for the inconvenience, but) Nezlobte se, ale (we don’t want) nechceme (bread) chleba.”

Or

“(Sorry for the inconvenience, but) Nezlobte se, ale (I need) potřebuju (a bag) tašku.”

And so on.

No More Urms

Within a few weeks, the 50 or so conversational intimacy connectors in my list had become part of me, and they would flow from me naturally in situations where I had practiced them in the safety of my living room.

As a result, whenever I would previously have said "urm" to initiate conversations, or to bridge gaps (while I thought what to say next), my automatic instinct had soon become to use these connectors.

So, now, when asked:

“Tell me about yourself!”

The conversation is no longer:

"Hello ... urm ... my ... urm ... name is Anthony ... urm ... urm ... I am ... urm ... from England .. and ... and I ... urm .... I am married ... urm ... urm ... my wife is Czech ... urm ... and urm ... she is ... urm ... she is ... urm ... urm ... a political journalist."

Instead it is more like:

"Hello [that is a good question] [thanks for asking]. [First of all][I should say that] My name is Anthony [and between you and me] I am [actually] from England [I am happy to say that] I am married [As you may expect] my wife is Czech [and you may be interested to know that] she is [in fact] a political journalist."

Three Benefits

The difference in flow here brings three benefits:

1: I can use these connectors to bridge between sequences of short bursts of facts, and can keep the flow going for as long as I want.

2: I no longer get flustered, nor do I dread having a conversation, since my “thinking time” is now covered by connectors that I am happy to use with rather than “urm”s that embarrass me.

3: The person I am talking with becomes less embarrassed, because they no longer have to listen to my painful halting sentences.

Overall, the conversation flow is more pleasant and increases intimacy between people, rather than making it sound like an awkward “question/answer” session.

Reusing Connectors Everywhere

The great thing about these conversational intimacy connectors is that they can be reapplied to just about any situation. Without them, you can end up stuck in a cycle of learning vocabulary, with no chances to use any of it.

For example, one person I was teaching this technique to told me that she knew hundreds of words that she would hardly ever use (such as “Chobotnice” which means “Octopus”, and “Vrtulník” which means “Helicopter”).

All the effort put into learning these words, when they will probably crop us once every few years in real conversations!

Whereas, when I taught her “Nezlobte se, ale …” she emailed me later to say she had used it three times already that same day.

Conversational intimacy connectors, then can be used with whatever vocabulary you already have, and give a gentle framework in which to slot that vocabulary.

They even help you talk fluently in situations where you know hardly any suitable vocabulary at all.

For instance, a while back I had the great fortune to be invited into the beer cellar by a master brewer.

I only know a few beer-related words, but could strike up a conversation using connectors to join-up my limited vocabulary:

When he asked me which was the best Czech beer, I could say something like:

(That is quite a difficult question) To je docela těšká otázka. (I know that) Vím, že (it is a matter of opinion) je to věc názoru (but I must say that) ale musím říct, že (I do have my own opinion about it) mám svůj vlastní názor na to (and in my opinon) a podle mého názoru (Bernard-brand) Bernard (is my favourite beer) je mé oblibené pivo. (And how about you?) A co myslíte vy?

Here, you can see that hardly of the vocabulary relates to beer, but still I have shared my opinion, and kept the flow going, and ask the master-brewer for his own thoughts.

Non-Intrusive Thinking Time

Conversational intimacy connectors, then, help you maximize the vocabulary that you already have. Somebody I taught this to described it as“freeing” their vocabulary so it no longer felt like the words were trapped inside them.

Still there will be times when you still struggle because you simply don’t know the right word for something.

In these situations I use my “non-intrusive thinking time” to come up with alternative ways to say something. Non-intrusive thinking time is time when my brain is free to think without it interrupting the flow of the conversation.

The time when you are saying the well-rehearsed connectors offers non-intrusive thinking time. As do the natural pauses at the end of sentences.

Furthermore, a lot of the connectors end in words such as “but”, “and”, or “that”, and the moment before these final words offers a very natural time to insert a tiny pause to catch your breath, rather than the very unnatural pauses that come from “urm”. These pauses not only give your conversation a natural rhythm, but also give you additional non-intrusive thinking time about what to say next.

For example:

To je docela těšká otázka. {tiny pause} Vím, {tiny pause} že je to věc názoru {tiny pause} ale musím říct {tiny pause} že mám svůj vlastní názor na to {tiny pause} co se mě týče {tiny pause} podle mého názoru {tiny pause} Bernard {tiny pause} je nejlepší pivo. {tiny pause} A co myslíte vy?

Lost for Words

Despite this, you will still sometimes use the wrong word, or pronounce a word incorrectly, but that now becomes less important since a higher percentage of the conversation is fluent with connectors you do know flawlessly.

Despite this, you will still sometimes use the wrong word, or pronounce a word incorrectly, but that now becomes less important since a higher percentage of the conversation is fluent with connectors you do know well.

Instead of making a high percentage of mistakes, you spread the mistakes more thinly throughout the connectors, giving the (correct!) impression that you fluency rate is higher than you would have imagined.

Plus, when I really get stuck, I simply always steer the conversation to a different topic where you are on more familiar ground. And I have a bunch of connectors rehearsed dozens of times for exactly this. For example:

“(By the way) Mimochodem .”

“(Oh) Ach, (I almost forgot) málem jsem zapomněl …”

“(And one more thing) A ješte něco ....”

And so on.

Second bit:

What is Fluency?

A Humbling Experience

How frustrating it was to have studied Czech for so long, and still not have a feeling of fluency in the language.

Sure, I could answer the kinds of questions asked in class: “Where is the pencil?” “The pencil is on the table!” and so on. But I couldn’t say much that was useful in real life.

So, I kept hitting the textbooks and going to classes. I kept saying to myself: “I just need to study more. If only I had more vocabulary, and learned more grammar, then things would finally click”.

Within a few months, I knew several thousand words, and was making headway in the notoriously difficult Czech grammar.

But even doing this, fluency never came. I still couldn’t hold a half-decent conversation.

It was a humbling experience.

So what was I doing wrong?

For the longest time, I couldn’t work it out.

Language Glue

Things changed during an ordinary conversation with Gina, an English friend living in Prague.

Gina said to me “Anthony, I have been studying Czech for two years, and I still can’t string together a sentence with more than six words in it.”

For some reason the way she phrased it kicked my brain into motion. The light bulb went on in my head. I started to wonder, “If you can string together six words, why can’t you string together ten, or twenty, or a hundred?”

I began to realise the problem isn’t that we lacked vocabulary or grammar; it’s that we couldn’t combine the bits of the language well enough to keep a conversation going.

We weren’t missing the pieces; we were missing the language glue to join the pieces together.

Conversational Flow

So, I started to listen to conversations. And I realized the most important thing in a conversation is keeping the flow going.

Anything that breaks the flow threatens to end the conversation.

If people have long gaps in their speech, you start to wonder if they have finished.

So, we tend to fill the gaps automatically as we try to keep the conversation going.

Now, if we are struggling with language fluency, we don’t know how to fill these gaps but we know we have to do something; so we say “urm” a lot:

"Hello ... urm ... my ... urm ... name is Anthony ... urm ... urm ... I am ... urm ... from England .. and I ... urm .... I am married ... urm ... urm ... my wife is Czech ... urm ... and urm ... she is ... urm ... she is ... urm ... urm ... a journalist."

These “urm” moments are where we are trying to think what to say next. Our brains are trying to remember the words and grammar.

The problem is that when we realize we are saying “urm” a lot we panic. We become embarrassed, and our mind goes blank.

It becomes very uncomfortable for you, and also for the person you are speaking to, since they don’t like to see you struggling, and it is hard for them to work out how to keep the flow going.

Soon, each of you is anxious for the conversation to end.

Sometimes I think of it as a bit like swimming in a river, where you want to be able to swim in the language but find yourself frantically paddling for your life.

Thinking about conversations in terms of this smooth flow, then, I no longer think of language fluency in terms of having a vocabulary of 30,000 words or a complete grasp of grammar (although that can only help!).

Instead, I now think of fluency as being able to use the vocabulary you already have, in real conversations that flow naturally in a way that feels comfortable for everybody involved in the conversation.

Yeah, it's using Google Pages. Guess that's blocked now. I'll copy-paste the text below. Here's the first page:

Speaking Czech Fluently

How to Learn to Speak Czech Fluently

This website is about how to learn to speak Czech fluently.

It isn’t aimed at professional linguists or advanced Czech speakers.

It is more aimed at people with some basic knowledge of Czech, who want to get to the point where they feel comfortable with the language.

Just a Regular Guy

Hello, my name is Anthony Lauder. I am an Englishman, living in the beautiful city of Prague, in the Czech Republic.

Please understand that I am not a language guru. I am not even a teacher. I am just a regular guy who struggled to learn a language, until he hit on a few things that helped.

Maybe some of those things can help you too.

Feel free to contact me: anthony@anthonylauder.com

Struggling in a Language

You’ve probably heard stories of people who studied a language for years, and still struggled to order a coffee or buy a newspaper.

Well, not only have I heard of people like that, I was one of them myself.

It usually went something like this:

Shop assistant: “Hello, can I help you?”

Me: “Urm … urm … no thanks.”

Shop assistant: “Well, and , ok?”

Me: “Urm … I don’t speak Czech very well.”

… as I rushed out of the door too embarrassed to ever return.

Now, I am not talking about my first few days in the country here. I studied Czech for about two years, and still couldn’t say anything worth saying.

And Dreaming of Speaking Fluently

What I missed was fluency. I wanted the conversations to flow. I wanted them to go more like this:

Shop assistant: “Hello, can I help you?”

Me: “Thank you for asking, but for now I am just looking.”

Shop assistant: “Well, and , ok?”

Me: “Sorry, but to tell you the truth, I don’t speak Czech very well. Do you think that you could possibly repeat that more slowly?”

Shop assistant: “Yes, of course. Take all the time you need, and I will be over there, ok?”

Me: “That is very kind of you. Now that I think about it, can you tell me where the adventure books are?”

… and for the conversation to keep going like this for as long as we both wanted.

From Stumbling to Fluent

So, how was I going to get from stumbling in Czech to fluency in Czech?

Since the methods I had been using in from textbooks and in language classes weren’t helping much, I had to come up with a few techniques of my own.

Anthony Lauder's Approach to Fluency

Let’s begin by asking what fluency really is.

To me, fluency isn't about learning tens of thousands of words or learning all the grammar rules.

A wide vocabulary can help you talk about lots of topics, and grammar rules can help you speak with fewer mistakes.

Those things are essential, eventually, but I am more interested in helping people to speak fluently with the words and the grammar rules they already know.

Fundamentally, fluency is about keeping the conversation flowing, without uncomfortable pauses, so that everybody involved enjoys the experience and wants to keep the conversation going.

I have a lot more to say about that here: What is Fluency?

You can keep the conversation flowing by using the vocabulary that you already have in a way that increases intimacy between the people involved.

The trick here is to connect short bursts of facts from your vocabulary with what I call pre-rehearsed conversational intimacy connectors.

Each of these connectors is a natural invitation to either yourself, or the others you are talking with, to keep the conversation going.

You can find more about them here: Conversational Intimacy

When people are first learning to use conversational intimacy connectors, I give them a starter pack with about 100 connectors in.

The starter pack is great for practicing with, although overtime you should probably be replacing it with connectors that you discover for yourself.

Here, then, is a Connectors Starter Pack

well done !我看好你哦！