Any experiences? At home or abroad.
My recent experience:
Tried to talk to someone and it was going well until they said 2 sentences really fast and I had no clue what they said.
I must’ve looked confused, trying to mutter something, ANYTHING! What were the words I’m supposed to say?! I forgot the polite “sorry, could you repeat that” in every language I know.
They caught me off guard, damn it. Then came the killing blow: “English?”.
In my moment of weakness I submitted and gave them a nod. From there on we were talking as equals, but my pride had taken a hit. I was defeated. I must go back to my books and duolingo and hide until I have courage again.
(Sorry for the dramatic text, wanted to make a boring interaction sound bit more interesting)
Ah, you’ve reminded me to review how to ask someone to repeat themselves. I have only spoken via text with 1 native speaker so far and it was really eye-opening how unprepared I was, haha. I still have trouble with basic sentences that you might find in a kindergarten-level book so I think I jumped in too soon.
Yeah talking is hard! I often forget words in the moment that are so basic…
But! We wont give up!