つかえる英会話Daily / Travel

Claire: Dr. Sutherland, what do you think is the most essential part of language learning?

Sutherland: I’d say vocabulary building…of course, a good grasp of the language’s grammar is a staple. Many people come to me, saying they want to improve their listening skills, reading skills or writing skills, but you can’t improve any of these by simply going over listening or reading materials.

Claire: But you need to read, listen and write considerably before you reach a certain level, don’t you?

Sutherland: Yes, you’re right. But what I’m trying to say is this: If you want to understand better, you need to enrich your vocabulary. Suppose you’re speaking with a French person, and your French is pretty good. But suddenly, you hear a certain sound you can’t make heads or tails of. You can’t even figure out if it’s a single word or a group of some words…or if it’s an idiom, or some technical term. You’re at a loss.

Claire: Yes.

Sutherland: This kind of uncomfortable situation occurs because the French person’s speech includes some words you don’t know. Unfortunately, we can’t figure out foreign words’ meanings unless you’re familiar with them. When you hear some new word or technical term in your own language, you can guess its meaning, or you can just let it pass by saying, “Oh, I don’t need to know it”. Because you’re confident with your language. So what I suggest people do is to learn as many words as possible so chances that you experience the uncomfortable situation will become smaller.

Claire: In other words, we ought to create a situation where we can be confident with the language—as we are with our own.

Sutherland: Exactly! Now, I’d like to tell you how you can enlarge your vocabulary.