Thoughts like this can be what holds a student back from actually using the language that they have spent time and effort to learn. It is natural to be nervous, and yes, you might make mistakes, but if you never try to use the language then your trip may be more complicated than necessary!
As a school student you may have been used to regular vocabulary tests (which seem to be out of favour in some circles now) or to seeing your hard work given a low mark due to grammar and spelling mistakes. As an adult learner, it is important to remember that the key question is whether you are able to communicate your needs and to have them met. For example, if you have a food allergy are you able to make that clear and therefore be sure that the food on your plate is safe for you? If you need to find a public toilet, are you able to get your message across and find the facilities you need?
Naturally, grammar and tenses are a key component to successful use of a language, but sometimes you will get further by simplifying your message so that it can be clearly understood. For example: “Toilet – where?” or “Toilet where? Please” will almost certainly get you the directions you need in the moment.
The photo above is of an informational sign at the 2025 Christmas Market in Montreux, Switzerland. As you can see, it uses a mixture of simple images and single words to inform tourists of the important phone numbers they may need in an emergency. Single words so that you can translate them more easily with a dictionary or app, images to back up the translation.
If you are planning a holiday to a country where you are not confident in the language, maybe consider making some images or message cards of your own. A card with your name, important medical information and an emergency telephone number to keep in your wallet; a card for the children to give name, languages spoken and the parent’s telephone number; a small range of cards with messages about things you may need. Each of these may be useful to you and just need a little forward planning.
As the summer holiday season is upon us, I wish you all Happy Adventuring!
“My teacher gave us a list of questions and told us that we should prompt (insert choice of AI here) to give us some good answers for us to learn. Should I be doing that for German too?”
Pretty shocking, isn’t it.
This was the start of a conversation with one of my independent candidates during their lesson this week. They are studying one European language at school, and German with me.
It probably won’t come as much of a surprise to learn that I was not in favour of this idea, either for German or for the language this student is learning at school. Is it cheating? Frankly, yes! However, that is not the only reason that I advised against this course of action. This is a talented student who will be taking GCSE German (their third or fourth language) early (ie they are not yet in Year 11). Put simply, I don’t want them to deliver pre-scripted robotic-sounding answers and DROP marks that they are capable of earning for themselves, using their own hard work. Will they make some mistakes? Quite probably. But the grade they receive will be a result of their own hard work and will be something they can be proud of.
Is it possible to train your AI well enough that it starts to sound like you (or you start to sound like it), delivers colloquial language predominantly using the GCSE vocabulary list, gives answers tailored to your exam board, and scores well? Maybe. Is it possible for a student age 13-16 to do this well? Much more tricky. Will such an attempt either end up sounding like they have cheated (which they have) or make no sense at all to a “real” speaker of the language? Well, I guess we will see in the next couple of years if this school and others continue to make such suggestions….
Naturally, the school will remain unnamed. Bearing in mind the wide geographical area I cover when teaching online, if it sounds familiar, then you may like to wonder just how widespread this is.
It is often recommended that exam students try to include some idioms in their writing, to show that they have a good knowledge of the language they are learning. While this can be useful, it is a tip that should be used with caution as idioms, by their very nature, don’t translate directly, and so it is very easy to use them incorrectly, or to misunderstand when they would be appropriate.
Following on from the sausage-related German idioms found in our October blog, here are some French ones, all related to food.
1. Ça ne mange pas de pain. Direct translation: That does not eat any bread. Meaning: It doesn’t cost anything.
2. Garder une poire pour la soif. Direct translation: To keep a pear for the thirst. Meaning: To keep something back for a rainy day.
3. Je m’occupe de ma pomme. Direct translation: I take care of my apple. Meaning: I’m looking after number one (i.e. myself).
4. On ne peut pas avoir le beurre et l’argent du beurre. Direct translation: You cannot have the butter and the money for the butter. (Presumably to do with farmer’s wives making butter for the family to eat, or to sell for extra money). Meaning: You can’t have your cake and eat it.
5. N’en fait pas tout un fromage. Direct translation: Do not make a whole cheese out of it. Meaning: Don’t make such a fuss.
I hope you can have some fun with these. Which English idioms do you think would be the hardest to explain for the non-native speaker?
As an experienced speaker of a second (or third) language it is important to keep your language skills up to date rather than allowing them to benignly stagnate in a smug cloud of “I’ve got this – I have a certificate/A Level/degree”. This isn’t simply a question of keeping your grammar knowledge sharp and remembering a few spelling rules, but more about following the progress of the language as it evolves.
A story which highlights this need comes from the German exchange arranged by my school when I was a teenager. As with all exchanges of the time, a group of students from our school stayed in the host town, living with students and their families. We visited museums and places of interest, had a day in the host school and generally did our best to get by in a language that we had been learning for about two years. While I have vague memories of a lovely host family and a rather strange host teenager (probably more to do with cultural differences than our personalities), the thing that stood out for me most was one of the English teachers from the host school. I can’t even describe his physical appearance particularly well, except that he had a beard and wore jeans when all of our teachers were in suits. What struck me was his use of English. Quite grammatically accurate, but all of his more colloquial language was stuck about 20 years in the past. He sounded quite like my parents when they were being deliberately silly and using “old” phrases from the 1960s and 1970s!
Now that I am probably of a similar age to that man, (give or take a decade or so!), it is something that I am acutely aware of in my own teaching and use of language. Keeping my own language skills relevant to the modern day is an ongoing challenge. What tips can I give for anyone in a similar position who would like to maintain their language skills?
Use modern technology, streaming services and the like to watch films/TV in the source language. Choose your material wisely – if you use your language for work or need more formal language then watch appropriate material and don’t restrict yourself to daytime gossip TV or the kind of show where “his girlfriend ran away with the hairdresser’s neighbour’s cat”. For colloquialisms, a little bit of reality TV goes a long way, but bear in mind that slang is generational, so try not to “get down with the kids” too much!
Read the news from the country, in the source language. Do so regularly. It can be really useful to note how a story is reported differently in different countries. It helps boost cultural awareness as well as giving a broader depth of perspectives on a topic. You could also choose a variety of news sources, so you read the same story in both a broadsheet and a more popular format.
Visit the country when you can. During that visit do not withdraw into your personal bubble of headphones and an English film on your tablet, but use public transport and be fully aware of what is around you. That may be as simple as noticing that shop adverts and announcements now use the informal “you” rather than the formal one that you were taught is correct in such situations. Or it may be that you casually overhear a rapid conversation between friends and then spend 10 minutes afterwards trying to work out what they were talking about.
Speak with native speakers whenever possible. Especially while you are in the relevant country, or with speakers who still live there. Those who have lived abroad for an extended period may also find that their language skills become dated.
Above all, have fun with your language! Real-life use is much more likely to stick than pure book work.
Teri is an experienced language tutor with a particular interest in both French and German. Her most recent short holiday included many opportunities to practise her skills, including protracted negotiations at the railway station around using the ticket app and its failings, making purchases at the Christmas market and translating a 10-minute demonstration about medieval instruments of torture!
If you are wondering, the photo is of a historical reenactment group in Geneva, preparing for a demonstration of épée techniques in use in 1602 at the time of the “Escalade” attack on the city by the Duke of Savoie. Don’t let your language get this outdated!
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