Conversation Survival Guide

Abstract

Fluency gives self-confidence while its lack undermines you.

The intention of this unit is not to replace conversation guides; on the contrary, we encourage you, according to your level, to use them.

Without including translations, it would have been foolish to write a conversation guide. Why, then, have we written this unit? The aim of the unit is to provide a “survival guide,” a basic tool, to be reviewed by upper-intermediate speakers who are actually perfectly able to understand all the usual exchanges, but can have some difficulty in finding natural ways to express themselves in certain unusual situations. For instance, we are strolling with a colleague who wants us to accompany him to a jeweler’s to buy a bracelet for his wife. Bear in mind that, even in your own language, fluency is virtually impossible in all situations. I have only been upset and disappointed (in English) three times. At a laundry, at an airport, and, on a third occasion, at a restaurant. I had considered myself relatively fluent in English up to that time, but, under pressure, thoughts come to mind much faster than words and your level of fluency can be overwhelmed as a consequence of the adrenaline levels in your blood. Accept the following piece of advice: unless you are bilingual, you cannot afford to get into arguments in a language other than your own.