Language levels

Levels of language

 

When we meet up and speak with native speakers, the level of language can vary quickly. Sometimes we are not quite prepared for it and it may take us by surprise.

When I talk about “levels”, I am not talking about the normal idea of language level, for example, the level of complexity of vocabulary and grammar. I am talking about the type or conversation we may need to have.

 

To explain more clearly, when people talk together the subject often changes very quickly. This can happen more often if there are more than two people in a conversation. In my experience, the subject of a conversation can change in an instant if someone says something that makes it change.

For example, one person may be talking about a nice holiday they had at the seaside, and then this perhaps reminds the other person that they used to have nice holidays with their mother and father at the seaside. Suddenly, the other person says “it was nice to have a holiday with my mother and father at the seaside, my mother died 5 years ago”. This immediately changes the subject and the way the conversation must develop. You need then to say words like “sorry to hear that.” For perhaps a few minutes, the level of language will change. As a language explorer, you need to be ready for this type of change.

 

I used rather a strong example just before. More often, it can be just a very sudden change of happy subject. One minute, it could be talking about favourite food, but then this changes to perhaps questions about food in different countries and comparisons between them. This is often instigated by the native speaker, and so we need to be ready to change our level of language.

 

Here are some tips:

 

When a subject changes quickly, just give yourself a 30 seconds or so to get used to the change. At this point, useful expressions become very important:

 

“I used to go to the seaside with my parents. My mother died 5 years ago”

 

You can say:

“oh, sorry to hear that.”

“oh that is sad, how old was she?”

 

Adding a question gives you time to think which new words you need to use.

 

In more formal situations, such as business meetings, the subject may change quickly, but not so big a change as with very informal meetings. Even so, the speed of change may take you by surprise. The trick is to give yourself time to think by using some standard well-known phrases.

 

“could you say that again please?”

“what exactly do you mean to say?”

“it is interesting what you are saying there, could you elaborate please?”

 

So, be prepared for sudden changes of subject in conversations. But don’t worry about it.