Two words for the price of one...

Today I'd like to talk about something that can be really annoying for me as an English teacher and as a student of Slovak.

When you get two words for the price of one.

Or when you get two or more meanings from a single word.

My current pair of words to worry about in Slovak are pre and za. These two little gems are fairly common even in the low level language that I use and they get me a lot because they translate into the same word in English...FOR.

Let's take some example Slovak phrases with their English equivalents.

• WC pre mužov            - WC for men
• Ďakujem za info          - Thank you for the info.

It drives me crazy because when it comes to these words, I'm really stuck as to which one I should use. I do my best but it's not unusual for me to run into the wrong one and end up butchering a sentence. Thankfully my listeners tend to be kind enough to smile and nod indulgently as I mess up their language. Some of them are even good enough to correct me and tell me what I should be using and when.

This isn't exclusive to me and Slovak though. As a teacher you should be aware of the words in English that cause problems for your students because they double up on what their mother language has. There are some words that almost directly translate from one language to another and when you find them....great :-) Then again, there are others that will cause repeated problems in your classroom and it's your job to find those words, identify them and figure out what the problem is for the learners. That will help you identify them ahead of time what might be problems in future lessons.

Now you don't have to do this alone. In fact, if you can avoid that, all the better. Another example that comes to mind for Slovaks learning English is the word nervous. 

As I understand it, the translation of nervous into Slovak can lead to two English word meanings tied up in one - nervous....and stressed.

Stressed!

Nervous.

Knowing that these are problem words for my students and knowing that I've got a phone call lesson planned means that I can anticipate the problem words. There will be times when discussing workload where my students might say nervous and mean stressed. Then again, I need to be aware that they might actually mean nervous when they say nervous. I mean, who likes to go on conference calls in a language that they are learning? It's hard enough to understand when you're a native speaker dealing with the weak microphones and speakers that every conference call system seems to suffer from (especially when it's my turn to use it), but when you have someone who is still picking up English then it's a real hurdle. 

So by giving them the confidence that they are choosing the right word will let their English flow more fluently, hopefully reduce their stress and nervousness, and leave them more comfortable in what they have to do. I know it takes time to break down the old habits or first language interference but step by step you get there and make things better for your students. If you don't want to do that, then you probably shouldn't be teaching ;-)

What's the best way to get rid of these kinds of problems and trouble words then?

What I'm learning more and more as I teach (and learn) is that it's not so useful to memorise a big list of rules about when to use each word and when to avoid it. I've done that kind of thing when teaching articles, which many Slovaks struggle to use, and it's not that helpful because the students struggle to remember all of the rules as they are talking and using English.

Instead, I try to give as many examples as I can of how the word can be used. Simple sentences, even those with similar meanings and different subjects/objects, are a good start. Give the students time to practise, put them in situations to draw out those problems words and be fairly ruthless with corrections (though always with good humour and a smile) until they start to get it locked in.



Now all I need to do is find a Slovak teacher with the time to do this to me so I can finally figure out which word I am looking za/pre when it comes to Slovak. I mean, if I can't do that then what are these lessons za/pre that I'm paying za/pre ;-)

Take care,

Pete