Renegade Yogi

How to stall long enough to fake fluency

Here’s the situation: you’re in a group of new friends in a foreign country. The discussion is lively. You are able to follow most of it, despite it being in a foreign language. It is also an interesting topic, and you have something to contribute. But, because you are out of practice, it takes you a second or two to begin to speak. You try, but because of the liveliness of the conversation, you cannot cut in. You know you speak well. You studied hard and you can converse just fine one-on-one. Your textbook and audiotapes did not prepare you for this circumstance.

How do you prevent this?

Learn to say “uh“

Okay, you shouldn’t say “uh” in a public speech. It makes you look dumb. But it is an essential part of human communication. It indicates that you still have more to say but you’ve got to think for a second. And it gives you something to say mindlessly while you drum up the words you really need. Plus, it will make you sound more like a local.

The only difficulty is that it’s different everywhere. “eh”, “uh”, “mmm”, “iiii”, “en”. Sometimes it’s a click or a hiss. And sometimes there’s lots of ways.

The takeaway

Ask a local how they say “uh” in their language. They might not be able to say. It’s done unconsciously. That’s okay. Just ask them what they had for breakfast, or what color their house is, or some other hard question until they say ‘uh’. Then listen.

What you’re looking for is one that’s loud enough to use in a group. Something you can put some wind behind. If it’s a light click of the tongue, you probably won’t be able to do it to get attention from a group of talkers. Keep searching until you get a good one you can do.

Then practice it until it becomes second nature. You want it to fly out of your mouth as soon as you have the impulse to contribute to a conversation. Then, when you’ve got the floor, you’ll be able to get those gears turning and spit out some words with interesting content. You may not have learned much more of the language, but you’ve increased your practical ability to communicate in groups.