After almost a year of living and going to school in the US, I noticed that the hardest part about not speaking in my native language is not grammatical errors or even lack of vocabulary, but rather not understanding slang. Slang is a huge part of speaking a foreign language and it plays a key role in informal environments. Often times native speakers use it without even noticing that they use it and non-native speakers (like myself) may find themselves very confused.
Slang is used everywhere in American culture and any other culture for that matter. I noticed it mostly here in US media; in any popular TV show, movie, song, and everyday conversation. Through my experience, without having even at least a very basic understanding of slang words and phrases, pop culture and most conversations can be very confusing and not make any sense for a non-native speaker.
Slang words, especially in many social situations, can help you express your emotions, thoughts, and feelings better rather than only using formal grammar and vocabulary which can limit the expression of extreme feelings. By using the right amount and right form of slang (not too extreme), foreigners can sound fluent and natural than if they only used proper grammar and vocabulary.
Slang is what makes the difference between a native speaker and a fluent one. Until one learns the slang of the region, they could never convince someone they are a native. Even with knowing the slang of a language, it is even more important to be able to differentiate the slang of a particular region. I have a friend who is Cuban and we had a conversation about why the Spanish she speaks is different from Spaniard Spanish. It is because of geographical differences why Cubans speak different Spanish than Spaniards do. Coming to America, I found this to be especially true. Meeting people from different parts of the country at American, it is clear that depending on what part of the country they are from, they have different names for certain things. For example, I have learned three different names for a soda from my peers. In the United States, soda can be called, pop, soda pop and just soda!
Ah, but those three different names for soda are not slang terms; they are regional differences in vocabulary. By the way, you can find lots of maps of those terms. Here's a URL for a story with a bunch of US regional language differences, including soda/pop/etc. https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/soda-or-pop-coo-pon-or-cyu-pon-maps-reveal-6C10225517
ReplyDelete(By the way, my maternal grandmother was from a small part of New England that called it "tonic")