Ever wondered what makes our
conversations truly human? Multiple factors you’ll say. Yes. For obvious
reasons, I’m not going to discuss all of them. I’ll simply center on two which
really can help you all make your English sound a little more natural.
Most of us think that we people
are spontaneous, original, unpredictable talking creatures. Unfortunately the
odds of us uttering words that have never ever been said before is next to nil.
Yep. The sad truth is we use a kind of pre-cooked language, full of idioms we
didn’t invent, connotations that existed before we were embryos, stock phrases
that have been around for centuries, puns that have already been used, and so on
and so forth. The vast majority of everything we say has been used before (for
example the very combination of the words vast
and majority). It really takes a lot
of eloquence for someone to produce completely original sentences. At best we
use variations on “ready-made” sequences. Why do I say this? Well, because as
language learners we should profit from that finite set of sequences.
You may settle for “grammatical
answers” but the problem is grammatical answers may sound quite robotic,
misleading or plain wrong. Consider these two exchanges:
Situation 1
Interviewer: So, I understand you would like
to work for our company?
Javier: Yes.
Interviewer: And would you care to tell us
why?
Javier: No.
Interviewer: Do you have any previous
experience in this area?
Javier: Yes.
Situation 2
Stranger: Could you tell me the time.
Javier: Yes, I could.
Even if the person answering the
questions understands them and offers grammatically correct responses… we
realize there is something clearly wrong about them.
Siri, the computer program which
Apple devices use as a personal assistant, sounds a lot more human than Javier.
One of its humanlike features lies in the fact that Siri never gives you a curt answer, like Javier in situation number 1. (S)he’ll say something like “Thank you. It’s nice to be appreciated”.
Mind you: there’s no actual need for the second second sentence. What do we
learn from that? Well, for starters, we should realize that we, humans, talk
like that. We say unnecessary things all the time. Conclusion: you want to
sound “natural”? Say something which is not needed but may help keep the conversation
human.
The second feature we should pay
attention to is Siri’s range of answers. When you compliment Siri on his/her
voice. It will provide one of a number of different replies. Consider these
sentences: You have a good voice. You’re
voice is very sexy. I like your voice. You’re voice is very nice.
Here are some of Siri’s
responses:
Thank you. Its nice to be
appreciated.
Thank you, Javier. I’m glad you
like my dulcet tones.
Thank you. Tra, la, la.
I’ve just been practicing
Thank you. I think it’s too soon
to try out for American Idol, but someday, Javier. Someday.
The point I’m trying to make here
is… when somebody asks you: “How are you?” How many answers are you ready to
offer? Two? Three? Is that enough? What about a Friday night situation? You
meet your friends for a night out. Somebody asks you What do you feel like
doing? How many answers come to mind? One? Two? Three? Is that the actual scope
of your Friday night? In the meantime, if you own an iPhone, you may want to
kill some time by asking Siri about the meaning of life. She may give you up to ten different answers.
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