DON'T Learn Slang

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here.

Today I want to give you some advice, uh, as regards using slang.

Now, my advice upfront is don't try to learn slang, or at least don't try, don't

try to deliberately learn the slang.

Don't use slang until you are ready.

Slang is difficult.

Uh, it's very easy to grab a hold of some slang terms and throw them into your

language hoping that they're appropriate.

I'm hoping that it'll create a great impression, but it's very,

very difficult to pull off.

Now, I know some of you will immediately say, well, Steve is old.

What does he know?

Uh, young people like to use slang.

Maybe.

But I can tell you that it's difficult to use.

It's constantly changing.

What's, you know, modern slang today may be out of fashion by the time you

find that slang term and try to use it.

Um, we, if you spend a lot of time with people who are using slang and

it becomes sort of very much a part of your language, then at some point

you will start naturally using it.

If on the other hand you get a dictionary of slang or a list of popular slang

words in Colombia or in Ecuador or you know, or in Germany or whatever language

you're learning, and you say, okay, I'm gonna use those words and that's gonna

make me sound more authentic most of the time, it won't make you sound authentic.

It'll make, it'll somehow to the native speaker comes

across, comes across as strange.

In other words, there is a point in our use of language where we naturally

start to use words that we have heard, and we have heard them so often that

we know exactly what they mean and we know exactly how they're used.

Now, the same can be said for other words, until you've heard particular words or

phrases often enough, you're not totally confident that you can use them correctly.

All of that is true, but it's a bigger issue with slang because with slang we're

almost saying, you know, I'm totally cool and up on the latest of slang, and

you sort of present yourself as someone who naturally uses these slang terms.

But if you aren't in fact a person who naturally uses those slang terms, then

the impression created is often negative.

You may get some laughs, but it doesn't give the impression that you

are a competent user of the language.

And by slang, I, I, you know, refer to sort of terms, uh, you know,

terms, you know, "Hey dude", you can say, dude, but if you don't

feel totally comfortable calling someone, dude, don't call them dude.

Uh, comes a point...

there will be a point where you're comfortable using that term, but until

then, and it'll come out naturally.

It's like so much in language learning, even, you know,

polite language in, in Japanese.

I don't make a deliberate attempt to learn polite forms so that at some point

I'm gonna trot out this polite form.

I sort of speak a neutral form of the language, and at some point I will have

heard these polite terms so often that it'll just be natural for me to use the

more polite form in a certain situation.

However, most of the time, if I use the sort of a neutral form of the language

that works, nobody in Japan is ever offended if you use the literal form.

However, if you use a too familiar, slangy form of the language with someone

who is not, say, if you are in group, that can create a bit of a wincing, uh,

on the part of the person who hears it.

Whereas if you stay with neutral language, you can't go wrong.

Now, as with so many things in language, it depends on the language

environment that you are a part of.

It's a bit like this, you know, deliberately learning, you know,

business English or academic English.

Uh, slang in many ways is more difficult than business English or academic English.

You have to have a very, you know, strong sense of the sort of sensitivity

of when to use certain slang words and when not, or even certain abbreviations.

There's a tendency because you hear, I'm gonna wanna you exaggerate gonna wanna.

You think the thing to say is, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna, I wanna do this.

I say, I wanna, I'm gonna, I say it naturally.

I don't deliberately say I, I mean I try, I think I'm saying I'm going

to, but I end up saying I'm gonna, or I wanna, instead of I want to.

But the learner should train him or herself to say, I want to, I'm

going to, and gradually over time it'll become, I'm gonna wanna to.

You know, in French, for example ... but after a while you start naturally saying

... but at least in your mind you're saying ... you're trying to stay with

a sort of neutral form of the language.

And naturally certain slang expressions, certain contractions, certain forms

of the language will creep into your language because you've heard

it so often and you're sort of, you know, instinctively using those

forms, in which case it's fine.

But if you deliberately say, boy, you know, the really cool French

people, they don't say ... they say

... so I'm gonna say ... it'll, it'll sound funny.

It won't work.

All of this is of course even more true with swear words.

Swear words are difficult to use.

Be very careful.

Make sure you're comfortable with how these words are used, who will appreciate

you using them, and probably your best advice to stay away from them.

Uh, and I was referring by the way to business English or academic English.

Those are again, forms of the language where because you are, are in an

environment which is say business.

So business Japanese, I spent, you know, most of my Japanese language

interactions while living in Japan were with business people and specifically

relating to the wood business.

So I became very familiar with terms and in fact a lot of the

customers were from the Kansai.

So all kinds of, sort of, in other words, Osaka area.

Um, you know, expressions, intonations naturally became a

part of how I speak Japanese.

I don't, I didn't deliberately go out to try and sound more like someone from

Osaka, but people have told me that there are times when my, uh, Japanese seems

to reflect a certain Kansai influence.

It happens naturally.

So I think we want to allow our language to develop naturally

based on who we're talking to, what subject matter we're dealing with

and not to try to deliberately learn, you know, slang or swear words.

Uh, or as I say, you know, business Japanese, business French, business.

If you are with people enough, if you read enough material, if you listen

to enough material, uh, which has a certain form of the language, you will

naturally start to speak that way.

And so I would advise people to place the emphasis on acquiring different

ways of speaking naturally by putting yourself in situations where you're

hearing that form of a language a lot.

And to avoid deliberately trying to impress people with, uh, slang or

your interpretation of how people are speaking that you think are very cool

and you would like to be like them, rather let the process happen naturally.

Now, I hope that doesn't sound too much like an old fuddy duddy,

like, uh, fuddy duddy is probably a slang, a very outdated slang.

Maybe now the equivalent would be boomer or some such term.

At any rate that those are my views on slang.

I hope that was helpful and I'll leave you a couple of videos that

talk about using different forms of the language in different situations.

Thank you for listening.