Olly Richards here and Iโm back with another rule of language learning. And this one is an absolute belter! I'll be talking about learning phrases, not words.
But, before we go any further, I want you to think about what I just saidโฆ I talked about this rule being an โabsolute belterโ.
Now, โbelterโ is a word we say quite a lot here in the UK, I don't know about elsewhereโฆ
But I want you to imagine youโre learning English. And you come across that wonderful word โbelterโ for the first time. Judging by the context, you could probably guess itโs either a very good thing or a very bad thingโฆ
โAn absolute belterโฆโ does it mean good or bad? Hard to tell.
So what do you do?
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A โBelterโ Of A Word
You reach for the dictionary, flick all the way to B and look up the word โbelterโ, where of course you discover the true meaning, which is something absolutely stunning, amazing, incredibleโฆ
Now, having looked up the word โbelterโ, our imaginary English learner is probably feeling quite pleased with himself. Heโs learnt a cool new word. And he canโt wait to try it out in real life.
So on the way home, as he's reaching for his Metro pass, his keys fall out of his pocket and a stranger picks up the keys off the floor, hands them to him, and says โHere, you dropped your keys!โ
โThank you,โ the student replies. โThank you for doing the belter!โ
The man looks back, confused, but smiles anyway and walks off.
Later that night, our friend is watching TV with his flatmate. They're watching a news report on an earthquake relief effort. There's an amazing segment where they show the rescue team miraculously pulling a little child alive from the rubble.
Our friend watching TV turns to his flatmate and says โLook, isn't that a belter?โ Not exactly what his friend was expecting, and not entirely appropriate. But he smiles and says, โyes thatโs incredibly lucky, isnโt it!โ
And on and on this situation goesโฆ
Our English learner friend tries harder and harder to use this elusive word โbelterโ every time he sees something thatโs really greatโฆ
But unfortunately, he just canโt seem to get it right.
Our Imaginary Learner's Mistake
He doesnโt really understand what he's getting wrong, so he goes back to using a different word, great, which he understands quite nicely and can use over and over again without too much trouble.
Of course, the big mistake that our student friend made was to try to learn the word โbelterโ all by itself. Because it is, in fact, quite hard to use properly. There aren't all that many situations where you can use the word โbelterโ appropriately.
What can we say without sounding weird?
- What an absolute belter that goal was!
- The BBQ was a belter wasnโt it!
- Or, today is going to be a belter!
In fact, if you stray too far from these common phrases, pretty much any way you use the word โbelterโ is just going to sound a little bit odd.
And so the reason that our friend struggled so much to use this particular word was that he was treating the word likeโฆ
Wellโฆ
โฆlike a word!
Iโll tell you exactly what he shouldโve done instead in just a minute.
Learning Phrases, Not Words
But lookโฆ
Words very rarely exist in isolation.
Some words do โ the word โtableโ, or โbookโ, for example. Those are quite descriptive, and you wonโt get into too much trouble using them.
But there are tonnes and tonnes of words in any language which are actually used fairly infrequently. And whenever they are used, it is always within a particular phrase, or a variation of a phrase.
In fact, if you looked at all the stuff you say over the course of a normal day, you'd be absolutely amazed how few decisions you actually had to make about the words you used.
You see, a staggering number of things we say are not cleverly concocted in the momentโฆ
We don't construct the grammar as we go, cleverly choosing our prepositions and verb tenses to conform to the rules of Englishโฆ
We might like to think itโs thatโฆ
And if you're a teacher, you might like to pretend to your students that all your โperfectโ grammar is down to your personal geniusโฆ
But in reality, a huge amount of what we say is nothing more than a bunch of phrases we have used thousands of times in the pastโฆ adapted a bit to fit the situation.
This is well established in linguistics, and one of the main proponents of this was Michael Lewis who passed away recently.
Phrases like this, or blocks of language that we can use and reuse, are commonly referred to as โchunksโ.
Some of these chunks are quite long, like the phrase โyouโll never believe what happened yesterdayโ.
Think about itโฆ
If you've ever said these wordsโฆ did you make any grammatical decisions as you spoke?
Noโฆ you didn't.
You just spoke the phrase โ the complete phrase โ that was lodged in your brain somewhere.
One of the first phrases to learn in a new language is something quite short such as โHow are you?โ, which you say every single day.
Again, you don't construct that sentenceโฆ you just rattle it off.
So, one way or another, we donโt tend to speak by gluing together individual words. But rather by rolling out much longer phrases, or chunks, and just adapting them a bit to fit the situation by changing a word here or there:
- โYouโll never believe whatโฆ.
- โฆ happened yesterdayโฆ
- โฆ happened this morningโฆ
- โฆ just happenedโฆโ
Itโs a bit depressing when you think about it.
And thatโs precisely why our English learner friend, who was trying to master the word โbelterโ, never got it quite right.
What Our Imaginary English Learner Should Have Done
What he should have done, was to just learn the complete phrase that he heard that day.
So if he heard the phrase โToday is going to be an absolute belterโฆโ, then thatโs exactly what he should have committed to memory.
โToday is going to be an absolute belter.โ
He should have learnt the entire phrase!
Not only does learning the whole phrase ensure you're using the word properly, but it also saves you a lot of time and makes it easier to remember in the first place.
There's something very satisfying and wholesome about learning a whole phrase in any language because you really can start to use it with confidence right away, without worrying about what to do with it, or what words it goes with.
There is no need to walk about trying out the word in lots of different situations, wondering why youโre getting it wrong.
Simply learn the phrase, use the phrase, and sit back and enjoy the reactions of the people around you when you whip it out!
Now, you might be thinking that this only applies to certain unusual wordsโฆ
But actually, you can apply this technique of learning chunks, or phrases, to everything you do.
Iโve been through entire periods in my language learning where all I learn is phrases.
No single words โ phrases.
I pick phrases out of the material Iโm reading or listening to, and I put them into my flashcards and learn those.
Thatโs right, I would actually memorise whole sets of phrasesโฆ
There are tonnes of basic phrases to learn in any language, so look them up and get memorising them.
Phrases For Fluency
And I promise you it is far easier than you think.
Most importantly, though, it has an immediate impact on your speaking, because you are now no longer thinking in single words, but rather in phrasesโฆ
And what does it mean if you think in phrases?
It means that you start to speak in phrases โ longer more flowing phrases, and you sound a lot more fluent. And if you sound more fluent you'll feel more confident about speaking โ and that'll help you overcome the fear villain.
So itโs win-win.
In fact, you could say this is an absolute โbelterโ of a language tip!
And, rememberโฆ
If you ever find yourself a little bit unsure about how to use the words that youโve learnt, do yourself a favour, andโฆ
Start learning phrases, not words.
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