6 Coping with unfamiliar language
Developing skills to learn how to cope with unfamiliar vocabulary or unfamiliar language will help you to stay motivated when you are learning a language. You also get to enjoy watching videos and films in Spanish! Next, you are going to practise how to handle new vocabulary and everyday, colloquial language by analysing part of a video, then practising using subtitles, transcripts and shadow reading.
Actividad 24
You already know that Antonio Feal Dopico is 64 years old and he is from La Coruña in northern Spain. Now watch the full introduction and put the aspects of his life in the order he mentions them. That way you will focus on the gist of what he says and get an overview of the structure of his introduction without worrying about the meaning of each individual word. Despite being faced with unfamiliar vocabulary you should be able to understand the gist of what Antonio is talking about, even if it takes a few listens.
Transcript
Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.
-
Datos personales
-
Trabajo
-
Personalidad
-
Idiomas
-
Cambios en su vida
a.1
b.5
c.2
d.4
e.3
- 1 = a
- 2 = c
- 3 = e
- 4 = d
- 5 = b
Actividad 25
In section 2 we looked at cognates as a useful starting point for dealing with unfamiliar language and expanding active vocabulary. But beware of false friends, words like the four words below that look like cognates but do in fact have different meanings.
Watch the video of Antonio in which he talks about one of his obsessions and a gift he has, and try to work out what the four words mean in English. Beware of false friends.
Then watch the video again, this time with English subtitles and check your answer against the subtitles and write down the correct translation in the table below.
Transcript
| Particular | |
| Manía | |
| Facilidad | |
| Idiomas |
Answer
In this context, these are the ways in which these words would be interpreted.
| Particular | Peculiar, unusual. Here the word does not mean ‘particular’. |
| Manía | Obsession. This is here a false friend of the word ‘mania’. |
| Facilidad | Ease. The word ‘facility’ is not commonly used with this meaning. |
| Idiomas | Languages. This is a false friend of the word ‘idioms’. |