I have a ton of patience (infinite amount of patience) when it comes to things like this, but I'm always concerned about asking someone to repeat something four or five times because either (a) their accent is too heavy for me to understand or (b) combined with (a), they use strange expressions that aren't very clear.
But a girl I met here at uwaterloo is just awesome... she's really smart (smarter than me, and you won't hear me say that much -- my ego hurts!
) but english is her third language next to cantonese and mandarin.
On top of all of this, she talks VERY QUIETLY.
Thing is, after certain painful experiences back in my home town, I want this to have a chance at working. But I don't want her to feel ... I don't know, inadequate? Embarassed? I really don't mind taking time out to understand her and/or help her improve, I just want to know the best way to do it. When I have to ask her to repeat something or clarify something all the time, it gets awkward.
If you were a girl in that situation, what would you want me to do?
She doesn't struggle with vocabulary... expressions yes, but vocubulary no. I've learned from past experience to adjust how I talk. So I'm not going to say "digi cam", I'll say "digital camera" and I'm not going to say "Let's hit the hay" I'm going to say "Let's go to bed" ... and so on. Usually she understands me if I do this, and she knows what words to choose herself, but she has troubles pronouncing them sometimes.
But a girl I met here at uwaterloo is just awesome... she's really smart (smarter than me, and you won't hear me say that much -- my ego hurts!
) but english is her third language next to cantonese and mandarin.On top of all of this, she talks VERY QUIETLY.
Thing is, after certain painful experiences back in my home town, I want this to have a chance at working. But I don't want her to feel ... I don't know, inadequate? Embarassed? I really don't mind taking time out to understand her and/or help her improve, I just want to know the best way to do it. When I have to ask her to repeat something or clarify something all the time, it gets awkward.
If you were a girl in that situation, what would you want me to do?
She doesn't struggle with vocabulary... expressions yes, but vocubulary no. I've learned from past experience to adjust how I talk. So I'm not going to say "digi cam", I'll say "digital camera" and I'm not going to say "Let's hit the hay" I'm going to say "Let's go to bed" ... and so on. Usually she understands me if I do this, and she knows what words to choose herself, but she has troubles pronouncing them sometimes.
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