Impact of Fluency on Your Relationships

In the movie “Mars Attacks”, the Martians land on Earth for the first time. The people of Earth make elaborate preparations to welcome the Martians and have the first extraterrestrial communication. The Martians, on their part, come forward with their version of greeting.

However, due to language barrier, the Martians interpret the Earth’s peace offering as an act of aggression and an all-out war breaks out.

Although comical, that scene in the movie points to something that is very true; the dire effects of language barrier.

In fact, there are organizations that have done great research on the serious impact of language on world peace.

Language is more than a means for exchanging information. The real function of the language is sharing of human emotions. And that’s where the little subtleties of language come into play.

You can construct the most accurate sentences according to the rules of grammar, and yet if you don’t use that sentence in the proper context or say it with proper intonation, it’ll fall flat on its face, with no effect, or even worse with a negative effect.

You will hardly find a word in another language that has exactly the same meaning of a word in English. Every word carries with it a range of emotions that will never match the exact range of emotions of its translation in another language.

That’s why when learning English you should never lookup the meaning of an English word in your native language. You are far better off looking it up in an English-to-English dictionary. And even that does not give you the exact meaning of that word or phrase.

The only way you can understand the true meaning of a word or phrase in English is through repeated hearing of that word or phrase in the context of real life situations.

That’s another reason why conventional courses and classes can fail you when it comes to fluency.

Relationships of any kind, be it romantic, social, or professional, hinge on the subtle nuances of words and pronunciations. Depending on how you say a word or a phrase, it can impact the listener, in a positive or negative manner.

You can say an insulting word to someone, but with a joking tone, and it’ll come across as endearing. You can say an admiring word to someone, but with a sarcastic tone, and it’ll come across as hostile.

When it comes to relationships, people feel immediately closer to those who speak with the same accent. That’s a subconscious effect that they are not even aware of. They may justify it by saying “I don’t know. I just have a good feeling about him/her” or “I just trust him/her. It’s a gut feeling”. All that means is that the impact happens subconsciously and the listener has no control over it.

The good news is that, you however, have control over it.

Try to learn English words and phrases in their context. If you seriously would like to pick up American accent and become truly fluent, follow a program that provides you that.