Hi guys, I would like to talk about my communication and its difficulities I encountered throughout these years.
As you realise, English is my second language but it is not something that is completely new to me. I have learnt English when I was in my home town but there was not many practical opportunities for me to use English except English exam, therefore my English is very much academic. When I first came to Aus, it took a long while for me to adjust or get used to the language ranging from the accent to the word usage. Throughout the years of studying Physio and living in Aus, I have encountered a countless experience of misunderstanding during the conversation. On my reflection, I believe it is due to my accent and pronounation. Sometimes it brings me into a frustration and lost of confidence because I cannot change it drastically and it will cause problem when I deal with patient.
The only way to cope with it is to say and pronoun it more slowly and clearly, with more up and down tone in between my speech. Initially, I find it very awkward but it profoundly improve my communication. And I realise that my mouth is as important as my hands to patients. By giving the good education to patients, it will provide them a thorough understanding and reduce any uncertainty or anxiety, which will improve the outcome of the condition.
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2 comments:
I'm really glad you wrote about that, I often think of how difficult it must be for those in our course for whom English is a second language. This course is challanging enough even when you have English as your first language. It must be hard enough learning English, let alone all of our wacky Australianisms on top of that! But it does highlight how important our communication is, we should never stop trying to improve the way we interact verbally with our patients.
Hey wingnut, thanks for this honest report. Good on you for sharing that. I honestly think you have made improvements since I first met you just over 2 years ago. So that’s got to count for something
When I was 10 I came to Australia. I mostly spoke French. Being 10, I picked up English quickly enough but I found it took me probably 2 years to become fluent in all the colloquial slang stuff. Also, the big thing for me, in primary school, was how I got teased for my accent and my ignorance of things like “D’you reckon?” (ps. When you hear something like that in the aussie twang, while learning English, you have no idea where to start on how to decipher that!!). So I worked super hard on losing my accent. I found the best things were to read out loud, and to sing out loud to songs (if you’re me, probably to yourself!!). I distinctly remember working on getting Tina Arena’s “I’m in chains” down pat, hahah! I found the singing was good because you can constantly hear and copy. “Th” is actually pretty hard, and
Now, I’m learning Spanish and I do the same thing! I learn songs and sing them (again, very much on my own). Noooo idea if it would help you, but I know it works for me. But mate, don’t lose your confidence! You are developing fluency in a SECOND language, which is more than most of us here can do. We would find the accents and intonations very difficult! Good on you!
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