DON'T Learn Slang

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here.

Today I want to give you some advice, uh, as regards using slang.

Now, my advice upfront is don't try to learn slang, or at least don't try, don't

try to deliberately learn the slang.

Don't use slang until you are ready.

Slang is difficult.

Uh, it's very easy to grab a hold of some slang terms and throw them into your

language hoping that they're appropriate.

I'm hoping that it'll create a great impression, but it's very,

very difficult to pull off.

Now, I know some of you will immediately say, well, Steve is old.

What does he know?

Uh, young people like to use slang.

Maybe.

But I can tell you that it's difficult to use.

It's constantly changing.

What's, you know, modern slang today may be out of fashion by the time you

find that slang term and try to use it.

Um, we, if you spend a lot of time with people who are using slang and

it becomes sort of very much a part of your language, then at some point

you will start naturally using it.

If on the other hand you get a dictionary of slang or a list of popular slang

words in Colombia or in Ecuador or you know, or in Germany or whatever language

you're learning, and you say, okay, I'm gonna use those words and that's gonna

make me sound more authentic most of the time, it won't make you sound authentic.

It'll make, it'll somehow to the native speaker comes

across, comes across as strange.

In other words, there is a point in our use of language where we naturally

start to use words that we have heard, and we have heard them so often that

we know exactly what they mean and we know exactly how they're used.

Now, the same can be said for other words, until you've heard particular words or

phrases often enough, you're not totally confident that you can use them correctly.

All of that is true, but it's a bigger issue with slang because with slang we're

almost saying, you know, I'm totally cool and up on the latest of slang, and

you sort of present yourself as someone who naturally uses these slang terms.

But if you aren't in fact a person who naturally uses those slang terms, then

the impression created is often negative.

You may get some laughs, but it doesn't give the impression that you

are a competent user of the language.