hehe obviously I went as a spectator and not to take part 😡
Went to support a close friend who was in the finals! 😀 This was my first time at the Japanese association (and probably last) since they usually restrict their access to members only!
Had loads of fun there, and I was really surprised that I could understand almost all the speeches!! 😀 I still remembered the first time I went to a Korean speech contest in 2009. I had studied Korean for nearly 2 years then but I still had to concentrate and really make effort to listen to and understand the speeches. But now, I can just sit through 24 Japanese speeches and enjoy them comfortably, just like how I would for any Korean speech! That feeling is amazing 😀
Taking part and being spectator to a few speech contests have made me realized that speech contest ≠ proficiency contest. Speech contests are not just about proficiency. Or rather, proficiency / fluency play a more background role in speech contests. A good speech includes good delivery skills (which is not specific to any language), good content, interesting/powerful message and of course pronunciation / intonation etc. I used to think speech contests are like a test / recognition of your foreign language abilities and I guess that’s why many people will actually feel too. But the truth is that it’s NOT. Mmm will be interesting to have a proficiency contest 😛 Like drawing lots on the spot and then making a speech on the topic that you have chosen…. and then a Q&A session with a panel of judges. HAHAHA. That will be so damn exciting (and stressful).
Had an awesome time at the speech contest and met a few people for the first time! I’m not known to be the most sociable and easy-going person out there so I was pretty amazed that we all hit it off quite well 😀 I think having similar interests help!
Talked a lot, thought a lot and it was a superb day! 😀
p.s. This is the 999th post 😛
1 Comment
Sabah
23 July, 2013 at 5:01 AMExcellent point about the difference between knowledge, practice, proficiency and speech contests. For me one of the hardest things in learning foreign languages is trying to get inflection, intonation etc correctly because I’m distracted in just trying to get the pronunciation spot on! For instance in the beginning I would say Daebak in the most unenthusiastic manner possible, hehe. However to do all this in a contest with more at stake much take so much skill not to mention courage. Kudos to those that do!
Thanks for sharing, as always very enlightening.