Tips for learning a language

Chad Salmela is a man of many words, in many languages. He is perhaps best known for his jubilant “Here comes Diggins!” commentary at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. Those who have met Chad know that he has a talent for talking. 

I distinctly remember the first time I heard about Chad Salmela. It was my freshman year in college and my German professor, when she found out I was a skier and from Minnesota, asked if I knew Chad. She spoke of him fondly, noting that he had taken college-level German because he dreamed of becoming a ski commentator … and wanted to know how to pronounce athletes’ names correctly and introduce them in their native language. 

Since his college German class, Salmela has gone on to learn another language and dabble in a few others, and announce in 5 Olympic Games for 3 sports.

Chad shares a few tips for learning a new language:

“First, don’t get hung up on perfection:  When I got to college and minored in German, in my own mind, I could “speak” German, and had been speaking it in some broken way for years.  It wasn’t until I took an academic placement test, that I had to face the truth--I was pretty week on all aspects of the language except rugged, improper speaking.  Thank goodness I went through the process of breaking down the language, to build it back up to a respectable level of accuracy in writing and speaking. Those pre-academic years taught me something that everyone can benefit from--people in most countries will forgive you your lack of proficiency and appreciate your efforts.  In doing that, you will loosen up your insecurities about trying to communicate in another language.

Second, listen for common idioms, phrases, and expressions that perhaps don’t translate literally or don’t even make sense to you. Then remember them and use them in dialogue.  These are the hints and clues to how the language is used informally and parochially. It definitely endears you to native and regional-dialect speakers so that they might be more engaged to help you with the language.  It may even make you sound much more advanced in conversation earlier as well!

I got started learning this way with my high school German teacher.  We had a class game we played incessantly, called “Steh Auf!” (stand up). It was just a flash-card game of identifying and repeating  phrases commonly used by Germans. I got my verbal usage foundation from Steh Auf.

I also think of my early interaction with Bavarian-dialect German and how I grabbed onto simple expressions and greetings that are fun and the locals just love hearing foreigners use. A couple of examples include: “ah, geh weidah!” [ah go on!]; or the greetings “Gruessdi(ch)” [greetings to you]; or “Hab-di-ehri” [I have the honor (to meet you]. I always got positive reactions from locals using such phrases even though it was clearly patronizing their dialect. I think it made them feel like I was “safe,” because I was admiring and using their dialect with them. This can let you into their circle, even though you’re not fluent, and they are more likely to engage you in their language, for better or worse. In the long run, even if you struggle to comprehend everything they say to you, this technique is for the better as it gets you in the door and they’ll realize you want to learn the language. They’ll become more likely to speak to you and help you along. It is admittedly a scary place to go but it works.

Get formal training ASAP:  With all I’ve said above, I’ve also been the worst at this aspect. I am a hands-on person and like usage much more than academics and worrying about perfection and grammatical accuracy.  That has also been my greatest weakness with languages. I became a much better German speaker and writer by making it my minor course of study; as painful as it was. I feel very proud to dust off my German whenever I can.  I am equally embarrassed that I don’t speak Finnish well at all, despite married 10 years to a Finn, spending a month each year there, being 100% ethnically Finn, with a wife, children, and even former athletes and lots of friends who speak it.  In my defense, it’s the hardest language to learn. Lucky me!

As you suggest though, I think as a commentator for ski sport, I’ve spent time and learned through my experiences from folks all over the world, the linguistic traits of at least Western languages, and I think that helps with name pronunciation in that job.  The German helps me with most northern European pronunciation. The French girlfriend gave me rudimentary pronunciation background in French. Spending chunks of time prepping for the 2002 Olympics with a Slovenian TD when I was the sport manager for biathlon, helped me learn Slavic pronunciation tendencies.  Having a Russian hockey player live with my wife and me helped with Russian.

These are all nice things to support what I do as a commentator, but I’ve left a lot of language blowing in the breeze.  I still get pronunciation wrong more often than I care to. Which brings me back to the point--don’t be lazy like me. Take a formal track at some point to learn properly if you possibly can!”

Thanks, Merci and Danke, Chad! See you on the trail this winter.

Chad will be announcing at the Minneapolis World Cup. If you’d like to hear Chad’s enthusiasm in person, Lumi Experiences is offering a trip to the Minneapolis World Cup. Or perhaps you’d rather practice your language skills on a trip to Europe? Check out www.lumiexperiences.com to learn more and sign up. 

Chad was also recently named to the National Nordic Foundation board. Check back next week as we continue the conversation with Chad and his new role on the NNF board.