After reading and talking about "Communicative Competence" during class, the part that struck me as most interesting and salient was when the author talked about not just being able to understand vocabulary that one might find in a textbook, but truly understanding the language within the context of the culture (and of course the colloquialisms. For instance, if a non-English speaker were to learn how to ask the time they would probably learn "What time is it?". So it would be confusing for them to hear an English speaker say "Hey, have you got the time?" because the non-English speaker would not be able to interpret that phrase literally. In Swedish this makes me think of the phrase for "how are you?" because in Swedish you would say "Hur står det till?". This literally means "How stands it to?" which doesn't make as much sense in English as it does in Swedish.
I think that having a language partner for learning a new language is invaluable in this sense because it is one thing to look up a word in a dictionary or use google translate, and a completely different thing to be able to converse colloquially with the people who speak the language and also to use proper grammar. I know that during this process of learning Swedish with Louise there have been times where I have looked up a way to say something and Louise has told me that I was not incorrect but that there would be a less formal way to say that. For instance, Swedes don't really say "please" (snälla) and are more likely to just ask for something and then say thanks at the end. Or, for instance, if you were to talk with a potential employeer about what you are studying in school you might use the word "studera", but with friends its fine to use the colloquial word "plugga".
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