Asperger's and foreign language (exam)
Hi, I am 33 y.o and I am italian, but I moved to UK one year ago.
I have Asperger's Syndrome, diagnosed some months ago, here in UK.
I moved to this country because my academic path. I have Master of Arts in Economical Sociology
and I have a Bachelor in Sanskrit, the ancient indian language.
I got both with the best mark and full honours.
I have been admitted to Cambridge University, M.Phil in Sanskrit.
I got membership from a famous college
So, everything is ready to start on October.
The only obstacle is IELTS exam.
I would like to continue with PhD and become an academic in Sanskrit.
When I translate from Sanskrit my whole being is deeply nourished.
I really want to dedicate my life to Sanskrit and academic path and to use my Asperger's gift with study.
I have gift with ancient languages, I studied for many years and got academic profiency in Latin and Ancient Greek.
I love grammar, it is perfect and logic like mathematics.
I can write and read English very well since long time, without any problems.
But with speaking I have some troubles, this is because Asperger's affects my communication skills. Usually my speech is very terse.
I can't sustain a long conversation. I am difficult to engage in conversation.
IELTS exam is the English exam for foreign people want to study in UK.
It is very difficult exam, 4 hours.
There is writing test, reading test, listening test, speaking test.
The speaking test is a conversation with one teacher who asks you silly question
called small talk, about..
the weather in my country, what I think about women doing male jobs, what I think about online news,
what about food habits, and so on.
So for me it is quite difficult, I have the same difficulty in my native language during social conversation.
I prefer to speak about academic topics.
I am very introvert, shy and person of few words.
My brain become blank in front of silly conversation and I really dont'have nothing to say.
I feel lost, disconnected and disinterested.
I have job in UK, so I speak English quite well.
During IELTS exam, 2 weeks ago, I tried to my best. They knew I have Asperger's, because when I booked the exam, they asked if I have asome particular condition, and I sent my diagnosis.
But during exam they did not take care of it.
I need to be inspired to speak.
I can't speak about something that doesn't have deep meaning for me.
It need to come flowing from my heart.
Taken together, I got good score, good enough for many faculties, but it is not enough for my faculty.
I will not give up, I will repeat again, if I will go through this exam
I will start M.Phil and I will be so happy
Asperger's is a hidden disability, NT people don't understand Aspie people can have speaking problems with conversation, and meantime to be high functioning
Do you know if there is any regulation for Asperger's people about exam?
Do you have any suggestion how to deal with this small talk conversation?
The conversation test is a big trouble for my Aspergers' mind.
Thank you for sharing-
I too have Asperger's Syndrome and I also have a passion for Foreign languages. My major in college was Spanish. I studied abroad in Spain for 4 months. While I can't sustain a long conversation or make small talk either, for an exam you shouldn't have to do too much of that.
I'm not too familiar with this test, but usually for tests they don't expect a super-long answer for you. You don't have to talk for 10 minutes. If you can come up with a few sentences answering the question, that's fine. For the weather in your contry, you could say "In the summer it can be really hot. Italy gets some rain, but generally not as much rain as England gets. In the winter it can be very cold and snowy." If you can just say that much, I don't know if what I said is accurate, but if you can just say that much, you should be fine. It does sound like some of these questions are very difficult for the introverted-type people like us to asnwer. But if you can come up with just a few sentences answering the question, that should be fine. Albeit even just a few sentences for questions like that is a challenge for us, but it's doable.
If you got a good score the first time you took the test, that shows that you can do it. And now that you're familiar with thte test, you can go out and get a better score the next time.
I do not wish to offend you, but there are some errors in your English here. I seem to recognise a number of "Latin" manners of speech in your sentences. You might want to work on them.
_________________
"Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant. " -Socrates
AQ: 40/50
EQ: 17/50
SQ: 72/80 (Extreme Synthesiser)
Aspie test: about 150/200 Aspie, about 40/200 NT
I have Asperger's Syndrome, diagnosed some months ago, here in UK.
I moved to this country because my academic path. I have Master of Arts in Economical Sociology
and I have a Bachelor in Sanskrit, the ancient indian language.
I got both with the best mark and full honours.
I have been admitted to Cambridge University, M.Phil in Sanskrit.
I got membership from a famous college
So, everything is ready to start on October.
The only obstacle is IELTS exam.
I would like to continue with PhD and become an academic in Sanskrit.
When I translate from Sanskrit my whole being is deeply nourished.
I really want to dedicate my life to Sanskrit and academic path and to use my Asperger's gift with study.
I have gift with ancient languages, I studied for many years and got academic profiency in Latin and Ancient Greek.
I love grammar, it is perfect and logic like mathematics.
I can write and read English very well since long time, without any problems.
But with speaking I have some troubles, this is because Asperger's affects my communication skills. Usually my speech is very terse.
I can't sustain a long conversation. I am difficult to engage in conversation.
IELTS exam is the English exam for foreign people want to study in UK.
It is very difficult exam, 4 hours.
There is writing test, reading test, listening test, speaking test.
The speaking test is a conversation with one teacher who asks you silly question
called small talk, about..
the weather in my country, what I think about women doing male jobs, what I think about online news,
what about food habits, and so on.
So for me it is quite difficult, I have the same difficulty in my native language during social conversation.
I prefer to speak about academic topics.
I am very introvert, shy and person of few words.
My brain become blank in front of silly conversation and I really dont'have nothing to say.
I feel lost, disconnected and disinterested.
I have job in UK, so I speak English quite well.
During IELTS exam, 2 weeks ago, I tried to my best. They knew I have Asperger's, because when I booked the exam, they asked if I have asome particular condition, and I sent my diagnosis.
But during exam they did not take care of it.
I need to be inspired to speak.
I can't speak about something that doesn't have deep meaning for me.
It need to come flowing from my heart.
Taken together, I got good score, good enough for many faculties, but it is not enough for my faculty.
I will not give up, I will repeat again, if I will go through this exam
I will start M.Phil and I will be so happy
Asperger's is a hidden disability, NT people don't understand Aspie people can have speaking problems with conversation, and meantime to be high functioning
Do you know if there is any regulation for Asperger's people about exam?
Do you have any suggestion how to deal with this small talk conversation?
The conversation test is a big trouble for my Aspergers' mind.
Thank you for sharing-
I passed the IELTS and from my experience it isn't as difficult as CPE. Perhaps taking a curse would help you?
http://www.stgeorges.co.uk/english-cour ... rses.shtml
http://www.llcentre.com/
http://www.oxfordhousecollege.co.uk/academic/ielts.html
http://www.ielts.org/test_takers_information.aspx
Or perhaps an on-line tutoring would help as well?
http://www.examenglish.com/IELTS/index.html
http://www.canadavisa.com/ielts/free-pr ... tests.html
http://www.ielts-test-practice.com/ielt ... g-tip.html
http://www.ielts-test-practice.com/
http://www.theebookasia.com/ielts-ebook ... load-.html
http://theebookasia.com/ielts-ebooks-free-download.html
If you need some practise (for conversation sake) you could send me a PM and I'd be happy to hear about Sanskrit and everything related since I'm a student of classical philology and romance languages.
Good luck!
Last edited by Booyakasha on 08 Aug 2011, 11:07 am, edited 5 times in total.
I'm not too familiar with this test, but usually for tests they don't expect a super-long answer for you. You don't have to talk for 10 minutes. If you can come up with a few sentences answering the question, that's fine. For the weather in your contry, you could say "In the summer it can be really hot. Italy gets some rain, but generally not as much rain as England gets. In the winter it can be very cold and snowy." If you can just say that much, I don't know if what I said is accurate, but if you can just say that much, you should be fine. It does sound like some of these questions are very difficult for the introverted-type people like us to asnwer. But if you can come up with just a few sentences answering the question, that should be fine. Albeit even just a few sentences for questions like that is a challenge for us, but it's doable.
If you got a good score the first time you took the test, that shows that you can do it. And now that you're familiar with thte test, you can go out and get a better score the next time.
Thank you very much, you are very sweet and kind.
Thank you for your advices, I will try to do my best.
I feel positive!
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