🎨 Foreign Language Communication Tools: Embellish It
Once learners master clarity and accuracy, it’s time to add color. The Embellish It tool, outlined by Boris Shekhtman in How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately, helps advanced speakers level up their discourse by adding complexity—with control.
It’s not about sounding academic—it’s about painting fuller pictures and extending conversations. When done well, embellishment transforms speech from transactional to expressive.
🧵 What Does Embellishment Look Like?
Take a simple sentence:
“My brother John lives in Hollister.”
Now, add relative clauses, descriptive phrases, comparisons, and additional details:
“My brother John, with whom I’ve unfortunately lost touch over the years, lives in Hollister, which lies just south of San Jose and not far from San Francisco. Hollister, like its more famous neighbor, is cradled by mountain views, but unlike San Francisco, it sits inland, a short drive from the Pacific without touching it directly.”
Suddenly, your speech has texture. And even better—it encourages your listener to respond in kind.
🛠️ How to Practice “Embellish It”
✏️ Expand What You Know
Use grammar and vocabulary you’re confident in. Embellishment thrives on known territory, not forced complexity.
🧩 Techniques to Embellish Discourse
- Relative clauses: “...who recently started his own business…”
- Adjectival phrases: “...filled with charming old buildings…”
- Comparisons: “...unlike San Francisco, Hollister is quieter, but shares the same open skies…”
- Time and place details: “...which I visited last spring during the wildflower bloom…”
💬 Build Discourse Chunks
Embellishment flourishes when ideas connect:
- “On the other hand…”
- “That reminds me…”
- “There’s another side to that story…”
🧠 Stay Within Your Comfort Zone
If you're unsure how to conjugate or structure it—don’t force it. The goal is rich but reliable speech. Better a beautiful phrase you own than a tangled sentence you regret.
🗣️ Embellishment = Engagement
Why does this tool work so well?
- It invites dialogue, not just answers
- It reveals your personality and depth
- It turns “fluent” into eloquent
Would you like a wordless graphic to pair with this one, perhaps something metaphorical—like a single flower turning into a lush garden, or a simple thread weaving into a tapestry? I’m ready when you are.
This post was inspired by Boris Shekhtman's book, How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately.
Book description:
This is the fifth edition of a popular book that provides a unique set of tools designed to enhance an individual's success in communicati0n in a foreign language environment. The devices presented allow the speaker of a foreign language to demonstrate the level of his/her language more impressively, so impressively, in fact, that it appears that the speaker's language itself has improved overnight. These techniques were developed and tested by the author with adult professionals in such varied fields as journalism, diplomacy, government, and international business. Many of these professionals have attested to the efficacy of these tools in their own columns.
Read more posts about Boris and his books HERE.
Read additional information about this book HERE.
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