SeekingSimplicity Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Have you ever been half listening to something in a foreign language-- like me sitting here knitting and not paying attention otherwise-- and everything that's being said in this language seems to make perfect sense..... until you realize you don't speak that language and don't have a clue what they said? It seems like I am most likely to do this with french or german. IDK why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeekingSimplicity Posted July 23, 2011 Author Share Posted July 23, 2011 OK... now I'm wondering if I'm the only person that does this. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in KY Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 That's totally bizarre. :D :D :D j/k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 A woman at my church suggested that we listen to Spanish TV in order to get practice listening. What we could find turned out to be Spanish soap operas -- pretty funny that we could understand it without knowing much of the language. It goes to show that non-verbal communication goes a long way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 It's not exactly the same thing, but if I'm listening to something in one language and typing in another, I will not notice myself switching to the other language while I type. I also accidentally type words I'm speaking when someone interrupts my typing. There is a lot of common vocabulary in languages with shared history. I bet you recognize a lot of those words even if you don't have any formal practice with the language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 OK... now I'm wondering if I'm the only person that does this. LOL Maybe you are....:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elinnea Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 I speak fluent German. Listening to Dutch drives me batty because it is similar enough to the dialect that I am familiar with that it shares some vocabulary and intonation that I feel like I should understand everything but I only understand bits and pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeekingSimplicity Posted July 23, 2011 Author Share Posted July 23, 2011 That's totally bizarre. :D :D :D j/k Garga Quote: Maybe you are.... Haha. Thanks. Now I totally don't feel paranoid. :001_huh: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeekingSimplicity Posted July 23, 2011 Author Share Posted July 23, 2011 I speak fluent German. Listening to Dutch drives me batty because it is similar enough to the dialect that I am familiar with that it shares some vocabulary and intonation that I feel like I should understand everything but I only understand bits and pieces. LOL I do that with BBCAmerica all the time when the closed captioning is turned off. It's in English, I know should understand what they're saying.... But that may be it tho. Some bits of conversation probably have a familiar cadence or root words and my brain says, "hey we know that!" Still, it makes me feel a little like the 13th warrior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom in High Heels Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 We listen to the German radio stations all the time and there are days when the news casts are on that I think "why am I listening to this?" and other days when I think "OMG! I know what they're saying!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giraffe Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 I'm in Turkey for the summer and there are days when I suddenly understand everything and days when I don't understand at all. I never know what kind of day it's going to be. Sometimes I wonder if the people around me switched to English, then I realize I'm just having a "good understanding" day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathmom Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 LOL I do that with BBCAmerica all the time when the closed captioning is turned off. It's in English, I know should understand what they're saying.... LOL - when I was in Germany, a British woman was giving me a ride home. I tried giving her directions in my American English, which she didn't understand. So then she said, "Do you mean..." in her British English which I didn't understand. Then we decided to just switch to German so we could understand each other! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeekingSimplicity Posted July 23, 2011 Author Share Posted July 23, 2011 LOL - when I was in Germany, a British woman was giving me a ride home. I tried giving her directions in my American English, which she didn't understand. So then she said, "Do you mean..." in her British English which I didn't understand. Then we decided to just switch to German so we could understand each other! :lol: :lol::lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 I speak fluent German. Listening to Dutch drives me batty because it is similar enough to the dialect that I am familiar with that it shares some vocabulary and intonation that I feel like I should understand everything but I only understand bits and pieces. I speak (well, understand) Afrikaans as a second language, and listening to Dutch is a similar experience for me. If I "hear" rather than try to actively listen, and if I don't overthink it, I can understand more than if I try to listen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Still, it makes me feel a little like the 13th warrior. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plaid Dad Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 Have you ever been half listening to something in a foreign language-- like me sitting here knitting and not paying attention otherwise-- and everything that's being said in this language seems to make perfect sense..... until you realize you don't speak that language and don't have a clue what they said? I had that happen when I first started listening to Irish traditional music, before I studied the language. Very peculiar feeling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYoungerMrsWarde Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 When I was taking Spanish 1 in high school I had a few dreams in Spanish (it contained a trip to the grocery store and a game show.) And when I was in French 1 I had a few dreams in French. Everything made perfect sense in the dreams, but when I woke up I didn't understand any of it :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeekingSimplicity Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 I'm glad I'm not the only one that does this. It is a very peculiar feeling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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