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Getting the gist is good enough | ||
Tags: Epiphany | Comprehension/understanding | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5670 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes  Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 1 of 32 11 October 2012 at 12:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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Somebody asked me last night "when does it all 'click' and you can finally understand everything?". I replied that, in my humble experience, that never happens, rather there is a point where you understand enough to get the gist of what the other person is talking about, and slowly and steadily build on that as you learn to understand more and more.
I explained that this was probably my biggest "breakthrough" in being able to have conversations in foreign languages: realising that "good enough" is, well, good enough. Of course, the result is that sometimes your "gist" is incorrect, but that doesn't matter much since either the other person will correct you, or the moment will just pass without any ill effects and you move on to something else. This cartoon sums up many of my own foreign language conversations very accurately. Years ago, I would have come out of this sweating and feeling like a failure, whereas these days I feel great that I was able to communicate anything at all, and know that it will get a little better over time. 24 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5382 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 2 of 32 11 October 2012 at 3:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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Good point. Why would something so fluid as language suddenly click into place?
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4690 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 3 of 32 11 October 2012 at 4:08pm | IP Logged | ||
That cartoon is awesome. I still feel like that in German sometimes but I think you are absolutely right. Every time I converse in German I feel like I get just a little bit more the next time. If I can digest 70-80% of what is said to me, I'm pretty happy. That's usually enough to at least get the main idea. From there I can clarify with my own questions or just cross my fingers and contribute. The idea of studying along and one day having everything "click" is a much more commonly held notion amongst monolinguals than I had ever realized. A lot of people think language learning is like math where you suddenly realize "a-ha!". I guess that's where the attitude of "Are you fluent?" or "So, do you speak XXX or not?" comes from... 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| LaughingChimp Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4700 days ago 346 posts - 594 votes Speaks: Czech* | Message 4 of 32 11 October 2012 at 4:25pm | IP Logged | ||
Many people try to learn a language by memorizing word lits and grammar rules and expect that one day they will somehow start to understand. I usually try to explain that it's not how it works, that learning a language is more training than studying, but many people invested so much energy into this "method" that they simply refuse to try anything else. 10 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4689 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 5 of 32 11 October 2012 at 5:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you think about it honestly, you never get to that point of understanding "everything" in your native language, so
why would you expect it in a foreign language? For example, I have a terrible time following TV or movies in my native English without subtitles. Nobody knows the words to half of the songs in popular music because no one can understand them. And numerous times a day I might be talking to someone in English and have to say "excuse me? Can you repeat that?" How many native English speakers can define with precision every word in Moby Dick? It's just normal to have lacunae. Good enough is good enough for today, and a little bit better can be good enough for tomorrow. 20 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4829 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 6 of 32 11 October 2012 at 8:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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Some of my cartoon-like problems have been as much to do with cultural differences as much as linguistic, although a much better command of the language would have smoothed over many of the cultural differences.
Smiles and patience usually help, but not always. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| burgler09 Diglot Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6049 days ago 72 posts - 88 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese | Message 7 of 32 11 October 2012 at 8:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with most of the people here, I never had any sort of click or saying "wow today I understand everything". It was simply becoming more and more proficient with my speaking and comprehension skills, just like working out. It's something that happens over time.
Perhaps the most important part of learning a language is when you're comfortable enough with the language to listen to that language and not have to think about it's meaning in your native language. When you get to that point, it's when you can really have conversations and speak freely. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 8 of 32 11 October 2012 at 9:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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I suppose people generalize too much. They think that if there was a moment when "it clicked" and they could understand *ALMOST* everything (and there are other kinds of "it clicks"), another click like that is to come and they'll suddenly understand absolutely everything. Nah, not gonna happen. Edited by Serpent on 11 October 2012 at 9:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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