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Kooyeen Posted 19 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
Do you native speakers always understand?
Hi,
do you native speakers always understand what people say on TV, on the radio, in movies, in songs, etc.???
In Italian, unless people start to talk in a regional dialect (not accent, I said "dialect"), I think I always understand what they say on TV, radio, etc., if I listen carefully.
But... it seems to me that English has very weird accents sometimes. KFC turns into K-eye F Say, life into loy-f... bottle with a glottal stop... Ok, my listening skills are not good, but when I hear weird accents, if I understand something it is just because I guess from the context.
So what happens to you native speakers? Do you always understend everything if you pay enough attention? And if not, what is it that you usually don't understand completely? I'd like to hear your opinions on this, thanks
do you native speakers always understand what people say on TV, on the radio, in movies, in songs, etc.???
In Italian, unless people start to talk in a regional dialect (not accent, I said "dialect"), I think I always understand what they say on TV, radio, etc., if I listen carefully.
But... it seems to me that English has very weird accents sometimes. KFC turns into K-eye F Say, life into loy-f... bottle with a glottal stop... Ok, my listening skills are not good, but when I hear weird accents, if I understand something it is just because I guess from the context.
So what happens to you native speakers? Do you always understend everything if you pay enough attention? And if not, what is it that you usually don't understand completely? I'd like to hear your opinions on this, thanks
Top answer
Listeners actually miss a lot of what others say in their native language-- I mean in the sense of exact phraseology. Much is understood from gist or what the listener expects to hear. Of course, the overall understanding is usually accurate.
- Listeners actually miss a lot of what others say in their native language-- I mean in the sense of exact phraseology.
- Much is understood from gist or what the listener expects to hear.
- Of course, the overall understanding is usually accurate.
- Still, accents can be confusing.
- ' As for song lyrics-- I understand very few of them.
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14 Answers
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Listeners actually miss a lot of what others say in their native language-- I mean in the sense of exact phraseology. Much is understood from gist or what the listener expects to hear. Of course, the overall understanding is usually accurate.
Still, accents can be confusing. I spent a full day in Australia before I understood what anybody was saying on the first go-- I spent the whole
Still, accents can be confusing. I spent a full day in Australia before I understood what anybody was saying on the first go-- I spent the whole
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Do you always understend everything if you pay enough attention?Every syllable!
As long as it's just 00
I've missed some words in many song lyrics, especially the first few times I heard the song. And occasionally I've thought that I understood the lyrics, only to find out that I didn't really get all the words.
I've had trouble understanding some British speakers, some Australians, and some Americans from New England (northeast US) and parts of the southeast. Luckily,
I've had trouble understanding some British speakers, some Australians, and some Americans from New England (northeast US) and parts of the southeast. Luckily,
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No, sometimes we meet other native speakers with accents we find quite difficult to understand. I've got a pretty good ear and enough imagination to usually fill in the blanks so I can usually manage, but some people really can't understand an unfamiliar accent. I was at a restaurant with a few friends and our waiter had some sort of northern English/Midlands accent. We had to get him to repeat h
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I usually do. I can understand many people. Unless they are Cockney or have a wierd accent.
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Hey, I almost forgot I posted this! Thank you so much for your comments.
I see Jim understand everything, even Martian dialects. I believe that's a great ability, I think it is due to many things... for example, I know jim knows some foreign languages very well, and that could have helped develop that ability, because he's had to learn several different "sounds" in order to learn foreign
I see Jim understand everything, even Martian dialects. I believe that's a great ability, I think it is due to many things... for example, I know jim knows some foreign languages very well, and that could have helped develop that ability, because he's had to learn several different "sounds" in order to learn foreign
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So maybe he's got more trained ears...Probably. I majored in music at one time, and later I taught a course called "Ear Training"!
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That's a Liverpool accent. I can understand them just fine 
but I could understand people who aren't familiar with the accent ha
but I could understand people who aren't familiar with the accent ha00
Yeah, it took me a little to figure out that bo?l was actually bottle, and the t's were glottal stops, lol. I understood because they said "a bo?l of wine", so I figured it out. I think it's normal if you're only used to certain accents (I'm only used to American English).
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later I taught a course called "Ear Training"!
Roll over! Sit up! Good ear!
Roll over! Sit up! Good ear!
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