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Hi! The situation is like this.In a company of non English speaking country, an executive asked to do meetings in English. In the first meeting, being pretty fluent in English himself, he started to speak in English, while others being silent.Then he asked if there were any questions, and one brave man said the following sentence."I hope you'll understand if we don't understand. As we'll perfectly understand if you don't understand."Is this sentence clear in meaning to native speakers?If it is clear, what is the meaning of the sentence?

Nef · Accepted Answer

Pructus
Hi!

The situation is like this.

In a company of non English speaking country, an executive asked to do meetings in English.

In the first meeting, being pretty fluent in English himself, he started to speak in English, while others being silent.

Then he asked if there were any questions, and one brave man said the following sentence.

"I hope you'll understand if we don't understand. As we'll perfectly understand if you don't understand."

Is this sentence clear in meaning to native speakers?

If it is clear, what is the meaning of the sentence?

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Hi, Pructus

"I hope you'll understand if we don't understand. As we'll perfectly understand if you don't understand."

That many "understands" make the sentences somewhat confusing to me. First, I'd write

"I hope you'll understand if we don't understand. As we'll understand perfectly if you don't understand."

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One kind of understanding refers to knowing and seeing the meaning of the words themselves, what the person says.

The other kind of understanding refers to recognition and acceptance of a situation.

So, there's understanding like "I know what you mean." (For instance, if you say "blue," I have a mental picture of the color of the sky on a clear day. The words you are using mean pretty much the same thing to me that they mean to you.)

And there also is understanding that might mean something like "I wish we could communicate in English during this meeting, but we can't. And that really isn't anyone's fault. I'm not angry or upset that we can't communicate better right now. It's just the way things are at the moment." That is a kind of social and situational understanding.

Pructus · Answer

Thanks, Nef....

Is this clear or not?

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