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[Two Words]

*Note- This is about people saying they can understand verbal dialogue, not reading. I am also not talking about childhood languages. I'm talking about people presently learning a language.

I hear this so often from people whenever the topic turns to other languages and I've grown more and more skeptical of this claim. How is this even possible? I'm learning Spanish in my free time, and actually being able to speak particular phrases or in the correct grammar comes way before understanding it for me.

I can quickly figure out in my head how to say "Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find a good place to wait for the next bus?" in Spanish pretty quickly. It may not be perfect, but I've learned how to get the idea across. But if somebody said to me "Perdon, ?me puedes decir donde puedo encontrar un buen lugar para esperar el siguiente autobus?", I would find it very hard to understand what exactly they were saying in real time. I'd pick up a few words and I'd have to figure out the whole meaning as best as I could.


I think this would hold for most, if not all, languages because the learner speaking the language can construct the sentence at their own pace, but listening requires you to keep up to the speaker's pace. So are these people just bullshitters trying to sound worldly by making people think they are partially bi-lingual, or is there something to this that I am missing?

 

[terrisus]

You don't understand that recognition is easier than creation/reproduction?
I mean, that's a pretty standard aspect of memory.

 

[John Kowalski]

if someone gives me a french text i can mull over it for a few minutes and eventually figure put what it says but don't ask me to actually speak french because i could never think up what to say so instantly

 

[Jarmel]

Probably depends on the language in that some things might be hard to pronounce. Also it can sometimes be easier to just listen than have to formulate your own sentences.

 

[Xrenity]

It makes lots of sense though.

 

[AoM]

Silent period

 

[pashmilla]

There's a difference between active and passive vocabulary. Some children whose parents speak different languages can understand both languages but only speak one themselves.

 

[Count Dookkake]

Etymology will usually help you in related languages.

 

[Newt]

I mean, it's a real thing. You can't come up with the words yourself, but if someone says them you recognize them.

 

[CharlieDigital]

My wife can't speak Mandarin for shit but she can understand bits and pieces of it.

A language like Mandarin has a lot of sounds that just don't appear in the English spoken language and Westerners just don't have the oral agility to make some of those sounds without a lot of practice. You need to move your tongue and shape your mouth in ways that just aren't familiar.

You'd think that for kids, this would be easy, but I'm teaching my 4 year old as well and her vocal infrastructure is already programmed for English. She speaks Mandarin with an English accent.

Even when I go slow and try to tell my wife to just imitate the sound of one word, she has trouble.

So yeah, it's a real thing.

 

[Masaki_]

Ok?

A lot of languages are similar to one another (Dutch and German, all Latin languages, etc). It's perfectly normal to be able to have a basic understanding of what is being said if the language spoken is similar to your own.

 

[kaioshade]

It really isnt such a difficult concept.

Eventually you can learn words. And you can pick out words in a sentence, piece them together and get a general gist of what is going on. However, diction, sentence structure, grammar is all lost, and that would not lend itself well to actually SPEAKING it.

 

[Two Words]

I'm talking about understanding real-time verbal dialogue, not text.

 

[MrChocolate]

I can understand italian like if it was my mother tongue, but I can't speak it for shit.

 

[Dilly]

My mother language is Dutch, but if I concentrate hard enough I understand German even though I can't speak it.

 

[Dynedom]

They don't generally fully understand the language but know enough to actually listen to conversations and get the gist. This is the case with me and Sinhalese. I cannot speak it fluently remotely though. It's a consequence of growing up with people speaking the language around you but not to you.

 

[terrisus]

I'm talking about understanding real-time verbal dialogue, not text.

My first post still applies.

 

[Junior Mint]

I know tons of people like this.

My cousin's daughter is half-Chinese and half-Italian and she can understand Chinese but can't really speak it.

 

[BeatResetsTheWorld]

What's so hard to understand? Understanding a language might only require being able to pick up on 90% of it, while speaking/writing it can require closer to 100%. There are lots of grammatical quirks that I can't remember from the language I studied in school, but if I'm reading/hearing it I can sometimes get the gist of what is being said

 

[shira]

A lot of languages are tongue muscle dependent. If you have never rolled your Rs or used certain tongue and throat motions you won't be able to create the sounds.

Linguists and people who pick up languages quickly prolly have really amazing tongue dexterity

 

[Valhelm]

Usually people who say that know a language because their grandparents speak it or because they've taken a few classes. It just means they can get the gist of what somebody tries to say to them, but they aren't able to say anything coherent in a way that doesn't make them look like an idiot.

 

[Zhengi]

I can speak Chinese, but hell if I can read Chinese characters. Not all languages use those fancy Western characters.

Edit: Okay, misread your title.

It's possible for this to happen. For example, I took French in high school years ago and I don't have much practice with it anymore. If someone talks to me in French, I can pick up bits and pieces of it, but I wouldn't be able to speak it fluently.

 

[titiklabingapat]

Uh, why not? I'm one of those people. I can understand my parent's native provincial Philippine language (Hiligaynon) but cannot converse with it. Even reading it is a challenge but I can follow conversations using spoken words.

 

[G.ZZZ]

What? I can read french, but i couldn't articulate a phrase for the life of me. I can read english perfectly, write it decently, and i can't talk in english for shit. I probably couldn't even read correctly what i just wrote, so yeah, you can understand a language and not speak it. My nephew can understand both french and italian (mother is french) but he answer to his mom still in italian even if she talk to him in french, it's quite funny actually!

 

[Two Words]

My first post still applies.

Creation/reproduction allows for far more time than recognition when it comes to verbal dialogue.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

I'm half Iranian and can understand quite a bit of Farsi, but can't speak it.

 

[JeTmAn81]

Pronunciation is one of the most difficult parts of speaking a language. You can know all the words/letters but not have the knack of the precise inflections.

 

[FelixOrion]

Worked for Han, multiple times

 

[collige]

You're missing it completely. If you don't use a language in a long time, you'll lose the ability to bring up the word you're trying to convey on the fly, but hearing the word is an instant reminder of what it means. For example, I probably won't be able to instantly think of the French word for "computer" since I haven't had to speak the language in quite some time. However, if someone mentions the word "ordinateur" I'll remember that it means computer almost instantly. Keeping up with the pace is easy once you've listened to people speak for years, but completing a sentence without tripping up on vocabulary isn't.

 

[victreeb3l]

I understand a lot of Hindi but I cant speak it at all.

 

[Lamel]

I can speak 2 languages that I can't read or write.

 

[MojoRisin]

My father understands polish but hasn't spoken it in 20 years. He can not form the words in his mouth and has extreme difficulty trying to. apparently you have to form words in polish that English doesn't have to. If that makes sense.

 

[Affeinvasion]

For me it comes down to not being able to think of the right word when I'm trying to say something but if I hear a word I remember what it means. Human brains just work that way.

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

I studied Japanese for years and my understanding of it is way better than my ability to speak it. I know a hell of a lot of vocabulary, but am not able to pull it out of my brain quickly enough to use in conversation a lot of the time. Also, when listening you don't need to think about grammar.

 

[wildfire]

Once you here a word that is a verb or noun enough times you can make an educated guess about the topic.

Speaking a language requires you to remember grammar rules and if no one teaches them to you it is far easier to remember a few words than rules.

 

[Madouu]

Well, since we're in a video gaming forum, I can use the example of a dota 2 player, EG.Sumail, he's a Pakistani that recently moved to the United States and although his understanding and writing of English is very good, he has trouble speaking it for the simple reason that he never had many people to communicate in English with.

From my personal experience (in learning French, English and currently Spanish) understanding what people say always comes way before being able to correctly express yourself in a language, you can often make correct guesses on what people are trying to say once you have a basic knowledge of the language's vocabulary, but expressing yourself well requires a good understanding of grammar, verb conjugation and pronunciation.

So no, those people are probably not bullshitters.

 

[OminoMichelin]

I can understand french, and understand some basic japanese (due to all the animus)
Despite my best efforts, I could never learn to communicate properly in french and have too many blind spots to entertain a conversation. Not to mention the pronounce.
Japanese...yeah I can barely remember some hiraganas and literally a couple kanjis.

 

[B-Dubs]

I'm talking about understanding real-time verbal dialogue, not text.

Understanding a language takes far less knowledge of it than actually speaking it does. I can't speak Spanish for shit, but if someone starts yelling at me in Spanish I know enough words and phrases to get the jist of why they're yelling at me. It's called context clues, you don't need to understand the whole sentence to understand what they're talking about.

 

[Dreamgazer]

There's a difference between active and passive vocabulary. Some children whose parents speak different languages can understand both languages but only speak one themselves.

Pretty much this.
I grew up listening my grandmother speaking Cantonese.
I can understand Cantonese perfectly, but I can't speak a lick of it.

Language development during the childhood stage can also be a weird thing...

Years ago there was a Japanese documentary on child who can speak 13 languages at the age of 5. However, due to the way he learned the languages, he can't "translate" between them cause all 13 languages are just different set of vocabularies of one language to him.

 

[Siegcram]

I can't read or speak japanese anywhere near fluently, but if I have an anime show on in the background, I still get the gist of the dialogue.

I thought this to be a pretty common thing in regards to foreign language.

 

[zulfate]

I wonder how millions of our ancestors made it then since a lot of people thousands of years ago couldn't read but only speak their own language. I myself can understand spanish perfectly but struggle to say the words since my tongue has gone a bit soft.

 

[akira28]

lots of my hispanic friends are like this, they understand their parents talking to them in spanish, but only speak english.

And their parents understand their english too.

 

[crimzonflame]

I'm talking about understanding real-time verbal dialogue, not text.

Whats so hard to understand? They hear the language all the time but do not practice speaking it. A lot of my friends' parents will talk to them in their native language but the friend would respond in English.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

You don't understand that recognition is easier than creation/reproduction?
I mean, that's a pretty standard aspect of memory.

.

 

[LeleSocho]

If you'll ever hear me speaking English you'll think i'd be some kind of idiot with speech impairment and yet here i am understanding every word of your thread and actually replying to it.
Edit: I understand spoken English too.

 

[sammich]

Read Write: English
Keep up with a conversation without much issues: Hindi/Konkani
Able to understand: Arabic
Used to be able to read/write: Hindi/Arabic

But fuck if i know how to speak anything other than English, and even that i fail at lol

 

[Auron_Kale]

This is pretty much me.

Both my parents speak Tagalog while my dad also speaks a different dialect due to living in Bicol. While growing up, both my parents spoke English to me but also Tagalog - though I learned English. I learned to understand Tagalog (as well as my dad's dialect) because I listened to it, though my mom would usually say a word in Tagalog and then eventually give the English equivalent.

Show me Tagalog text and I couldn't understand it, but speak Tagalog to me and I get what you're saying but will respond in English.

 

[coy]

Uh, why not? I'm one of those people. I can understand my parent's native provincial Philippine language (Hiligaynon) but cannot converse with it. Even reading it is a challenge but I can follow conversations using spoken words.

This is almost me but Tagalog instead. I can watch filipino shows and movies all day but it sucks trying to converse with younger members of my family that do not understand English yet. My gf is practically the same but with Mandarin instead. We exist out there.

 

[Two Words]

A lot of people here seem to not be reading the OP. I am not talking about understanding some text from a foreign language. I'm talking about a person claiming that they can listen to two people talk in a foreign language, understand what they are saying as they speak in real time, but that person cannot really speak any of the language at all even when given all the time they might need.

 

[.GqueB.]

Why are you so confused about something that so many people experience? I'm confused by your confusion. I also think you're taking the statement too literally. When someone says that, you hear:

"I'm able to fully understand Spanish word for word if it's spoken to me but I can't speak one syllable of it."

But what people are mostly saying is:

"I suck at speaking AND understanding Spanish but I can decipher it well enough depending on the situation but if I had to speak it you'd hear mostly gibberish."