Illusion of Understanding

[issemiyaki]

@PvtMarc - thanks for your comment.

I hear your concern. Fortunately, the French have this down to a science. There are a set of books called Comprehension Orale published by CLE International. They come in 4 levels.

You can't fake your way through these exercises. Some of the dialogues are slightly faster than normal conversational speed. But you will be required to do things as specific as write down the EXACT preposition that was used in a phrase. They will also give you two phrases that look and sound exactly alike, and depending on your response, that will reveal whether you REALLY understood, in detail, what was said. Like I said, these book are the real deal.

I have been looking for similar books in other languages but have been unsuccessful.

[Cavesa]

Well, the lyricstraining works similarily as well. You write what you hear.

[reineke]

A great thing about this illusion is that it supports your listening. I know that some people don't trust it but it's an illusion that will become reality if you don't mess with it.

[Iversen]

There is still a difference between understanding something wrongly and not understanding at all. If I read a text in for instance Serbian or Greek I definitely miss some words and expressions, and therefore I may reach a wrong conclusion about the meaning of some of the sentences. But I do understand others, and even if I misunderstand a certain sentence I may still have understood who the subject is, roughly which kind of activity the verb refers to - although it may be the opposite action of the one I guessed at. That's not nothing, and the exercise still will enhance my reading skills.

The same obviously applies to listening, but if I hear a text read aloud I don't have time to think about murky points - and even worse: I forget most of the sentences as soon as they are finished because I'm too busy hanging on to spend time on memorizing. And then the only thing I have got after the seance is some vague shadow of the gist of the speech. OK, if it's a recording I could play it again, but speech is still a linear process that starts at the beginning and ends at the end - like an oldfashioned tape. I'll even forget how much I actually have forgotten because that's the normal fate of anything I hear, and I have to listen many times to make it stick. With a book I can revert to the things I have passed through and be reminded of all the things I didn't understand. And then I can do an effort to crack the riddles if I find it is worth the effort. Speech is just gone.

[reineke]

There is still a difference between understanding something wrongly and not understanding at all. If I read a text in for instance Serbian or Greek I definitely miss some words and expressions, and therefore I may reach a wrong conclusion about the meaning of some of the sentences. But I do understand others, and even if I misunderstand a certain sentence I may still have understood who the subject is, roughly which kind of activity the verb refers to - although it may be the opposite action of the one I guessed at. That's not nothing, and the exercise still will enhance my reading skills.

The same obviously applies to listening, but if I hear a text read aloud I don't have time to think about murky points - and even worse: I forget most of the sentences as soon as they are finished because I'm too busy hanging on to spend time on memorizing. And then the only thing I have got after the seance is some vague shadow of the gist of the speech. OK, if it's a recording I could play it again, but speech is still a linear process that starts at the beginning and ends at the end - like an oldfashioned tape. I'll even forget how much I actually have forgotten because that's the normal fate of anything I hear, and I have to listen many times to make it stick. With a book I can revert to the things I have passed through and be reminded of all the things I didn't understand. And then I can do an effort to crack the riddles if I find it is worth the effort. Speech is just gone.

A tip about listening.

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[datsunking1]

I can definitely relate. My Spanish is between B2+/C1 (I can discuss high level engineering concepts but sometimes I miss basic verbs...I have work to do) Needless to say if I moved to a Spanish speaking country today I could handle myself.

Anyways, I think we all have moments where we feel confident or totally lost. I also think the most important thing is to not get discouraged, there's always something to learn, and you can just take it a day at a time. Even if you learned ONE thing that you didn't know before, progress is progress.

I always tell myself as I learn, not only are you learning the language it self, but you're learning how YOU learn if that makes sense. You learn how to be more efficient, study concepts you enjoy and make things easier to understand.

[YtownPolyglot]

Confession: I am a native speaker of English, and I often don't understand what someone says in the same way that he or she meant it. Song lyrics are some of the worst situations for this. So if I think I understood all of what I hear in a target language, I just accept the situation gratefully as a gift. A few weeks ago, I understood a Portuguese meme for the first time. Small gifts are to be accepted with a joyful heart.