I understand Spanish better than speak Spanish
This is a myth. If you speak any Spanish at all your ability to speak Spanish will always be better than your ability to understand; which is probably true for all languages. The reason is simple. The Native Speaker of any language will always have a much larger and varied vocabulary than you not to mention all the dialects, slang, idiomatic expressions and accents that are out there just waiting to make comprehension harder than speaking. When you speak Spanish you are in control of the word choice; when you are listening to a Spanish speaker the opposite is true, thereby making understanding much more complicated than simply speaking.
So why do some people think they can understand Spanish better. The fact is there are literally thousands of words that are similar and/or identical in Spanish and English. What the person is hearing is something like this.
Blah, blah, blah, a word I recognize, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, another word I recognize, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, another word I recognize.
OR
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, CONTROL, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, STUDENT, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, OEPRATION
The words: Control, Student and Operation exist in Spanish and English
It is because of these words that exist in both language that the new student is fooled into thinking their comprehension is better than it actually is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by carlosvilas
I have a weird question for the native English speakers of the forum! 
Are there any other languages that you think you may be able to understand even if you didn't take one single lesson on them?
For example, I've never studied Italian or Portuguese but when I talk with people from those countries I'm able to figure out what they're saying, probably because the roots of the three languages are the same. But it doesn't work with German, or Chinese 
Does it happens to you with English and any other languages, as for example German or something?
I'm so curious about it! |