I don’t know why, but someone speaking in the background in a language I don’t speak drives me insane. It doesn’t have to be loud, I don’t have to be trying to concentrate on anything especially hard, but if it doesn’t stop after a couple of minutes, I basically just have to go somewhere else.
No idea why. I don’t think it is any subtle racism, because it’s every language. It’s like my brain won’t let go of trying to understand, and keeps wanting to notify me that it’s having trouble and needs my help with it.
I get the weirdly opposite wherein my brain starts to try to translate it through whatever lexicon I may have, Korean for example don’t know a bit but any Romance language or Germanic language getting rammed through the lexiconic equivalent of Frankensteins monster as presented by HR Giger. I try to avoid Spanish, I can understand spoken Frisian.
Yeah, a lot of times becoming teacher/student with someone you already have a different standing with just doesn’t work out all that well. If it works then great, but if it doesn’t then t’s better to just have a different person teach you honestly.
Once I tried to teach my GF at the time something, started talking to her like one of my students, and she absolutely hated the process and rejected it completely. And lo, after talking with some other people because initially I couldn’t even tell what happened, I was enlightened.
A teacher can never really teach someone something. Only the student can learn and the teacher can encourage and help when they get stuck. I would learn how to read Tagalog first. It’s not too bad, Latin alphabet and all. Look words up at first, ask her once you get better. At that point your awful pronunciation when you ask about a word will compel her into helping you learn the rest. 3. profit
And you probably will have a conversation about why you want to learn Tagalog and if I were you I would focus on being able to communicate with her family and enjoy Filipino media with her. And not that you can’t understand her private conversations with her family / friends.
I’ve heard that we hate having to hear people talking on the phone because of how jarring it is to only hear half a conversation. It sounds like you’re experiencing something similar where you can’t quite make out what’s happening, and that keeps pulling it into the foreground of your attention.
That would make sense, your brain definitely is trying to make sense of it because syllables, sentences, vocal emotion, etc are all there, so there are certainly patterns that can be picked up on, but none of it matches the existing language centers you have.
As to why you might get more frustrated than others about it, who knows, brains are weird and I’m not a neuroscientist
Alternating languages kind of makes me insane. I have to try even harder to understand it, and often it can even take me a minute to figure out what the language is, even if it is my native language.
Minute isn’t exaggeration. Many times I’ve been listening to some “foreign language” for a while until it finally clicked, “Oh, that’s Slovak, my native language.”
If this is in movies I just prefer single-language subtitles.
I would describe it as my brain having to switch languages on-demand rather than just catching on.
But for background this is fine. Today the Hungarian I was hearing from ceiling speakers at work didn’t bother me, just background noise, only when it didn’t make sense it clicked that it’s Slovak, again. Quite different even. But when I unfocused it sounded like the same speech junk.
I don’t know why, but someone speaking in the background in a language I don’t speak drives me insane. It doesn’t have to be loud, I don’t have to be trying to concentrate on anything especially hard, but if it doesn’t stop after a couple of minutes, I basically just have to go somewhere else.
No idea why. I don’t think it is any subtle racism, because it’s every language. It’s like my brain won’t let go of trying to understand, and keeps wanting to notify me that it’s having trouble and needs my help with it.
I get the weirdly opposite wherein my brain starts to try to translate it through whatever lexicon I may have, Korean for example don’t know a bit but any Romance language or Germanic language getting rammed through the lexiconic equivalent of Frankensteins monster as presented by HR Giger. I try to avoid Spanish, I can understand spoken Frisian.
You’d go apeshit in my house. My wife is constantly talking to her friends and family, or listening to the news, in Tagalog (Filipino).
Only thing that bothers me is that she can’t teach me, and she’s an educated teacher! I rock at languages, but she’s so critical I can’t get started.
Yeah, a lot of times becoming teacher/student with someone you already have a different standing with just doesn’t work out all that well. If it works then great, but if it doesn’t then t’s better to just have a different person teach you honestly.
Once I tried to teach my GF at the time something, started talking to her like one of my students, and she absolutely hated the process and rejected it completely. And lo, after talking with some other people because initially I couldn’t even tell what happened, I was enlightened.
A teacher can never really teach someone something. Only the student can learn and the teacher can encourage and help when they get stuck. I would learn how to read Tagalog first. It’s not too bad, Latin alphabet and all. Look words up at first, ask her once you get better. At that point your awful pronunciation when you ask about a word will compel her into helping you learn the rest. 3. profit
And you probably will have a conversation about why you want to learn Tagalog and if I were you I would focus on being able to communicate with her family and enjoy Filipino media with her. And not that you can’t understand her private conversations with her family / friends.
I’ve heard that we hate having to hear people talking on the phone because of how jarring it is to only hear half a conversation. It sounds like you’re experiencing something similar where you can’t quite make out what’s happening, and that keeps pulling it into the foreground of your attention.
That would make sense, your brain definitely is trying to make sense of it because syllables, sentences, vocal emotion, etc are all there, so there are certainly patterns that can be picked up on, but none of it matches the existing language centers you have.
As to why you might get more frustrated than others about it, who knows, brains are weird and I’m not a neuroscientist
Alternating languages kind of makes me insane. I have to try even harder to understand it, and often it can even take me a minute to figure out what the language is, even if it is my native language.
Minute isn’t exaggeration. Many times I’ve been listening to some “foreign language” for a while until it finally clicked, “Oh, that’s Slovak, my native language.”
If this is in movies I just prefer single-language subtitles.
I would describe it as my brain having to switch languages on-demand rather than just catching on.
But for background this is fine. Today the Hungarian I was hearing from ceiling speakers at work didn’t bother me, just background noise, only when it didn’t make sense it clicked that it’s Slovak, again. Quite different even. But when I unfocused it sounded like the same speech junk.