dear friend,may I ask you a question?

[ting]

I am a Chinese boy,I find it hard to learn English,especiall audition, I want to know:do you english-speaking can hear every word somebody speaks with whom you talk?thank you for helping me.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Yes,however if you was to talk Chinese to me, then no I wouldn't be able to understand you. :-)

I fancy the bird in my local chippy,but she's not having it as she says she's married. :-(

[rrh]

You're not in the right newsgroup here but...

No - often you miss individual words but get the general sense. Perhaps related to the large number of sounds in English and the indistinct nature of many of them. Some words are dispensable anyway (some articles, some plurals). In some other languages you can normally hear all the sounds and syllables, even if you don't understand all the words (eg German, Japanese). Others like English can be difficult to hear (French and - others tell me - Spanish). Don't get me started on the difficulty of hearing the different tones in Chinese if you are a native speaker of a non-tonal language!

[Guy King]

The message from "ting" contains these words:

Trust me, this is the same the world over. I deliberately slow down when talking to people who are struggling with the language, but I sure they don't do the same for me!

The French in particular seem to speed up as much as possible.

[Tim S]

And sometimes you hear every word and it still could mean two different things!

My wife is Chinese (mandarin speaker) and what little I know of Chinese, your word and sentence structure is very different from English.

If you want to hear good English for practise, try the BBC website

- many radio and TV programs are available via RealMedia over the Internet (I assume you are not in the UK right now?).

Cheers

Tim

[meow2222]

and sometimes a dozen or more. What puzzles me is when the speaker doesnt seem to comprehend that their rambling vagueries could mean numerous possibilities.

NT

[Chris Bacon]

Look them in the eye with a steady gaze. Speak loudly and slowly. If they say anything at all, repeat what you said, at the same volume, but more slowly. Wave your arms about if you think it'll be helpful, or "mime".

[Guy King]

The message from Chris Bacon contains these words:

I'm quite happy to speak passable French to 'em - just wish they'd slow down a bit when they answer. Perhaps it's a compliment - they think my French is so good that they can go at full speed. Somehow I doubt it though.

[Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)]

One of the best French words to learn early on is "lentement" :-)