Could I possibly have understood?

[griz326]

I am only now beginning to study Chinese, so my only words were "hello" and "thank you" on my trip last month.

However, on several occasions during the end of my 2 week visit, I over heard conversations that I would have sworn I heard in my brain in English, but the speakers spoke Chinese. These "moments of understanding" were during very expressive, emphatic points of a conversation. (...like when my lady friend got the cab driver so angry he kicked us out of the taxi! There were several other moments too.) ...and of course, I have no way of knowing if I actually understood anything or simply imagined it...

...but is it possible I actually understood little pieces of conversation?

...purely imagination?

...a hopeful event to encourage further study?

[kudra]

If I had to guess I'd say at times you were understanding the situation, and understanding what was being said roughly, and your brain was filling in the English. But I think you were understanding based on all kinds of other sensory information besides the language per se. So it felt like you were "translating." I seem to remember feeling like I was understanding stuff until all of a sudden I realized I actually was lost. I think the brain fills in ambiguities "to complete the picture" and it might seem like you are hearing a translation.

But what do I know? I'm no linguistic/cognitive psychologist.

The only way I can think of to know is to ask your friend who was there with you to check your memory of what was said. But do this in a way that you aren't giving each other hints. Beforehand, write down what you thought was said, what you remember of the English you heard in your head. Be specific. Then ask your friend what was said. Don't give hints, based on what you remember of the language, to remind her of the situation. Use "when we ubruptly got out of the cab", not "when the cab driver said we had to get out of the cab right away."

Let us know the result.

[taryn]

Griz, it's totally possible.

Once when I was dating this Filipino guy, we had gone over to someone's house to eat after church. As I was scouring the buffet area, appearantly, I overheard one of the ladies asking someone else if my boyfriend had performed with the traditional dance troupe the day before in Tagalog. As I continued to savanging about, I told them (in English), "No, he couldn't dance because he had to work." The ladies are like, "Oh, ok." "You understand Tagalog?"

I'm so militant about food, I didn't even realize that 1) I had butt in or 2) they weren't talking in English. So I'm a multilingual expert eavesdropper...

Some people just have a heigtened ability to absorb verbal and nonverbal clues, thus increasing their ability to understand beyond words.

And this folks, is why you should never say or do bad things in front of your children just because "they're too young to understand/remember." Poppycock! They know. They always know...

[pattifranklin]

yes, that is totally possible. I would also say that becuase you probably understood the context of the situation, that your brain translated their chinese body language as well. Sometimes, we find that your brains are alot smarter and can adapt quicker than we give them credit. thats the beauty of going abroad!