Native understanding of spoken English

Johnny   Fri Jan 02, 2009 7:13 pm GMT
I would like to know what native speakers do NOT understand, so I can understand what "native understanding" is. This must be as accurate as possible, so please give as much information as possible. Non-native speakers opinions are welcome too, so we can compare them with the natives' ones. I'd like to stress the point that I need as much information as possible to be able to judge native understanding, so, for example this kind of information is important:

- Info on listening medium, ex: TV and low volume, TV and high volume, car radio (traffic noise), earbuds, etc.

- Info on the kind of English, ex: TV news, action movies, sitcoms, heavy metal music, hip-hop, informal speech on the bus, etc.

- Info on the frequency and effect of misunderstanding, ex: just every once in a while, every time there's hip-hop on the radio, I can figure it out, I have no idea and I miss whole phrases, I have to turn on the subtitles, etc.

- Info on your native variety of English and any info that might influence your understanding

If you want you can post an example too, taken from youtube, like "I don't understand 50% of these kinds of songs", "I have always misheard this part", "in this part of the movie I had to turn on the subtitles", etc.

Thank you in advance for your collaboration. It's not scientific research, it's just personal one. I am just curious. :D
Invité d'honneur   Fri Jan 02, 2009 7:23 pm GMT
That's almost as meticulous as a scientific research though. :-p

I would be especially interested in knowing how well hip-hop songs are usually understood by native speakers. I remember those three American guys I met in Spain who were listening to rap songs. When I asked them what the songs were about they told me they couldn't understand most of the lyrics, just the choruses!
gas buddy   Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:24 pm GMT
As a native speaker, there are a lot fo songs with lyrics that can't be understood. Consider "Louie Louie", by the Kingsman, for example.
Another Guest   Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:14 pm GMT
When I heard Calabria, it sounded like gibberish to me, and other than "I'm telling you to hit that", I had no idea what the words were. Now that I have read the lyrics, I know the what the words are, but it's still gibberish.

For years, I thought that "Candle in the Wind" had the lyrics "Goodbye Norma Jean/from the young man in the forty-second row/who sees you as more than a sex hill"
Travis   Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:01 am GMT
>>That's almost as meticulous as a scientific research though. :-p

I would be especially interested in knowing how well hip-hop songs are usually understood by native speakers. I remember those three American guys I met in Spain who were listening to rap songs. When I asked them what the songs were about they told me they couldn't understand most of the lyrics, just the choruses!<<

Interesting. I myself at least can generally understand most AAVE in media content well, but I often find myself having trouble understanding AAVE I hear here in Milwaukee on an everyday basis, especially when the speakers do not see me as being part of their audience, so to speak. On the extreme end of such, I remember a job over one summer at a fast food where practically the only other employee who did not speak AAVE natively was the manager; in that case, I basically treated the whole thing as being stuck in a purely foreign-language environment where I did not speak the foreign language in question.
Paul   Sat Jan 03, 2009 2:38 am GMT
Its not just hip hop we can't understand, its most songs period.

In general the act of singing, makes most words unintelligible, and people won't know the words to their favorite songs untill they look up the lyrics.
Tomás   Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:12 am GMT
"In general the act of singing, makes most words unintelligible, and people won't know the words to their favorite songs untill they look up the lyrics."

Well, at least here in Brazil we can understand almost everything in the songs (in portuguese, of course).
please don't post as &qu   Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:25 am GMT
Well how often do you actually TRY to understand the words in a song? I listen to the music as a whole, and when I concentrate on the words it becomes easy to udnerstand.
harlot   Sat Jan 03, 2009 6:59 am GMT
One thing I have noticed when studying foreign languages is that a lot of what native speakers doesn't actually make sense. I occasionally come across such things which I cannot comprehend in the foreign language and then when I ask someone about it or find a translation it turns out that it didn't make any sense in the first place and I was wasting my time. When it's in your native language though you don't tend to notice it, you just kind of skip over it and shrug, especially if you get the main idea.
Shane   Sat Jan 03, 2009 9:17 am GMT
It would be not easy for non-native speakers to understand sequent words, especially in English.
Eel   Sat Jan 03, 2009 9:33 am GMT
What are sequent words?
Uriel   Sat Jan 03, 2009 10:44 pm GMT
<<- Info on listening medium, ex: TV and low volume, TV and high volume, car radio (traffic noise), earbuds, etc.>>

Sure, volume, intrusive noises, and other factors that affect the ability to hear can all conspire to make spoken English hard to understand for native speaker.


<<- Info on the kind of English, ex: TV news, action movies, sitcoms, heavy metal music, hip-hop, informal speech on the bus, etc.>>

There are always instances where you can't quite make out what a singer or speaker is saying. It's pretty common for me to look up lyrics. And not always just for heavy metal or hip hop. Singing and keeping to a beat often cause distortions, and the underlying music can intrude on the lyrics as well. A lot of the time certain stock phrases have a characteristic rhythm and pitch when spoken that you cue into just as much as the words themselves, and that gets lost when they are sung. Think of the standard three-note whine that people sometimes use to indicate the phrase "I don't know" -- you never even have to open your mouth, and people know what you just "said" because they recognize the sound pattern.

<<- Info on the frequency and effect of misunderstanding, ex: just every once in a while, every time there's hip-hop on the radio, I can figure it out, I have no idea and I miss whole phrases, I have to turn on the subtitles, etc.>>

It just depends on the delivery style of the individual artist. Sometimes I can make out every word, and sometimes I have no idea what they're mumbling about.

<<- Info on your native variety of English and any info that might influence your understanding>>

Dialect can definitely cause difficulties in understanding. When I listen to British English, for instance, there are changes in delivery rate, intonation, and pronunciation that can all conspire to make plain English hard to understand, and I have to rewind a certain passage to listen to it again. For the most part, unless they have some really unusual accent, I can follow along pretty well and it's crystal clear, but every now and then a phrase or word might cause me trouble. I definitely have to pay a lot closer attention to some dialects than others to make out what they are saying. Slang complicates things even more, as I may not be familiar with it or might just have to guess at the meaning from context.
Johnny   Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:51 pm GMT
<<As a native speaker, there are a lot fo songs with lyrics that can't be understood. Consider "Louie Louie", by the Kingsman, for example>>

LOL! Just listened to that one, and I had no idea what the were babbling about. Comprehension: 0% - Sigh :(

It's still not clear to me what native speakers understand and what they don't, so could you give me some more examples, also taken from youtube if you want? Just stuff where you miss part of the content, as an example... Thanks.
Guest   Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:14 pm GMT
Johnny, what is your native language?
gas buddy   Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:37 pm GMT
<< LOL! Just listened to that one, and I had no idea what the were babbling about. Comprehension: 0% - Sigh :( >>

Don't worry -- I believe this version of the song was declared officially untelligible by some court, long ago. That's why I mentioned this song, in particular.