Question for foreign language learners only please.?

Question

So I went to my mandarin class which is an advanced conversational class....this morning and I sat in class for 4 hours and couldn't understand anything. My mandarin teacher speaks very little english and I was lost...It was like I was hearing gibberish. I understood the main part of the text ..what the topic was..but I was completely lost...It was like I was listening to a language that I had never heard before..I've been studying mandarin for years.....Has this ever happened to anyone else? ..I've had classes where I momentarily 'blanked out"--(you may have to be learning a new language to understand what I mean) where I couldn't understand anything for a few sentences..because I missed a key word or something..but that is nothing like what happened today..It was like I just couldn't turn on part of my brain..Anybody out there understand? had the same experience? learning any language--even english?

cartier95..I didn't ask for a pasting...I know the material that you put on the site well enough...my mandarin is putonghua...with some beijing dialect..or the beijing "rr" sound in it.

Answer 1

I totally understand what you are saying. I used to live in Mexico and speak Spanish well. It sounds like you know Mandarin pretty well, too.

I then studied in the University and I speak Spanish a lot at home and with my job. There were days that I could sit through an entire class and have NO idea what was being said! I also have a lady who works with my kids who speaks Spanish and once in a while she will talk and she may as well have been speaking Greek because I just stare at her and blink and think "Huh?"

Thinking back on it I am sure that on those days I was extremely tired or very stressed. Once in a while in class when we went to work in groups I could not even make myself speak Spanish. It would just come out in English!

I think that it is normal. Really, it happens in English sometimes. You know when you are just so tired you cannot even carry on a conversation? I think that it is normal under certain circumstances.

Take a nap or try relax! ;-)

Answer 2

I have studied two foreign languages since I was about 14. I still have trouble with listening comprehension. So I can sympathize with your situation, even though I don't know a word of Mandarin.

Learning a language is more difficult when you don't have others to use it with. I almost never get to use my language ability, so I can barely understand when I meet a native speaker.

Watching movies in the language certainly helps. Both adult and even children's films will be beneficial. But you must practice regularly, and measure your progress. Don't get intimidated because you don't understand something one day. It's something you have to keep at.

Keep at it. If you don't understand a particular word or phrase, don't get caught up on it. Just keep going, and see how much you can understand.

Best of luck to you!

Answer 3

I have never "blacked out," but I do find that if I am tired or stressed I just don't care and can't answer questions, remember words, etc etc. Maybe you were tired today or had something else on your mind. Of course if there's a discussion and you miss the beginning (in my case I am constantly zoning out) then good luck on being able to jump in the middle. But I think you know that. I don't think that's the phenomenon you're describing.
My hypothesis is that the topic of conversation was something you haven't run across yet.

Answer 4

Haha... sounds like me when I go for my Japanese class. I always can't get into it, the speed and the language, especially when the class just starts. I'd be like "huh?", then I'd look around to see if I'm the only one not getting it. Sometimes, I blanked out during my listening quizzes and just like what you said, it's when I miss something important and then, everything becomes gibberish. I guess it's because it's tiring when you have to concentrate so much on listening carefully that your brain doesn't want to cooperate with you anymore and just zones out. It's quite normal, don't worry... Jiayou jiayou!

Answer 5

Yep. That happened in Spanish immersion. It was as though everyone had suddenly started speaking gibberish and I couldn't even pick out the words that I already knew. But shortly after that, things snapped in place and I even started to think in Spanish, without having to translate everything in my head first and lose the flow of whatever was being said.
Hang in there -- you're getting close!

Answer 6

I am scared of the person who copy and pasted the whole freaking wikipedia post. I hope you don't get lost on your way down here...

I have problems with certain Spanish dialects. Cuban for example. Having grown up in the southwest, I learned spanish from Mexico and Central America. Cubans use different words and sounds. They figure out I speak Spanish and then get angry at me for not understanding them. So it happens.

Answer 7

Sure, this has happened to me many times over, because it's not use to adapting to the language unless you live at that place. Some people find it better to experience the country and then come back to learn more of that language, in your case, china.

Answer 8

Yeah that has happened to me before with Spanish. Sometimes I'll be able to understand it perfectly and then the other is sounds like there talking in a whole nother language.

Answer 9

Yes, although I'm an advanced English learner, I sometimes get lost too. Especially when I'm hearing southern or Irish accent. So, I think it depends on the accent.

Answer 10

No worries im learnign French and i have trouble understanding some things also even though i kind of know alot of it...There is just times your just not ready to learn for that day...or you daydream alot like me or don't pay attention to what the teacher says!