Can British and American people understand each other's language?
Hello! I'm an English learner in Japan. Recently I've been interested in the difference between British and American English. These two sound to me like almost different languages, which intrigues me. I hear that there are many differences between them in the pronunciation, the vocabulary, and so on. That's why I've been wondering whether or not such differences make it too difficult for British and American English speakers to understand what each other say. Do they sound to you like mere an accent and can you comprehend the other kind of English well enough to have a smooth communication? I appreciate all the answers of people in counties except the UK and the US also. Sorry for my poor English. Thank you.
Why don't Americans understand my voice?
It may not be your accent per se, but the speed you speak and the stress your putting on certain words or syllables.You don't say where in the US you are -- different regions have different speeds of speech. If you speak very rapidly and you live in the southern US, where people tend to speak more slowly, you're going to be difficult to understand.If you speak using that clenched jaw sort of enunciation, that's going to be really difficult for Americans to understand; we all speak with a relaxed jaw and throat except in certain parts of Connecticut, and find that clenched jaw enunciation to be really unusual and off-putting.It's really hard to say exactly what the problem is without hearing you, though, so all of this might be just a shot in the dark. I'd say though that if you slow down your speech and relax your jaw, that will probably go a long way toward making you more understandable. That usually helps anyone who has an issue with being understood.
Why do I sometimes have trouble understanding what people say even though my hearing is fine?
If you have trouble understanding what people say only sometimes, then may be its not because of your hearing. May be the people you are talking to have some difficult accent or speak fast.However , If that is not the case, then there is something called “Central Auditory Processing Disorder” . In CAPD, there is deficit in perceptual processing of auditory stimuli in brain.So you have problem in localizing the source of sound, lateralizing in which ear you hear the sound, discriminating different sounds, there is difficulty in hetting temporal characteristics of spoken words or you might have degraded performances with noices or decreased acoustic signal.This disorder primarily affects auditory modality and can be tested with many different sensitized auditory test.So even you might have normal hearing results, you might actually have CAPD. Better to visit an audiologist for this.
Why do some people not understand sarcasm?
I am not sure how anyone would be able to reliably tell whether someone has indeed understood or failed to understand a particular sarcasm.All that we can be sure is how the person is behaving which in turn only tells us about how he/she is coming across and that may not be an accurate reflection of the contents of their mind. So, assuming that this question actually means to ask "Why some people come across as failing to understand sarcasm?", this would be my answer:People who come across as not having understood sarcasm can be classed into two categories - those who do it (ie. appear ignorant) intentionally and those who do it unintentionally.If it is the former (ie. intentionally), then it means that the person has in reality understood the sarcasm but is refusing to engage. There may be various reasons for this - ranging from a sense of offence at the sarcastic remark to a general principle of refraining from sarcasm.If it is the latter (ie. unintentionally), then it means that the sarcasm is truly lost to the person. This can sometimes happen with people who think in linear fashion such as autistics. Sarcasm often relies on the use of double meanings for effect. People who are literal in their style of thinking (eg. autistics) do not or cannot understand double meanings. So, in those situations, sarcasm would be truly lost on that individual.Distinguishing between the two camps takes experience and some knowledge of the person you are analysing.Thank you for reading.
Do some people with autism have problems understanding sarcasm?
YES.I have problems understanding sarcasm, when it’s directed at me. I don’t have problems understanding jokes and wit in general.Some autistic people, if not all, have trouble getting jokes. I’m not one of them. I have the opposite problem… I always tell jokes, even when it’s completely inappropriate to do so. When I was younger, I would tell some really sexual jokes in class, without realizing I was being inappropriate.This being said, many times my jokes are misunderstood and people tend to take me seriously.It’s because, well, my expressions and tone of voice doesn’t change a lot when I’m serious and when I’m not. I have paramymia, so I’m always smiling and my tone of voice is either flat or extremely nervous, regardless of whether I’m joking or not.As such, I’m widely misunderstood… and I misunderstand sarcasm myself and tend to assume people mean what they mean, if there is no indicator suggesting me otherwise.Something that I’ve also noticed is that when I interact with others, many arguments arise from their use of language.Example: my boyfriend “Goodnight, I’m going to bed now”.Five minutes later I see him online.Me “Why did you say you were going to bed NOW, if you are still online NOW? Now means now, right at the moment, not in a short while!”.Or when he uses a hyperbole, such as “You are the only one who gets me” or “You are the most X girl in the world”. Me “Technically, that’s not true. In a world with 7 billions of people, there must be someone who is prettier/smarter/nicer than me, even if you haven’t met her yet.Or when he tells me I’m the only girl he likes.I always reply “Look, in a world full of people, there must be someone who is prettier, smarter and nicer than me. I meet people who are better than me every day. So don’t use hyperboles and ways of saying, because they are not true and it makes me angry. I’d rather be told I’m average looking and you are attracted to millions of girls, but would never act on it, because you respect me and you value what you have. To you, it’s enough; you don’t need to search for more. Because that’s the only real thing to say”.Autistic people are very literal.
Can dogs really understand words?
This may seem a little bit of an odd, even offensive story to some people but please, bear with me here as I have a point to make: I have a cousin who's studying Veterinary Medicine and is currently conducting an experiment for a thesis he's trying to complete with his new puppy. You know how people praise dogs when playing with or training them? Well, my cousin also do that but instead of sweet sugary words like "Good boy!", "Excellent!", or "Who's the cute little puppy?", he uses swear words like "you son of a b*tch", "come here, you sick b@stard", or "you idiotic puppy". But he also uses that same singsong tone people use when talking to a cute baby or puppy. The puppy he's doing the experiment with, surprisingly, is now amazingly well-behaved and excellently trained. Which got me thinking - If my cousin keeps talking like that to a dog, doesn't that mean that a dog doesn't really understand the meaning of words but rather it depends on how the owner speaks those words? It doesn't matter if you use any type of language but if you use the same encouraging and good-natured tone, it'll produce the same effect as with the recognized language norm in training. What do you think? Thoughts?
How will you know if someone is on voice call in Facebook messenger?
How will you know if someone is on voice call in Facebook messenger?Facebook messenger handles this in different ways depending on your platform. For instance you could be on Phone as well as PC.Facebook Call On Windows PC:It shows “In Another call” when the person is on another call at the time, while you also hear a different tone (something similar to engaged tone on Phone)Availability is expressed with a blue Facebook IconFinally a Gray Facebook Icon Means the person is either offline or not available for a call.Facebook Call On Windows Mobile: (Same applies for messenger video call)Engaged tone for busyAnd same color pattern for availability & offline