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A version of this happened to me when I was young. I was lucky enough to be invited to dinner with a famous scientist. I spent a good chunk of time pitching my work (looking for a faculty position). At the end of the night he apologized and said he was sure I was very interesting but he couldn’t hear over the music.
I absolutely hate places with “background” music that isn’t in the background.
Restaurants that properly handle noise are awesome. Busy ones can get loud even without music, but if they take steps to address sound reverberation, it can make a huge difference.
Some places are so loud, employees should be required to wear hearing protection.
There’s a brewery near me that gets so loud that my ears are ringing when I leave. And they don’t play background music. I don’t go there anymore
Wow this could have actually happened:
Previously, Messi claimed he was too nervous to answer questions in English, despite taking language lessons since 2020, as per an interview with journalist Guillem Balague. “I’ve been learning English for a year and a half. I understand it, but I don’t speak it,” he said in 2021.
Funny, it really is easier to get the gist of what someone is saying in a foreign language that one has some familiarity with, but constructing a sentence with the correct words and grammar is a completely different game.
I’m the opposite with Japanese, at least. I can construct sentences and know what to say, but when native speakers talk to me, I just can’t follow well at all.
How did you learn it? I’m actually curious because that would probably explain why.
It blows my mind because my wife can hear and read other languages and translate it with insane accuracy, but she wouldn’t be able to hold a conversation.
My English speaking brain can’t do it.
Sometimes it can be the opposite as well, because missing a key word or two renders all the other stuff you understood in the sentence basically useless. If you understood “He has a new X and he’s gonna try Y tomorrow,” you got everything except the gist, but constructing basic sentences doesn’t take all that much study.
Anyway, I’d recommend not trying to do Japanese through immersion.
Japanese has a cheat code though. If you try to say English words with a Japanese accent they can mostly understand you. Words like hamburger and strawberry are a good example.
The huge number of loanwords is a bit of a boon, but the benefits are canceled out by the small amount of sounds in the language. There are so many homophones and words with similar sounds that learning vocab is really difficult.
Also it was years before I found out that hambaagaa is a hamburger and hambaagu is a meat patty on a plate.
Yeah, I remember going through that period when started learning English, but also attending other classes that I was passionate about and didn’t want to wait.
I understood everything the teacher said, but tough luck if I had any question. I remember trying to ask once and teacher trying to figure out what I was asking.
So very much this, I’ve been living in a foreign country for 6 months now and taking language classes. I can eavesdrop better than just about any other skill. Including understanding when spoken to directly.
Doesn’t help basically everyone speaks English.
I can eavesdrop better than just about any other skill.
You would have been SUCH a successful spy 40 years ago when top secret stuff was still mainly via face to face conversations 😁
Them: Papiere bitte
Me: What? Uhhh I mean, was?
Them: 🤨
I think anybody who’s bilingual or attempting to learn another language or done some duolingo classes can relate to a degree.
Reading/writing, speaking, and listening can feel like different skills.
There’s also, at least for Spanish but probably for other languages too, a significant difference between the academic version and the colloquial version.
I assume it’s sort of like if you, as an English speaker, only spoke as if you were composing a college essay.
Smile and wave boys, smile and wave
He’s either a dick or a fool. I wouldn’t give two minutes to someone that’s okay being in Trump’s orbit.
Messi or Sheeran?
Messi. He visited the white house not too long ago as PR for the world cup, and also to highlight the diplomatic ties between Trump and Javier Milei.
Still would fit better in a Game of thrones episode.
But have you considered that ballons d’or of gold are always cold, but a woman’s hands are warm?
Messi cabron traidor, quien te mandó a la casa blanca
Watching Messi is like watching real-life magic. Doesn’t even make sense half the time.
They’re kind of similar looking, lol
What are You talking about?
2 legs, 2 arms.
EACH, on good days!
The amount of limbs you have can be a very identifying feature I suppose
Forehead nose cheekbones chin. Face shape similar in my honest opinion.
These goddamn humans are everywhere.
They do have similar expressions and dimples, to be fair.
Thank youuuu.
Forehead nose cheekbones chin.
Yes, most people have those.
They just two boys doing their best
No money or success will make you smarter.
TIL speaking English makes you smart
Edit: maybe you were talking about Sheeran?
Thats the only reason he spent 5 min w that annoying ginger.
I just find it funny that Messi has been in the public eye since he was a teenager but nobody ever bothered to make him learn English.
An Arginine playing in Spain and France, is supposed to find English useful?
Is your conception that the public eye is anglophone?
