I've been wondering.. well more than just wondering. I've been pulling my hairs out on this .. problem I have.
The thing is, I can't make the English (or any other foriegn language) words to be the meaning itself. umm what I mean by that is, if I say or hear the English word "apple", I know it's supposed to mean the red fruit with sour taste, but "apple" is not "the fruit itself" in my head like you do in your native language.
In short, My native language sound = semantics
But English sound =/ semantics
Rather, English sound = I know what it mean, but it's.. distant and foreign
So, even if I know all the words I hear, an english sentence somehow takes a lot more time to digest in my brain than it does in my native language (which is instantaneous since what I hear is the meaning itself)
It's like my brain is going through a couple of more stages. First match the English sound I heard to the sound I already know, if they match then I ask myself.. what did that mean again? But it's not like I'm interpreting in my native language, I'm pretty sure on that.
This means, if I don't listen really carefully, I'm bound to lose most of the content of what I hear. And strangely I can't hear words at all if I don't understand them. I just guess what the sentence mean..
I'm not sure if I've explained my problem well enough though.
Can anyone tell me what's wrong with me??
BTW my first language is not English of course..
The thing is, I can't make the English (or any other foriegn language) words to be the meaning itself. umm what I mean by that is, if I say or hear the English word "apple", I know it's supposed to mean the red fruit with sour taste, but "apple" is not "the fruit itself" in my head like you do in your native language.
In short, My native language sound = semantics
But English sound =/ semantics
Rather, English sound = I know what it mean, but it's.. distant and foreign
So, even if I know all the words I hear, an english sentence somehow takes a lot more time to digest in my brain than it does in my native language (which is instantaneous since what I hear is the meaning itself)
It's like my brain is going through a couple of more stages. First match the English sound I heard to the sound I already know, if they match then I ask myself.. what did that mean again? But it's not like I'm interpreting in my native language, I'm pretty sure on that.
This means, if I don't listen really carefully, I'm bound to lose most of the content of what I hear. And strangely I can't hear words at all if I don't understand them. I just guess what the sentence mean..
I'm not sure if I've explained my problem well enough though.
Can anyone tell me what's wrong with me??
BTW my first language is not English of course..