I sometimes have problems comprehending what is being said

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Like one time, when I was talking with my father about something, and he said something and it just seemed like other gibberish. I repeated what he said, using the closest English words I could find, but then he responded with something like, WTF? How did you come up with that? I said that I could not understand what he was saying at all. He then chewed me out, saying that I should have been able to get what was said from the context, and he asked if I was really listening. I said yes, and paraphrased what he said before that incomprehensible (to me) comment. And then he chewed me out again. I've had this all throughout my childhood, adolescence, and adulthood and it is at times frustrating.

I'm learning a second language and there are times where I can listen along fine, but then I come to an incomprehensible phrase. I now wonder if that lack of comprehension is just because I'm not as familiar with the language or if I'm having the same problem as above.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Yes.

Look up "central auditory processing disorder" or "meaning deafness."

Same here.

That's why I often have to ask people to repeat themselves a couple times. I hear what they're saying - no physical hearing problem - but it takes my brain longer than normal to process this information. It's like the words become jumbled once they reach my ears.

Does this sound familiar?

Absolutely. I deal with it all the time, and I friggin' hate it. If I ask people to repeat themselves, they get pissed, and I usually can't decipher their words any better the 2nd time, so it goes on for a third, sometimes forth, sometimes even longer, which, if you can find someone to repeat things that many times, will inevitably piss them off.

OR, I just ask them "did you just say X?" and they'll think I'm ret*d or something. And they think I'm ret*d and/or deaf for not hearing them right in the first place if they need to repeat themselves... This is why lots of times I just don't talk to people.

Oh yes, I've dealth with it. I will usually just pretend I understood them, and try to think about the conversation afterwards, to try to decipher what was said; this is in order, as you said, to prevent angering them. Of course, sometimes things can get really messed up.

Indeed they can... Sometimes too, I'll just have a delay in deciphering what they said. I'll hear them. I'll think for a second or two and then say "what!?" but somewhere between thinking and saying "what," I realize what it is they've said and tell them "nevermind." And people seem to find this bewildering.

I have the same issue - often hearing people's speaking clearly, but understanding it as gibberish. It happens regardless which language I'm speaking. When speaking a foreign language, especially to native speakers, it gets really frustrating because my language skills are very good, and I'm not misunderstanding them because of the language, but because my brain for some reason didn't process what they said. Yet they always, without fail, assume I'm having problems with the language and say it in English if they speak it, or if they don't, speak more simply, slowly, or just say "nevermind" (well, the equivalent of it) and forget about it.

I will usually acknowledge yes and yes as though I'm hearing them, then a few seconds later I will ask them for clarification of what they said because when I finally processed it, it still didn't make any sense to me.

Same here, it makes it seem like it would be tiring, because with some speakers of a foreign language, and depending on the language it may be most of the speakers, they will give up with you the first time you misunderstand, assume that you just don't understand the language as well as they thought, and immediately start mixing it with English or just switching to English, at which point I feel insulted and like a failure. This is actually quite an obstacle. I wonder if what I should do in those cases is explain in their language about auditory processing disorders.

My wife is so tired of this about me, she seldom repeats herself anymore; just rolls her eyes and sighs.

That happens to me too sometimes, but more often I just have to put what they just told me into my own words and ask them to confirm it so I make sure I do the right thing.

I get this a lot too. I think in my case I start busily attaching concepts and meanings to each word as they come in and lose track of the whole sentence meaning. Then when I desperately try to recall what was said, I pull out some of the associated words rather than the originals. Other sounds (or worse still, words from other sources like TV) get picked-up and placed in the same queue which doesn't help. Fascinating.

The best results I get (understanding what people are saying to me) are when I'm really relaxed and not particularly engaged in what's being said. Kind of consistent with my analysis above anyway.

I do this too, add to that that I can't always separate voices from the background... A lot of people think I have a hearing problem. I don't my hearing was recently test and came back normal.

I know exactly what you're talking about. This has happened to me many times in the past, and it is -really- frustrating. I don't give up on using English the moment someone starts having the slightest hint of trouble with it... yet if I mess up (or appear to) with my German or my Russian (haven't noticed it so much with my Spanish), they almost always instantly switch to English.

What I do in these situations is keep speaking to them in whichever language I'm wanting to speak, even if they keep speaking English. If it's bad, I'll act like I don't understand them, and say "I don't understand you, you'll need to speak ____" in whichever language.

Ja, if and when I ever move to a country where the language is spoken, I'll pretend not to understand English.

However, the issue, as I'm sure you realize, isn't that I don't understand the language, and in fact each word and component phrase I've heard and understood lots of times before, it's just that for whatever reason now my APD is kicking in and just preventing me from comprehending this sentence as spoken--though of course if I see it written I'll be like, oh yeah! That's what makes it even more frustrating, when they assume that you just don't understand the language well enough, because that's why most people would have such a problem.

I do have this same problem, but for years didn't know what it actually was. I just thought my hearing was bad, but I've had my hearing tested many times and my hearing is fine. I just misunderstand things and sometimes, all I hear is sounds, instead of words with meaning.

I had to edit this post because it was all disorganized and when I read over it, it looked wrong.

Last edited by Alfonso12345 on 16 Jul 2012, 5:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.