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Really strange language barrier broken

P

Pyrosfuel

Senior Registered
So this is very strange to me and I've recently expierienced it twice. I've taken Spanish class for two years when I was in high school. So I know enough to kinda get through a conversation.
This is were it has gotten strange to me.
I'm hearing people speak in Spanish but I'm understanding it in English.
One example I was at work buying a soda and swiping my card when the cashier asked me "do you want cash back?" I thought nothing of it just smiled and shook my head no. That's when she coyily put her hand to her mouth, snickers, and said oh my gosh I just asked you that in Spanish.!.!.!
I know I gave her a confused look on my face cause I didn't hear a single word in Spanish. Luckily I had another Spanish speaking friend of mine standing next to me when this happened, so when we started walking back to clock in I asked him. "Did she really ask me about cash back in Spanish." Now he looked confused and said yeah why? So I told him I heard it in English and he just stopped in the middle of the aisle. Still confused he shrugged his shoulders and said that's weird!!! And we both whent back to work.

Can anyone tell me what happened ive never understood how this happened and I would really like to know if anyone else has expierienced anything like this! I find it very interesting but it is so far beyond my comprehension I just need some kind of explanation!
 
I've never experienced it, but you must have had a knowlege of Spanish in a past life. It might have been your most immediate past one, since the knowledge is "fresh".
 
From Conscious to Subconscious...


Goodmorning Pyrosfuel,


I'm no whiz, but I speak three different languages and understand two...here is how it works for me...


When learning a new language, it first sounds like music. The music of the German language (for example) is soooo hammer hard that I thought at first all Germans were angry with one another. The second thing that happens is I start recognising words, but then have to translate them into a language that I know...in my head... for me to understand, and by the time I have translated, the conversation has moved on and I am lost. The more words I understand the less this takes place and I start to understand a bit more of a whole conversation...but still need my full attention! In my native tounge, I can hear what is going on in a background setting and still understand even when I am doing something else...with a new language that doesn't happen, I must be fully aware. AND then... the moment that you experienced...(I remember my "first" time :rolleyes: )...I had just finished watching a very moving film with my husband (also tri-lingual) and after about 5 minutes I looked at him with questioning eyes and asked..."What language was this film, English or German??" That is the moment when the subconsciuos takes over and the language sits!!!


Ofcourse believing in pastlives (and more than one ) I find that some languages are much easier to learn than others...and yours might be Spanish! ;)
 
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A ver, leete esto, si no te das cuenta de que está en castellano y pensás que está en inglés creo que estamos ante algo importante. Aunque no necesariamente muy raro, después de todo, tenés conocimientos del idioma. :D


Like Aelfgyva, I as well read something and some times not even realize if it's in English or in Spanish, happens when you are fluent at a language or you are exposed to it all the time.


I heard of other people also getting drunk and speaking in German even though they didn't know the language. Or other people saying how they remembered everything from Spanish even though they hadn't used it in years. These people were amazed by the experience, although I personally doubt how much they remembered/spoke, specially because the only thing the person who remembered Spanish said was "Ocho y medio".


What I' m trying to say is, how much Spanish are you actually speaking? and how good is it? You took classes so there is some background there. I wouldn't associate it to a past life yet, after all you don't remember a past life in a Spanish speaking country nor you are saying that you loved Spanish since you were a little child or anything of the like. So it could be anything, probably just normal understanding of the language. Why you hear it in English? probably because of what Aelfgyva was saying.
 
Ok I think I explained it wrong. I can translate "you want!" The gusta. But I don't know the Spanish words "cash back"... If I was to go to a Spanish speaking country, I would only be able to to tell people I work hard, I would like a cheese burger and fries, and what part of my body doesn't feel up to par. It's been about eight years since I took Spanish and I can't say I learned a lot in that class. At least not as much as I would have liked anyways, :) . I understand the whole thing about when your learning a new language the conversation moves forward without you, and you try to process it faster, but even when I was in class there was always a clear difference between me hearing it in Spanish, and then me trying to translate in my head.


Recently there has been no hearing it in Spanish at all, then no attempt to translate it in my head cause I never heard a single Spanish word at all. I heard English words only even though two different people said she was speaking Spanish! I'm just blown away how that could happen. Thank you guys for the input however.
 
Pyrosfuel said:
Eh who knows I may be reading to far into it ;-)
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Could be. I am a native English speaker, but live in a Spanish-speaking country. 'Cash back' here, at least from what I have noticed, is...'cash back'---it's said in English (though I imagine she used a Spanish verb along with the phrase and pronounced it differently). English words stuck in the middle of Spanish sentences are usually pronounced differently because you're using your tongue and jaw in different positions.


It could be this and a mix of being on auto pilot at the checkstand. How many times do we hear 'You want cash back?' at the debit machine from the cashier? Probably every single time and we just don't register it anymore.
 
And many languages adopt foreign words that do not have an exact translation. Especially in the computer and internet age. You see this a lot on the internet.
 
When I was learning French (which I apparently knew in a PL), a point came where I heard the French word, and didn't need to translate it into English. Is it possible that you have your age wrong in the Civil War life, Pyro? For some reason, I was thinking about the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) in relation to you. If you were a 17 year old medic in that life, some knowledge of Spanish would be probable. By the Civil War, when we knew each other, you would still have been only 37 or so. My great grandpa, four times removed, was a teamster in the Mexican-American War. He received a land grant in Arkansas as a result. I had lots of relatives who got land grants in Texas before it was a state. Could you have served, gotten a land grant in Texas, (again, possibly learning Spanish) and then served as a doctor in the Confederacy? I think that might be what happened, as we were "there" at the same time. I could, of course, be wrong. See if it feels as if there is any truth in that.
 
Ok if I did in fact literally hear "cash back" at a register that would bake a little more sense to me that I may have heard the whole thing in English cause I've known that to be something that is said at a register, after you swipe your card. At this point I don't think it would matter if I heard anything in Spanish I probly still would have heard it entirely in English, cause I would associate the entire thing once I heard cash back! I will however meditate on the idea that I may have had a Spanish speaking past life. It litterally is the only language I've ever really had an interest in:)
 
Pyrosfuel said:
I will however meditate on the idea that I may have had a Spanish speaking past life. It literally is the only language I've ever really had an interest in:)
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That kind of answers it right there.
 
argonne1918 said:
That kind of answers it right there.
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Yup I think I've realized things in past lives that have interested me seem to show up in this one too.


As for how long this has been happening I've only expierienced it twice. The other one I don't really remember what was said but I know it was one of my friends, and he said one thing to the Spanish speaking janitor at work. One of the coolest guys I've met that I can't 100% understand, he always makes time to in passing to knuckle bump!! Very indearing if you ask me. Anyways I think he said or asked something about liking work. I was around an aile when I heard them and when I popped around the corner another acossiate said something to the tune of " I didn't know you knew any Spanish! That one through me off a little too cause again I heard nothing but English words, I just kinda brushed it off as mabey I miss heard it around the corner. But the second time with the cash register lady I just couldn't ignore that time cause it was right in front of me. I was Figureing if I was actually looking at their mouths I would have heard it in Spanish.
 
I once approached a clerk in a department store and asked for information on an item. She looked puzzled and told me she did not speak Spanish. The trouble was that I had not spoken to her in Spanish. Did she hear my English in Spanish and yet was not able to understand? LOL This is an interesting subject!
 
Pilgrim said:
I once approached a clerk in a department store and asked for information on an item. She looked puzzled and told me she did not speak Spanish. The trouble was that I had not spoken to her in Spanish. Did she hear my English in Spanish and yet was not able to understand? LOL This is an interesting subject!
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Maybe you just spoke with an accent. When I say "Desperate Housewives" ("Desprit hausvaaivss") or "Dwarves" ("Dvarfss") people think I`m speaking German and do not pay me any attention.I cannot say "Wood" either, sounds like "vooott". I just have troubles pronouncing the English W and sometimes the Rs in general, even in Spanish (This is what happens when lying to the phonoaudiologist...). So I don't think she heard your English in Spanish, you probably just said it weird.
 
Ok so there are Definatly two different things being spoken about in this thread. I'm also glad I can intrigue people on this site espescially! :) so on the one hand we have times where we are speaking the same language and we can't understand each other. Then obviously if there are two different languages in the mix like I have expierience people coming up to me and just speaking to me in Spanish being completly lost and not understand each other. Now this is the phenomenon, and I have a feeling this is going to continue happening to me as well cause I noticed it. I think I'm also going to throw a theory out there as well and ask if you guys have noticed anything like this. Thankfully I've attracted those who do speak other languages, I'm pretty sure you guys have expieriences that can either verify or you might be able to at least start noticing things like this and bring them to the table!


Alright here it goes! Even when speaking to someone in your own language, with a conversation, sometimes we can finish each other's sentences. Not strange because we use context clues to figure out what others are trying to say. It gets strange when we say what someone else was going to say before they do. So my questions now are do you guys think we can do this in other languages? And even further can we somehow translate them in our own language so our brain can understand? And lastly do you guys think we have the ability to do this automatically, like when it happens in our own language?


Let me know what you guys think, or if you've ever noticed anything stange like this, love you guys and thank you for your input! ;-)
 
This happened to me when I was 14 years old and we went to Mexico on vacation. There was a problem with the air conditioning and I overheard the technician speaking to another guest in Spanish. I then proceeded to tell my parents (who were completely confused) everything that was wrong and when it would be fixed. I had never taken a course before. My parents don't speak Spanish and I had no exposure to it other than that trip.


In later years I became obsessed with the language and now speak it fluently and have lived and worked in Spanish speaking countries. It all started with that moment... and before that of a "dream" I had as a small child where I'm speaking Spanish with family watching my father leave home. ;) I went to school the next day asking everyone what "el camino" meant... (the road/path).:rolleyes:
 
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