Imagine you are visiting a foreign country. You know a smattering of the local lingo.

What happens when you engage a native in conversation? Do you listen to hear or do you listen to understand?

Think about it. What happens to your listening style when you listen to someone with a weird accent? Do you focus on hearing or on understanding?

In normal encounters we tend to say “I hear you.” But when someone sounds a bit strange or when you are listening in a foreign tongue, then you are more likely to say “I understand you.”

When we listen in our comfort language, we make word assumptions and jump ahead in sentence construction as the other person speaks. But when the verbal sounds are foreign, we focus our listening to understand what they say.

Now you know why I speak funny. Try it, if you want to be understood and not just heard.

Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.