Rosalie B. schrieb:
Anne Rogers wrote:

You also have the pressure of being expected to understand, it isn't
always acceptable for adults to ask "silly" questions - and it can be

I am too old to be bothered by people thinking that I am asking silly
questions. And have been for a long time. I am every teacher's
nightmare.

Well, I don't fear asking stupid questions either, but asking questions
_all the time_ in a business meeting will make everyone feel
uncomfortable, besides there's usually a "time limit" meaning you can't
make a 1h appointment into a 2 or 3 hour appointment because there's
other people waiting.

When I was an exchange student, and even now still, people think,
because my english is fairly good, that I understand everything, but I
can't understand cultural references. I don't know what people mean when
they say "That annoying barney caracter" or "she's just like that chick
in bones". I can and do make jokes/ironic comments myself, which
sometimes confuse native speakers because they think I'm being serious
when in fact I am not. But what I'm trying to say is: even though I'm
fairly fluent in english and can communicate everyday things very well,
as soon as the subject turns very specific I do have difficulties
understanding.

For example: I spin and knit and my english vocabulary in both subjects
is fine. I can tell what a knit stitch is what a purl stitch is, I know
k2tog and ssk and yo, etc. Same with spinning. I know s-twist from
z-twist, worsted from woolen, I know top whorl spindles and low whorl
spindles and what a ratio on a spinning wheel means.
And now here's the funny part: because I've "learned" both spinning and
knitting from online sources I do not know the german terms for
everything. I know the important terms, like rechte Maschen and linke
Maschen and Umschlag, but other things I'm pretty lost when I look at
german knitting patterns. Same with spinning.
But with my sons hearing perception problems... Well, I know all the
german terms but translating the into english? I'm totally lost there.
Is is hearing perception? Is it auditive perception, is it even
perception or some other term?
So, when talking to someone about knitting I do fine, but the minute
they ask me about my sons problems I can't express myself well at all.
It would probably be the same when faced with tax systems and even with
the different education system.
Kindergarten. It's a german word that gets used in english, but it's a
totally different thing. In Germany Kindergarten is what kids go to from
3-6 years of age. Then they enter 1st grade at School. Some children go
to preschool between kindergarten and 1st grade. If they go to childcare
before they're three they go to a "Krippe" which translates to "crib"
but if I said "My daughter's finally in the crib" you'd think I'm
talking about her bed while I'm actually talking about childcare. When
you say "My 5 y.o. just entered Kindergarten" I'd be wondering why the
hell you waited two years, and if I say "Sam went to preschool for a
year before entering 1st grade" you'd be giving me strange looks because
you're not aware that the system's different. (Or maybe you wouldn't
because you know about the different systems, but I think you get what I
mean.)

Anyway. I should maybe write books instead of posting to newsgroups with
my inability to stop writing ;-)

cu
nicole