It's a tough question: The skill of figuring out some meaning from context isn't all that hard (for most people), but it takes practice. It's also a lot easier if you're fluent in some other language.
So the related question is, how reasonable is it to expect people to be multilingual? In a lot of the US, it's pretty close to useless. Saying I'm fluent in the language of every country within 800 miles is just saying I speak English, and it's pretty rare that I even have an opportunity to use anything else.
So, while it would be nice if people could manage to guess meaning from languages they don't speak, it's just not going to be something that everyone can do.
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chiming
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Date: 2010-07-26 06:25 pm (UTC)From:So the related question is, how reasonable is it to expect people to be multilingual? In a lot of the US, it's pretty close to useless. Saying I'm fluent in the language of every country within 800 miles is just saying I speak English, and it's pretty rare that I even have an opportunity to use anything else.
So, while it would be nice if people could manage to guess meaning from languages they don't speak, it's just not going to be something that everyone can do.