Learning English

I couldn't understand a word she said!
Poor Daughter couldn't understand what Old Mother Howard was telling her in this episode of Shakespeare Speaks. Unfortunately, we've all been in the situation where we don't understand someone or something, so let's look at some great expressions to say "I don't understand!"

To do

Listen to this audio of eight people talking about things they understand or don't understand. How many of these people are saying "I understand"?

Do the activity

Answer
Three people are saying that they understand. The others are all confused - just like Daughter! 

To do

Now listen to the audio again while you read the transcript. Focus on the phrases in bold - do they mean "I can understand" or do they mean "I can't understand"?

Then try this quiz to find out if you are correct.

How did you do?
We hope that this lesson has been crystal clear and it hasn't all gone over your head! We are sure that there have been times in the past when you have felt confused like Daughter though! We would love to hear all about it.

Over to you

We asked you to tell us about a time when you said "It's all Greek to me." Here are some of your stories:

Juan Carlos, Colombia

Hello, everybody, I am Juan carlos, and  I want to tell you, about of last situation or time when  I said "It's all Greek to me." 

Probably it was when I was a business reunion and the accountant started to explain us the financial states our company. Unfortunately  my knowledges about this topic was not good.

What or who did you find difficult to understand?

I found difficult to undertand all graphics that he used to explain us those financial states.

Why did you find it difficult to understand?

I found it difficult to understand because my work is related to technological advances of the company. I'm not an accountant, I'm a electronic technical.

What happened? Did you understand in the end or is it still as clear as mud?!

yes, finally I did it, but  it wasn't easy.  because  some phrases that he used sounded for me gobbledygook too.

Probably that was the  more boring day in my life.

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Mario, Italy

The other day while I was teaching italian language to a group of english students, one of them were always saying “It’s all greek to me”. “It’s italian, not greek” I replied. Then they explained that it was just an idiom.     

So I started to talk about some italian customs and after a while they said “You are talking for England”.

“England? I am talking about Italy!” I replied. “Excuse my French, but could you shut up” I added.

Then they explained that it was another idiom so that I got the picture.

When my lesson ended, they told me that they would go to a restaurant and go Dutch. I was confused. “Go Dutch?” I asked. Obviously, it was another idiom.

After such a complicated lesson, I decided that before the next lesson I would have a couple of drinks for Dutch courage.

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Ia, Georgia     

How  the opinions differ : we  all  hope  for  more  and  more  and  can’t  wait  to  find  out  what  will be  next.  Some  of  us  go  to  the  fortune-tellers , others  are  afraid  of  them  because  predictions  can be  very  stressful. In  my  case, I  have  never  had  such  a  visit. I know from  my experience that  there are things which are  impossible to explain why – I say  It’s  all  Greek to me .For example , the death  of  my  brother  at  the  age of 16  out  of the  blue….

 Another   case  is when  you  get  the  picture.  Once  I  came  across  some  phrases   which  were all  Greek  to  me.  However  , I  knew  every  single  word .’’ Out  of  the  blue’’-just this phrase  was one  of them. Later, thanks  to  you , I   got  the  picture and   step  by  step  I could  realize  the  importance  of  them.  On Fridays,  I  used  to  look forward  to learning  and writing  about  the  new  phrase, then  another , another  and  another.. If  blabbermouths  say  that  I  lost  my  mind , my  answer  will  be   pigs  might  fly !

Excuse  my  French, but  I  don’t  need   Dutch  courage  to talk  for  England. And  I  talked: My  pupils also learned  these  phrases  by heart, wrote  some topics and painted. Because  of  the  exhibition ,which  took  place on the 2nd of June(at  school) , blabbermouths  were  green  with  envy , in  the  pickle  and I  sent  their gossips  packing .And  there  was a  method  in  my  madness . So  thank  you  for  being  there  for  me.

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Jean Marie

Busy in my garden, I couldn't prevent myself to overhear, through the hedge, a conversation between my neighbours. One, who grew up in an environment of Polish migrants, the other, an old paysan born and bred in my small village. Even if they were speaking loudly, I suppose to make themselves understandable, I couldn't t make head nor tail of what they were saying.

One, was using deformed expressions common in his foreign family and the paysan, using a bit of patois which is, excuse my french, a  polluted form of our language, both men's exchanges of words aggravated by our strong local accent. Being out of context, unable to see anything, body language, to know the subject of the conversation, all that was as clear as mud.

I went back to the house where the radio was broadcasting an odd song. What on earth they are talking about in that song, I asked my wife. Don't bother, she said, it's rap music, it's not cristal clear.

I took refuge in one of my favorite Dickens novel. Reading the chapter where Pickwick was hiring his valet, the cockney, Sam Weller I realised that cockney language is also all Greek to me. But as I love Dickens' stories I finally got the gist of Sam's expressions.

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Mariko, Japan

One day I went for a drive with my friend, is a skillful driver and loves a vehicle. On the other hand it has not been since I got a driving licence, and I have thought a vehicle is very enough just to move and stop whenever I want.

So, apparently he was not satisfied with my handling, then he began to talk about his philosophy about a vehicle. He said, "Run with a wind!", or "Feel something through a handle!", etc. I did not see at all what I had to feel from the handle. It was all Greek to me.

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Ania

Few months ago I met Kate who always talks for England. She believed in supernatural and frequently visits fortune tellers. She recounted her last encounter. I truly attempted to get the picture but it went over my head. She used gobbledygook to describe some energy and universe. It was all Greek to me and I said it. She invited me for a coffee and fries. Ordinarily , I would go home but it wasn't an Indian summer so I decided to drink something hot and go Dutch. During her speech, I got the gist - she needed to change the environment for a while and when in Rome. In the end she made a decision to have her fortune told by somebody else and see her own astrologer!

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Khalid, Yemen

Early in this year as a foreign student studying in India, it was very difficult to get the picture of any topic. Beside to their special accent of English, which not easy to understand in the beginning, they have mixed it with their own language and everything turned as clear as mud.

The worse thing is that I am the only foreign student in the class and the one of main purpose, which for I had traveled to India, is to improve my English, but excuse my French, my classmates are worse than I am, so the environment unreliable for improvement and I have noticed that the improvement curve has declined.

One problem I get to deal with it by myself, now come to teaching staff, few of them - may be three out of ten- speak understandable English and I can get the gist of their lectures, but the other their lectures are all Greek to me, especially when they speak totally Indian I can’t make head nor tail.

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Gonzalo

Many times, you're taught by surprise. That's what happened in Lesbos, that beautiful island between Greece and Creta. We came there and went down the boat with plenty of people over the dock, crying to offer their services, of course, that was Greek to me, in both ways.

Finally, we chose one guy, and were taken to a nice, clean and smart room inside a confortable family house. There was a common shared kitchen, and we decided to make the dinner for everybody, as a welcome present. The parents didn't like that idea, they preferred to go Dutch, and again, that was Greek to us.

But you know, when you're in Rome..., so when you're in Lesbos, you can do the same. The next day, in an Indian summer's hottest days, it seemed us to be a good idea to have a trecking through the mountains near there. Our host mum began to talk trying to advise us about the risks for that trip: deshidratation, wild animals, dangerous falls, bandits and robers, etc. She took one hour and half in a non-stop monologue, while we preparing in spite of her. Finally, I cut her off by saying "sorry, but you're talking for England". Still nowadays I keep on thinking ¡that was Greek to her!

End of session

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