Do you always understand every discussion you read or see?

Hello my friend Usually what I do is take what ever I can from the discussion and respond to that, or read the responses and respond that way, sometimes it is really hard to understand, but I often figure things out in my own way, and it works out pretty good, I think asking the question was fine, if someone does not understand me I would hope they would ask me to clarify as oppose to making me feel bad Thank you.

there are indeed many discussions that i fail to understand or am at loss for a response. sometimes it takes a long time before i come across a discussion to respond to...

Yes, Hatley, I've seen a few of those and have been at a loss to understand and one of them is by an American! She must type really fast and she leaves out letters, punctuation and spaces and then uses lots of capitals. They are very hard to understand sometimes so I just bypass those as I think - if you can't take the time to post your discussions properly then I can't be bothered to reply. As for our non English speaking friends, I figure they have done their best and when I check back they have responses from people who understood better than I what they were trying to say. I think if you ask them to explain, they get a bit flustered. I can understand that, as I would too and I would be embarrassed as well.

As I see it,If You don't understand a discussion due to it being too incomprehensible,You have the option either to a)ignore the discussion altogether,or b)ask the Person to clarify what they Mean,or c)make the best of a bad Job and try and answer the discussion as is..As it stands there's a load of clear to understand zero response discussions in the no response bin that nobody has picked up on,so it looks like most would stop at option a),never mind go further..so You're a considerate Person to take the interest and go that step further! I'm sure the person would be conscious of their limits in English if that was their problem,but would probably welcome more practise with someone interested in what they had to say!

Sometimes it is also hard for me to comprehend what the poster is trying to relay in their discussions. I try to interpret the writings in my own understanding and response according to what I understand it to be. Sometimes my interpretation turns out correct and my response get a credit from the poster but no less few become infuriated and tell me sarcastically like 'zandi, you don't know what you are talking about'. Either I got my message put across wrongly or others just refuse to accept my views. What ever it is, we can't please everyone and we are not here to please all. Like me, many are trying hard to make ourselves be understood by all especially the native speakers. Some might translate direct from their mothers' tongue and in the process distort the whole meaning of what they wanted to convey in their posts.

Hiya Hatley, nice to see you around in discussions again. For me, I'd go for politeness anytime. I would love to understand what the commentator is trying to say in the discussion and try my best by asking questions first; a few of them before answering; just to be clear of what he/she is asking. I think if someone sees our genuine interest to help answering the discussion, he or she won't get offended definitely.

i think you did the right thing,i would also have done so if i were in your place,i would reply to the discussion asking them to explain,if they were in my friends list otherwise i would just pass by their discussion.

I know exactly what you mean. There seem to be a lot of discussions like those that don't make any sense. First I'll do my best to try and figure out what they are trying to ask or say. If I can't figure it out then I'll just skip it.

Hi Hatley, I would help as well but you know I have tried to help someone before but they didn't respond back to me but i would love to help as asked them what they meant. Hugs. Tamara

I’ve come across some discussions like that too and it is difficult. Sometimes the discussion starter will comment on my response with something I don’t quite understand and it may be in the form of a question and I am stuck as to how to reply. Best thing to do is to ask for an explanation as tactfully as possible I guess.

When I do not understand a discussion I just leave. I check to list for another discussion that interest me and answer it.

No, I do not understand all their posts and some responses are really difficult to comment on. Firstly, they are just brief sentences. The substantial issue are missing. Secondly, some just write one sentence and expect me to read their minds. Thirdly, there are statements that are too tangential to make sense of.

Well, to the people whose using non english as a primary language ( like me ), having write your thought is kinda hard. And, if i post something and then the other comment that they can understand it, i will try to make my writing more clearly. Off Course i will never feel insulted because of that, especially if they asking me with a polite line. I will feel honour because usually if people found out that they dont understand the discusion starter mean, their just move the other discusion. So i apreciate their effor to understand more about my request. But i do feel insult if they write it in not Polite line ( more like a mocking line ) like "Please take a kindergarden class before you write in here", or "Hey, alien language is not accepted here", or "What the hell are you talking about? Are you retarded or something?". And many more. Thanks

I try my best to anwser any discussions. I don't care if I didn't get to the point of the person asking, it's just the way I am. Just me at least trying to anwsering it should be enough right? Well I try my best to find my way through. :D

no hatley. there are some discussion that i dont understand. when it is about high tech gadgets some of that i dont understand, upgrading your PC i dont understand. about some religions i dont understand and i just dont go there. i read it and learn if i can but i dont response. if i ran on a discussion that i dont understand but i think i can help then i would do the same thing that you did. i will ask to explain it a little more so i can understand it and help. thats a good thing to do hatley.... reaching out to people who needs a little advice or a suggestion.

hello Hatley, not all the time. and if that was the case even i wanted to response to that i choose not to anymore. i might have a wrong interpretation that my answer will not be of help. this way, i can avoid hurting his/her feelings. maybe next time.

Hi Hatley, Sometimes I wonder if anybody understand ME when I type up a discussion because there's so many parts to my stories! LOL I wouldn't mind if someone were to ask what I meant by this or that because I know I can be very confusing. So why not just be out with it and tell the person that you mean good and all but you don't understand what they're trying to say and that you do want to help. The person should take it to mean a nice thing and act accordingly however, if they don't then to hell with them! lol

I do not think that I understand every discussion that I read or see. Posters with English as a second language are not the only guilty ones. The first group may have difficulties in expressing themselves. The second group may be convoluted, or beat too much around the bush. At times I am also guilty of not making things clear to the reader. To avoid hard feelings I would use the following phrases or words I my responses to discussions which I have difficulty in understanding. They include "I assume...", "Presumably...", "I presume...", and "As I understand it..."

Hi Hatley I understand, sometimes it happens that we want to help someone but we don't know what exactly he/she wants to know, there is problem with there english. . . . they might already be in a stressful situation and we don't want him/her to feel any worse by taking our request the wrong way, these matters are sensitive and needs to be taken care of, just hope the person you politely asked understands that you want to help and not get offended for the language, such discussions are genuine and unfortunately sometimes people are not able to express themselves clearly through english, i only hope they get better at it with time. . . have a nice weekend Hatley!

My idea, you just take the positive side, while negative leave, maybe they tried to help with the bad experiences they have experienced. so do not make too much of a problem. and if you want to help them then help them as much as you