At some point in your professional life you've probably encountered a situation that left you at a loss for words. You wanted your questions answered and issues clarified, but you didn't even know what to ask because your frame of reference didn't provide you a starting point. Such moments occur because conversation is inherently a cooperative endeavor, and we can merely do our best to understand what's being said. Even when something doesn't seem to make sense, we automatically try to make it fit the context. The ensuing confusion often proves amusing in personal conversations ("Oh! I thought you said such-and-such; that's why I answered you with so-and-so") ... To read this entire article you must be a MultiLingual subscriber. For immediate access to the current issue, subscribe to the digital version. Already a subscriber?

Above excerpt taken from the June 2010 issue of MultiLingual published by MultiLingual Computing, Inc., 319 North First Avenue, Suite 2, Sandpoint, Idaho 83864-1495 USA, 208-263-8178, Fax: 208-263-6310. Subscribe