ABSTRACT
I once held the belief that speakers of other languages talked faster than speakers of English, but I couldn’t understand why. Consequently, for a term project in a German course, I analyzed the speed with which Germans and Americans spoke. To my amazement, there was no difference. Some Germans spoke rapidly, but so did some Americans. I accepted this new truth, but it still didn’t make sense until, a few years later, I discovered the reason. I had been trying to hear each German word, one word at a t ime. When listening to English, I l istened selectively; I didn’t try or need to hear all of the words. If I heard but a few, I could guess the rest because I had a mental grammar and a communicative competence system for English.
