Shortpacked! by David Willis

Discussion (13) ¬

1. 
   Stikibunn

   November 7, 2010 at 12:21 pm | # | Reply

   This idea used to scare the pants off me as a kid “How do we know we can really speak another language?”

   • 
     Doctor_Who

     August 24, 2012 at 11:18 am | # | Reply

     I had no problem with that, but I was shocked when a bilingual friend of mine told me the thought and dreamed in Spanish.

     Even I could speak fluent Spanish in his dreams. That blew me mind.

     • 
       Digidestined of Trust (Tim)

       February 3, 2013 at 1:34 am | # | Reply

       Actually, when I dream about talking to one of the Spanish guys I work with, I speak almost perfect Spanish. I think it’s because I’ve heard the words so much that even though I don’t understand all of it, it’s been unlocked to me during my dream. Then when I wake up, I tend to forget it.

       I’m pretty fluent now though and will be learning Japanese soon.
2. 
   Xandra

   November 17, 2010 at 12:29 am | # | Reply

   Same! Or I thought people who spoke other languages always knew English and translated it in their head or just heard us speaking their language magically.

   • 
     Digidestined of Trust (Tim)

     February 3, 2013 at 1:37 am | # | Reply

     I thought the opposite. When we went to Quebec, I thought that everyone spoke French, haha! Yeah, I was wrong. Also the first time we went to a silent dinner for the St. Rita’s School of the Deaf, I thought that the employees at the mall were deaf too
3. 
   Andres

   November 20, 2010 at 10:26 pm | # | Reply

   Funny, I also used to think that as a kid, I knew that there were foreign places, and that they spoke foreign languages, but when my parents told me they didn’t speak or know Icelandic at all, that seemed preposterous to my three year old mind.
4. 
   Cormac

   December 7, 2010 at 10:27 pm | # | Reply

   Want to really mess with a kid’s mind?
   Tell him, in his own language, that you think in your native language…watch his eyes go crossed.
5. 
   BD

   January 19, 2011 at 5:44 pm | # | Reply

   Stupid TARDIS translation system, always making the world understandable…

   • 
     Rognik

     April 20, 2011 at 2:02 am | # | Reply

     Unless you start speaking the words of that langauge. Then is somehow translates the reverse.

     • 
       yairm210

       August 21, 2011 at 5:32 pm | # | Reply

       Um, not really. In “The masque of Mandragora” the Doctor tells Sarah that understanding languages is a time lord gift (and way, way later they change the story to “Tardis telepathic field” or somesuch nonsense. Bah!). The point is, it doesn’t translate, it just makes it understandable.
       The question is, if you are multilingual, do you hear it in a specific language or does the concept translate to all languages simultaneously? After all it’s the Concept you’re understanding and your mind just translates it into words.
       To quote Mel Brooks, “We do not even have a language! All we have is this stupid acc-aunt!”
6. 
   Brandistock

   September 7, 2011 at 11:40 pm | # | Reply

   The Caucasian guy in panel 3 looks suspiciously like Largo from the dreaded, degraded self-abasement shojo strip, Megatokyo. Am I the only one who sees this?

   • 
     David Willis

     September 7, 2011 at 11:53 pm | # | Reply

     It’s a bearded dude wearing a Dragonball hair hat. You can see his real hair under it.
7. 
   dragoonchris

   January 10, 2012 at 11:12 pm | # | Reply

   That kid seriously tells how silly American Otakus are.

   You can tell Willis is an EVA fan because the two Asians dress like Shinji and Asuka.