Learning without understanding

We can learn words without associating any meaning to them. This is very much what goes on when we learn the lyrics to a song. We sing along effortlessly, never stopping to think about what the song might mean. If someone were to stop and ask us: what is that song about? We might have a vague understanding, but nowhere near what you’d expect. A significant amount of everyday conversation is like this. We respond to questions and make conversation as if we were all singing a wonderfully complex song. We follow the pattern, we know the rhythm of it, and we produce the appropriate words.