All the kids in my class mumble and stuff and it is hard to understand them. Especially in German. Come on guys, why can’t you speak clearly? This is a common thing I have noticed many people doing it
Washutokkinbout? Yucangheawhaimsayn?
My husband says my accent is that I enunciate more than most people. It seems like a pretty low bar to me. 
Honestly, I’m not sure if I’m losing my hearing or if it’s the rest of the world talking with mushmouths. Add an accent to that, like the woman doing my pedicure the other day, and I’m sunk. I have no idea what she was asking me half the time, but my daughter was there to help me out.
Out of consideration for us geezers, *PLEASE *speak clearly!! KTHXBYE!
What?
SHE SAID SHE THINKS YOUR HAT IS ON BACKWARDS!
Sheesh, kids these days.
They mumble “and stuff”? Are you certain they’re trying to speak German? Perhaps they’re mumbling (and stuff) in Esperanto, which is wildly popular amongst the kids in my area, but you’re expecting to hear German. If that’s the case, switch your expectations to Esperanto (and stuff) and go from there.
not even just in German but all the time
You are in college. They are drunk. It isn’t mumbling, it is slurring. Get with the program.
Why don’t you use proper capitalization and punctuation?
I AM hard of hearing. I just tell people I have no clue what they’re going on about and they shut up. This also works with New Canadians / New Americans whose accents leave you wondering what the Sam Hill the topic of their conversation with you might be. [I can’t understand many standard English speakers, and sorry but I haven’t a clue what you’re saying].
Part of the problem, though, is the music of the spoken language. You might start out clearly, telling me something, but then you turn away from me, or drop your voice, and I’ve lost you. I can’t lip read (which I’m told I do more than I realize) or infer what came next.
It’s like hearing constant jokes with no punchlines. After a certain period of this, after trying to deal with the frustrations … silence works better.
And please, when you interact with people who have trouble hearing, don’t say, “Oh never mind” when they ask you to repeat yourself. That’s going to end in tears!
an seanchai
Carry a pad of paper and a pen with you at all times. When you hear them mumbling, or slurring, hand them the pad of paper and pen, and politely but firmly ask them to write out what they’re trying to get across.
Great thread!
Julian, our grandson is 8 and we cannot understand him sometimes!
He gets my attention, “Hey Opa Bill?”… and his speech goes downhill from there and both of us get so frustrated he will just stop the whole thing with, “never mind!” and stalk away.
I LOVE Prelude’s answer above and will use it next month when I see him for his birthday! I think I will make it one of his presents. Get a very NICE notebook with a pen suited to his interests (they make those, right, like with pictures around them?), and just make a great presentation out of it.
I too am getting hard of hearing (too much sex and rock’n roll - I was never much on drugs) as well, so maybe I’ll put the onus on me somehow, like: “Julian, your ol Opa doesn’t hear so well these days, and when you don’t move your mouth properly when you speak, like this: (demonstrates by enouncing something) it’s tough for me to understand you, so I got you this to help both of us.”
Good idea - bad idea? It’s been a while since I’ve been a parent and now I’m a kid-spoiling Opa, so give me some advice!
Thanks
Q
What are you comparing this to? The crisp, clear enunciations of someone like Edward Everett or Caruso that you remember from your youth?
Why can’t [del]the English[/del]Americans teach their children how to speak?
It’s probably as good an idea as your going to find, but I wouldn’t expect too much from it. Especially at age 8, writing things down will be seen as too much trouble by him. He’s also likely to have lousy handwriting. 
From his point of view, his friends and his parents can understand him, so he’ll be reluctant to change for you and will see the problem as being with you. And to a certain extent, he’ll be right, of course. I don’t think kids mumble more today than they used to, but as adults lose their hearing and, more importantly, are exposed to it less, they notice it more.
I don’t think that last point can be overemphasized: an unfamiliar accent or speech pattern will almost always sound like mumbling until you get used to it. Accents and speech patterns change with generations, and kids normally have speech impediments and patterns of talking that change as they grow older. Not being exposed to those things regularly, however, makes it harder to understand. My best friends have a two-year old, whose speech is still developing and so naturally is indistinct. They can usually make out what he’s trying to say, but I usually can’t. The reason is that they spend all day listening to him, of course.
An eight-year old will of course be far more advanced in his speech than a two-year old. Nevertheless, speech impediments are still not uncommon at that age, and kids simply don’t have as much control at that age as adults do. Their mouth is also still changing–Julian’s probably still losing teeth and having new ones come in. Plus, he’s going to use slang and tell short-but-rambling stories about his friends whose names you’ve never heard playing video games you’ve never seen and quoting cartoon characters you’ve never watched, none of which he will know to explain and all of which will make it exceptionally hard to pick things up from context.
None of this is to suggest that children shouldn’t be taught how to relate to adults, including seniors, and to do things like looking at the person they are speaking to and speaking slowly and clearly, but these are hard things to teach by yourself. If the parents are on board, making him write things out or repeat himself until he’s understood might be valuable lessons, but they won’t be pleasant for him, and without the parents backing you up, you’ll just make him more reluctant to communicate with you.
The good news is that he’ll eventually outgrow bad speaking habits and sloppy pronunciation anyway, as long as he’s exposed to adults who model better speech. If his parents decide it’s not worth making a fuss so the kid can talk to Opa, at least they aren’t condemning him to a life of mushmouthiness.
Anyway, the notepad might be worth a try, especially if Julian really likes you, but I wouldn’t expect too much. Good luck!
I speak better Esperanto then I do German. Hmm. Where are you? Maybe I’m secretly from there.
For Alan
Wow! THANK YOU, SIR! (yup, I know I’m yellin’)
That is some awesome insight and makes a lot of sense - are you a teacher 'n stuff? (kidding! I just had to throw that in there, because my Julian has got me saying it, now).
For some reason, this kid and I have a great rapport and I can make him laugh and vice versa. In short, he’s just a kick to be around and I love him very much.
For that reason, I wouldn’t want to do anything detrimental which may make it uncomfortable for him to be around me. He and his parents live quite a distance away, so I don’t get to see him as much as I would like and I need to make those times special.
Heretofore (my favorite word of all time!), instead of asking “what???”, I’d say something like, “Did you just say…” and come up with something silly but similar. He’ll laugh and then slow down a bit.
Because of my dementia, my time with him might be limited, so I want us to enjoy each other while we both can.
We’ll work it out and thank you once more for taking the time to give me your advice!
Quasi (Bill)
I spent a year doing audio transcriptions of market research sessions, and I definitely noticed a difference in the speech of young men versus young women, with the young men being really hard to understand. I think it’s a peer-pressure thing, it’s not seen as a good thing to be articulate and to speak your mind for young men, whereas for young women that’s quite a valued trait to have.
That’s pretty much the reason I was going to suggest. It’s fear of putting your head above the parapet and standing out when you could just be chilln wid ur bredrin n dat.