Posted by fface · April 29, 2016 · 3 replies
Hi,
What does "I can relate to..." mean in these context?
1. "I feel like I can relate really well to people who are trying to study another language because I’m studying another language. So when I meet someone that’s studying a language, I feel like I can relate to them and give them some tips."
2. "This book discusses issues that many teenagers can relate to."
Thank you very much.
Hi fface,
To relate to something means that you can understand what something is like because you have had a similar experience.
For example, "I can relate to the character John in this book",means that John is maybe a similar age from a similar background and has similar problems to me, so I understand how he feels.
The problems in the book are typical teenage problems, therefore the teenagers can understand them better than maybe an older person could.
Hope that helps!
Thank you very much for your answer.
Here is one of the definitions of 'understand' quoted from an online dictionary:
[to know how someone feels or why they behave in a particular way
Sometimes I don't understand James.
You don't understand what it's like/how it feels to have to beg on the streets]
What's the difference between relate to and understand here?
eg: Sometimes I don't relate to James.
I don't think you have to be able to relate to someone to be able to understand them. I can watch the behaviour of a millionaire and understand how they might reach decisions. But I can't relate to them as I was never in the same situation.
In the second example, I can't relate to the behaviour of the homeless person because I was never in the same position. To have been in the same shoes at some point in ones life.
