Infants can discriminate between phonetic differences in foreign languages, but by ten to twelve months this ability typically becomes restricted to their native tongue only. Neuro-A-typicals, however, can retain this ability.
It’s just another one of those things that can be a blessing or a curse for Aspies.
I experienced it as a curse, when I went to visit my ancestral country→ Finland. As a child, my parents spoke in Finnish to me and I grew up answering them in English (even though I did begin to learn how to talk using both languages). When I arrived in Finland (traveling there this time without anyone along who knew me), I wasn’t too concerned over being able to understand what Finns were saying. Hardly any of them were speaking English back then. The younger generation knew English, but most were too shy to use the language. Anyhow, there I was — shocked to discover how unable I was to comprehend what anyone was saying! It didn’t make any sense to me how that was happening. Now, knowing what I know about neurological differences, it makes perfect sense!
Because aspies are more aware of novelty, I was more aware of the phonetic differences existing within the Finnish language than the neurotypical Finns. Most Finns do not have as difficult of a time understanding Finnish people from other parts of Finland. To me, even though everyone was speaking the same language there, it was as if a different language was being spoken as I traveled through the different parts of that country.
When I stepped off the train, at the station in my father’s hometown, it was as if that was when I arrived in Finland (to me, the Helsinki airport area wasn’t ‘Finnish’ enough). It was a relief to finally be able to know what people were saying, but it was a frustration at the same time because I felt too awkward to respond in English. My memory would not translate English words into Finnish (thanks to communicating one-way for so long), but that was no fault of Asperger’s Syndrome.
I did get to experience the blessing side of a powerful phonetic discerning ability when I was in Panama (Central America). I didn’t expect to understand anyone there, especially being up in the jungle far away from the more populated areas. I also didn’t expect anyone to understand me. Those natives only knew Spanish. I was only familiar with English and Finnish. They had never seen a blonde, blue-eyed gringo¹ before. This time, the shock came to them (rather than to me, as it did when I was in Finland). It happened when they were teaching me to speak Spanish. I had no idea why everyone burst into a roar of laughter the first time I uttered a sentence in Spanish. I thought I must have said something incorrectly. Everyone’s hysteria was actually from the opposite reason. They were stunned to hear me speaking as if I was born and raised there. The humor came from my looking so unlike them, but yet, at the same time, I sounded exactly like them when I spoke Spanish. I guess that kind of shock would be like hearing a strange parrot suddenly talking to you and sounding just like you—totally unexpected.
The ability to create unusual solutions to problems stems from the same neurological package that this permanent phonetic discernment comes from. This is important to remember whenever you hear Aspergers being referred to negatively as a developmental disorder. Not everything about neurotypicals is a blessing. Just like Aspies, NTs are cursed in their own ways. It all depends on the situation and, given that the majority of people are NT, those curses don’t receive the same kind of attention.
¹ I was told that I would ‘fit in’ and be far more accepted in this remote area of Panama than I could be in the US. I didn’t believe it until I experienced being treated like a queen! It’s actually true that American Aspies are more welcome in some other cultures than their own.
