L1/L2 divergence, part 4.

There was a disconcerting incident two days ago, the precise nature and significance of which I've been pondering. 

J and I were on one of our audiobook drives in the country, listening to the German version of J.M. Barrie's story Peter Pan, which my wife has been reading in the original to J at bedtime. Suddenly J announced in some distress that he couldn't understand what was going on in the story. He bust into tears and wanted to stop. After a few minutes he calmed down and wanted to resume listening, and thereafter it was business as usual: I could see him paying attention, reacting with facial expressions to what was going on in the story, and seeming to enjoy himself.  

Whenever we read/listen to/watch the same story in both languages, I always ask J questions about how well he understands it comparatively. Up until now he has either said that there is no difference in understanding, or that he understands the German version better. This time, when I asked him, he said that he understands the English version of Peter Pan better.

Now on the one hand, I don't dispute that this is simply true, and it seems to me that the incident is more evidence of the L1/L2 divergence that I have been noticing for the past several months and documenting since early March of this year. 

On the other hand, I think there are some mitigating circumstances, or differences in the circumstances. First, I've noticed in the past that J's level of concentration is greater while listening to an audiobook in the car than while being read to at home. At home, he tends to be playing with something (stuffed animals, toys, flashlight, etc.) while being read to. Consequently, he tends to drift along over passages he doesn't really comprehend without registering the fact with the reader, or else he simply says he does understand when he doesn't. I noticed this with Unten am Fluss several weeks ago, where it took me quite a while to really see that he wasn't understanding large portions of the story. In the car, however, where he is confined to his car seat and where he (intentionally on my part) doesn't usually have things to play with while listening, he concentrates on the story much more. So it's logical that he would also register non-comprehension in that setting.   

Secondly, like Unten am Fluss, Peter Pan is a discursively rather challenging story. My wife has pointed out on numerous occasions that even though it is written for children, in many ways it seems as though an adult audience is being targeted, between the lines so to speak. This is especially the case in ch. 2 (which occasioned the above crisis), where the parents are self-reproachfully recalling the events that led up the the disappearance of the children. 

Thirdly, when my wife reads Peter Pan to J, she reads quite slowly. The audiobook narrative is indeed very fast. 

Lastly, my wife often pauses in her reading to explain words and references to J. I do this while reading, but not often on our audiobook drives, in order not to fumble with the ipod while driving. 

So those are some mitigating factors. Still, I don't doubt that there is some real L1/L2 divergence behind the incident.