In our classes at Brown and White Languages, we often supplement our lessons by having students watch videos or listen to audio recordings related to the topic at hand. While comprehending a foreign language can be challenging for students, we emphasize that they don’t need to understand every single word. Instead, we encourage them to get the gist of the content so that we can discuss it together in class.
So what does “ to get the gist of something mean?” – it means to understand the main points or idea of something without necessarily understanding all the details. It’s about comprehending the basic essence or overall meaning of something.
Examples:
Despite not speaking the language fluently, she watched the foreign film and got the gist of the storyline
Although I couldn’t follow every word of the presentation, I listened attentively and got the gist of the key points.
‘gist’ is pronounced as /jist/. It rhymes with the word ‘list’