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I just recently discovered I have a super power: easily zoom out from a lot of chatter in a crowded small room.

The secret is that I am a non-native English speaker working in the US. I can understand and speak very well... when I am focused on it. If I am not consciously making an effort to understand the chat in the room, it is almost like white noise.

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Same for me and all the french/swiss french colleagues around me, I don't think its that special of a skill. I can easily block them talking right through me and they don't interrupt my thought process.

English is a bit harder since I am much better at it and subconsciousness catches up. Never worked in open space in my native language so no clue, probably the hardest.

> If I am not consciously making an effort to understand the chat in the room, it is almost like white noise.

Heh, I also feel the same, as a non-hungarian working in Budapest, and what's funny is that historically Hungarian was (is?) used by movies as the "white noise background language" by some directors.

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