聞ける / 限 / 別に嫌い / あすか

Hi,


1. This is from a conversation between two students:

老人ホームなんかでお年寄りのパートナーとして便利され始めているって聞いたことあるわ。そう いう話も聞けるのかしら。

I believe the first sentence means "I've heard that they (= robot pets) are starting to be used as partners for people in old folks' homes or something."

I would like the second sentence to mean "I wonder whether you've heard that too", but I do not understand the use of the verb 聞ける. What is that? Potential form of 聞く? How does that fit?


2. １２日の４限の後だけど、時間、大丈夫？

What is this 限? Could it be some kind of division of a school or university day?


3. This is in a list of expressions headed 説得する, so, as far as I can tell, the speaker is wanting to encourage someone to do something:

でも、別に嫌いってわけじゃないんでしょう

Does this mean, essentially "It won't be that bad"?


4. な、なにか笑うところありました？あすか、ギャグって ました？

Translation given: "Did I say something funny? I joked?"

What is あすか?

1)
It's potential, but the subject of 聞ける is "I/we". I suppose they are talking about an interview, a lecture or like that.

2)
限/限目 is a counter for "class" mostly in collage/university, thus, ４限 means "the fourth class (of the day)".

3)
That's 嫌い, "you don't like it".

4)
It's the speaker(a girl)'s name.

1) Right, they are talking about a lecture at university. I'm still not sure if I get this though.

a) Does 話 refer to the lecture (rather than talk about use of robot pets in old people's homes, as I thought)?

b) Does the sentence mean "I wonder if I/we will be able attend that lecture too"? In other words, the speaker is wondering whether he/they will have the time available, for example?

c) In the event that the subject is "we", what would be the pupose of も? (I figure that if the subject is "I" then も refers to the speaker going in addition to the addressee going.)

3) I was perhaps paraphrasing too much. I thought it meant, more literally, "but it's probably not the case that you will especially dislike it" (therefore you should try it). Is that correct?

1) a)
話 refers to a topic in the lecture, thus, そういう話 means "a topic/topics such like 老人ホームなんかでお年寄りのパートナーとして便利され始めている".

b)
Therefore, no.

c)
I suppose you already know the answer.

3)
Yes, that's right.