I still wouldn't use 'understanding' in that context. It makes as if a static typing compiler sounds "magical". I could say "python is better at understanding

I still wouldn't use 'understanding' in that context. It makes as if a static typing compiler sounds "magical". I could say "python is better at understanding what the programmer wants to do". But I think you'd disagree with me. The compiler is doing lexical analysis of the program being fed into it. That's it.