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Do you know which language you speak? | ||
Tags: Code-switching | Native Fluency | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6904 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes  5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 1 of 29 15 February 2008 at 7:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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Do you know which language you are speaking, in which language was written something you've just read, what language are you hearing on TV?
It may sound a little provocative ;) but that's what I mean: how often don't we realize (consciously) which language (usually one of those that we know fluently) are we just using? How fluent one has to be in his target language to experience it? In which situations? In my opinion, that may happen ex. if we spend more time with groups of people that speak different languages, if we usually use Internet in more than one language(it's easy to open a new website that's in another language than the previous one), if we watch TV in more than one language (specially in background, without paying to much attention). Edited by Julie on 15 February 2008 at 7:18pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| DrZero Newbie United States Joined 6314 days ago 13 posts - 14 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 2 of 29 15 February 2008 at 8:21pm | IP Logged | ||
On occasion I recall a conversation I've had with a Chinese person, and can't remember which language it was in. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| lloydkirk Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6414 days ago 429 posts - 452 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 29 15 February 2008 at 8:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Interesting question...
I don't know if anyone else has experienced this but the languages I'm learning, in this case French and German, have started to sound more and more like English to me. It's very strange. It feels like I've tapped into some bizarre dialects of English that use to be beyond my comprehension. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| victor Tetraglot Moderator United States Joined 7319 days ago 1098 posts - 1056 votes 6 sounds Speaks: Cantonese*, English, FrenchC1, Mandarin Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 29 15 February 2008 at 11:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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Julie, I have thought about this sometimes, but you're right that it has never really been discussed here. It happens to me all the time, not knowing in which language I learned about something, or the language of a conversation. I think it's just a sign that the language is internalized and is independent of other languages that you speak.
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| ilanbg Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6411 days ago 166 posts - 189 votes Speaks: French, English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (classical), Persian | Message 5 of 29 15 February 2008 at 11:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've never personally had this problem, but that is perhaps because compared to most members on this forum I am
a language novice. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6551 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 6 of 29 16 February 2008 at 12:12am | IP Logged | ||
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This is pretty weird. I traveled a couple weeks with a friend in Thailand. When I think about all our conversations, it feels like they were in English. She doesn't speak English though.
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| ziedariana Tetraglot Newbie United States Joined 6198 days ago 19 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English, Arabic (Written)*, French, Italian Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 29 16 February 2008 at 3:51am | IP Logged | ||
It happens to me often. Especially TV programs. I, personally, do not think it is a sign of competency in a language. I may experience this with a language that I am fluent in, as I may experience it with a language I am struggling with...My opinion of course!! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6440 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 8 of 29 16 February 2008 at 4:07am | IP Logged | ||
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I experience this fairly frequently, primarily, but not only, with Italian. One time I was listening to a song by an Italian artist, and was jarred a bit to hear English; I had to rewind to confirm that the rest of the song actually had been in Italian. Another time, I struggled to remember the day after a film what language it had been in; I was almost certain it had been English, until I remembered that I'd learned the Italian word for 'bat' (pipistrello) from it.
With conversation, I usually have no such methods to confirm which language I was speaking, and to make it all the more complicated, my conversations with most of my local friends tend to weave in and out of Italian and English, sometimes with bits of absolutely random other languages interspersed (local dialect, German, and rarely others). Other times, it's clear, but only because I know that the person and I only have one language in common. What's more annoying is to be on autopilot and not thinking about what I say, and babble on for a while in a language that the person I'm speaking to doesn't understand. Fortunately, this happens rather rarely. Other then when I've been traveling or switching languages (ie, talking in Italian and English, interspersed with reading a German newspaper, I may use German with 3rd parties without thinking) it's negligible, and even then, it mainly occurs with set phrases like 'no thanks' or apologies after bumping into someone. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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