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Having a "default" language with someone | ||
Tags: Code-switching | Speaking | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Olympia Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5986 days ago 195 posts - 244 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Old English, French | Message 1 of 20 04 May 2010 at 3:01am | IP Logged |
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I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find it anywhere on the forum. I'm curious if any of
you have ever felt strange hearing a person speak a language other than the one you normally hear them speak. For example, I still keep in touch with my high school Spanish teacher and I've known her for many years and she has always insisted that I speak to her in Spanish. Now that I have graduated and we don't see each other on a regular basis anymore, she tends to speak more English to me. I find this really weird--almost uncomfortable. It's like talking to an entirely different person. The same thing happened when I heard my Portuguese professor speak English recently. She had only spoken Portuguese to us from day one and avoided English at all costs. Then suddenly there was instance where she had to speak English, and it was really awkward for her and for us. My exchange student friends say the same when they hear their friends/family from home speaking English. What have your experiences with this been like? Does it happen to you? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5357 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 2 of 20 04 May 2010 at 3:13am | IP Logged |
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Well recently I was snooping on the internet, and found a website on which my Spanish professor is reading a poem in English, and it sounds really weird to me, to hear him speaking English.
For me, it always seems as though I get used to speaking with someone in one language, and then to speak in a different tongue seems ackward or strange. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| JacobTM Groupie United States Joined 5603 days ago 56 posts - 67 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 20 04 May 2010 at 4:12am | IP Logged |
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This is a big problem for language learners like myself. Even in Spanish class all the students speak to each other in English becuase that's everyone's native language.
I actually started conversing with a Political Science professor of mine in Spanish before the class started, but of course the class is taught in English. I talk to her in English when we're in the classroom, even if it's a question after class, but when I've met with her privately we speak Spanish. I think to a large degree, people don't like the speak socially in a "foreign" language. I know that when I was in Mexico some people would try to talk to me in English, but that it would always remove me from the conversation at large, since most people don't speak it. You isolate yourself by speaking a foreign language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Smart Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5344 days ago 352 posts - 398 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Latin, French Studies: German | Message 4 of 20 04 May 2010 at 4:42am | IP Logged |
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Has not happened to me yet, I'm used to people being either English or Spanglish.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| LatinoBoy84 Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5580 days ago 443 posts - 603 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Latvian | Message 5 of 20 04 May 2010 at 4:48am | IP Logged |
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I have managed to avoid this problem, by using code switching early in a relationship
(assuming the person is bilingual or are learning something I speak). I don't abuse the code switching to use it to mix things up once in a while. I know a lot of people find code switching annoying, but for bilingual friends I have found it to be the most effective means of communication. By using both languages (or three) I have effectively increased the number of Idioms/slang/inside & cultural jokes. I love hearing people use their native languages (or code switch with the two strongest languages), as expression is in its freest form. Edited by LatinoBoy84 on 04 May 2010 at 4:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| goosefrabbas Triglot Pro Member United States Joined 6373 days ago 393 posts - 475 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German, Italian Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 20 04 May 2010 at 4:50am | IP Logged |
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Hmm. In some of the language classes I've taken, I'd speak English or the other language during class with students, but outside of the classroom it was natural to only speak in English. I guess I generally just use the common language of the given circumstance. Inside class we're learning/practicing a language. Outside class, in no special situation, English is normal. Of course with certain friends we always speak a certain language or use a mix of one language and English, but I wouldn't classify speaking with them as the same as speaking with a random person.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ruskivyetr Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5486 days ago 769 posts - 962 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Russian, Polish, Modern Hebrew | Message 7 of 20 04 May 2010 at 5:01am | IP Logged |
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I find speaking English with the German teachers at the school awkward. It makes me feel uncomfortable because I
don't really like speaking English when I don't have to. I have to though when there are other kids around because the other kids in the German classes don't speak a lick of it (and we all here know why). I also find speaking with my Russian speaking friend in English awkward. Russian was technically her first language. My Russian isn't good enough to be really conversational, but I understand her fully and respond in English. It's really fun because I improve my listening comprehension. In a few weeks perhaps I will start to speak more and more in Russian :). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ericspinelli Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5788 days ago 249 posts - 493 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, Italian | Message 8 of 20 04 May 2010 at 5:15am | IP Logged |
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Although I do avoid speaking Japanese with other native English speakers unless necessary, I mostly experience this on the receiving end. Despite being a native speaker of English and despite my friends knowing this, my friends have complimented me for how well I can speak English because they normally only hear me speak Japanese. One of them who has been learning English recently still refuses to speak English with me because he's "so used to talking to me in Japanese."
1 person has voted this message useful |
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