Isnt it weird that we 'think' in our native tongue?
Im jotting down a speech for my moms surprise party tomorrow, and Im writing it in ITalian, and im stumbling as I write because Im thinking in English and trying to write it out and I feel like its slowing me down...does this make sense?? I speak in Italian to my parents, im completely fluent in it, but its amazing how your brain directs you in your own language.. does this make any sense at all ????? can anyone relate? words and thoughts just FLOW faster and more naturally in your native language. just waned to vent. this is annoying me.
swags1016
Posted:
Member since
Re: For those fluent in any other language...
Anna I have the same problem when I am not in teacher mode. When I am in the classroom I only think in Spanish but any other time I use my Spanish I think in English. It's like having to flip a switch in my brain. When I was in Costa Rica I had the opposite problem I was translating my English through Spanish and it actually took me some time after I returned to the US to stop doing that!
Give JA a kiss for me!
anna
Posted:
Member since
Re: For those fluent in any other language...
oh good, im not alone If A Language TEACHER can relate, Im doing ok, not losing my mind!! phew
anna...English is definitely your dominant language...so you are going to think and dream in it...
if you were to emerge yourself in Italian...you would start to think and dream in Italian...
When I was in China...I started thinking in German...I think b/c I knew they didn't speak English...and German was the only other language I knew...
xjulietx
Posted:
Member since
Re: For those fluent in any other language...
I'm not fluent in Italian, but even when I was better at it, I could never think in Italian. My Fh is Polish and sometimes he dreams in Polish and mumbles things in his sleep, but he is almost completely thinking in English. That must be a mind trip to completely change the language of your thought process.
anna
Posted:
Member since
Re: For those fluent in any other language...
isnt it weird that we think 'in a language' ??? I think thats amazing and strange at the same time mind boggling
its also funny how, when id be in Italy for the summer, I was 'one of the Americans' that came to visit, and here I am 'Italian'...did anyone else go through that? You feel like you have to somehow represent the part of you thats not being represented
I know how you feel anna...I was labeled German my whole life...even though I am only 1/2...
the funny thing is that I had a 'D' sticker on my car in college (for Deutschland) and my dad and I switched cars and some German guy he worked with got really upset that he had the sticker b/c he wasn't German...when my dad said his wife was they guys just said 'oh'
how we label ourselves and others...
xjulietx
Posted:
Member since
Re: For those fluent in any other language...
FH is considered Polish when he is here in the U.S. (he was born there and has dual citizenship), but when he goes back to visit, he sometimes forgets words or more importantly, slang words, and he is labeled American until he explains that he moved to the U.S. as a teenager. Luckily, he was treated as a Pole, rather than an American, when we went to visit. Once though, a waiter tried to give him the wrong change and take a hefty tip, because he overheard FH and I talking in English. FH put him in his place and got the correct change.
Funny sidenote--Some Mormons were evangelizing in broken Polish in Warsaw (I didn't know they were struggling with the language, but of course FH did) FH replied to them in perfect English. The poor guys were SO surprised.
