[OFF TOPIC] Language Thread

[Olympian1010 7,973]

1 hour ago, mrv86 said:

That's why I feel about Chilean and Brazilian Portuguese

Latin American Spanish in general can be frustrating because of all the colloquial/slang words. Some words have different meanings in different countries, and can even be offensive in some cases. Some items just have two names for no real reason. It can be confusing for someone who doesn’t speak Spanish as a first language. 

[Olympian1010 7,973]

Just now, Olympian1010 said:

Latin American Spanish in general can be frustrating because of all the colloquial/slang words. Some words have different meanings in different countries, and can even be offensive in some cases. Some items just have two names for no real reason. It can be confusing for someone who doesn’t speak Spanish as a first language. 

I guess a lot of this is true about English too, but I feel like it’s worse in Spanish. Maybe that’s just because it’s my second language though.

[Olympian1010 7,973]

Okay, I’ve got a question that I’ve wanted to ask for a while. For those of who speak two or more language (for example: English + Native language), do you only think in your native language, or do you also sometimes think in English, even outside of a conversation or communication with others?

[Vojthas 949]

16 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Okay, I’ve got a question that I’ve wanted to ask for a while. For those of who speak two or more language (for example: English + Native language), do you only think in your native language, or do you also sometimes think in English, even outside of a conversation or communication with others?

I'm not sure, but I've never noticed such a thing, unfortunately, even during our discussions.

[dcro 10,210]

1 hour ago, Olympian1010 said:

Okay, I’ve got a question that I’ve wanted to ask for a while. For those of who speak two or more language (for example: English + Native language), do you only think in your native language, or do you also sometimes think in English, even outside of a conversation or communication with others?

Some people here claim they can think in English involuntarily, but I don't exactly buy that.

 

In my experience, people like to play the confident card when languages are concerned, for some reason.

 

[Vojthas 949]

3 hours ago, dcro said:

In my experience, people like to play the confident card when languages are concerned, for some reason.

I like to play totally opposite - even saying a sentence with an easy mistake on purpose to show, how bad I am in that language, so that they use an easier version of it

[Grassmarket 3,408]

11 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

Okay, I’ve got a question that I’ve wanted to ask for a while. For those of who speak two or more language (for example: English + Native language), do you only think in your native language, or do you also sometimes think in English, even outside of a conversation or communication with others?

When I worked at the University, I noticed that International students would often speak English to each other when discussing particular subject.  So Indian students would be chatting in Hindi, but when they started talking about cricket, or business, or economics or whatever subject they were studying, they would switch to English. Presumably because the vocabulary of these subjects just did not exist in the native language.

[Griff88 1,952]

11 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

Okay, I’ve got a question that I’ve wanted to ask for a while. For those of who speak two or more language (for example: English + Native language), do you only think in your native language, or do you also sometimes think in English, even outside of a conversation or communication with others?

I never think in English... It will be either Indonesian or Hokkian.

[thiago_simoes 1,423]

11 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

Okay, I’ve got a question that I’ve wanted to ask for a while. For those of who speak two or more language (for example: English + Native language), do you only think in your native language, or do you also sometimes think in English, even outside of a conversation or communication with others?

I've been studying English for 30 years and I am an English teacher. I think in Portuguese, not English. When I'm speaking English or reading a text in English and I notice something that can't be quite clearly expressed in Portuguese, I think in English, but it's not like a random thought pops up on my mind in English if I don't have to use the language. When I think about things that I have to do, or when I have to come up with a solution for a problem, I think in Portuguese. Of course, I can switch languages and start thinking in English if I really want to, but it usually makes no sense for me to do this.

The most interesting aspect of studying a different language is how I learned to deal with time in a different way. For example, the concept of Present Perfect is wildly different in Portuguese than it is in English. Portuguese usually expresses past actions as finished events; there's a form of Past Continuous, but this works like it does in English, for ongoing events in the past. It usually takes a lot of time and effort to teach students about the very concept of Present Perfect. This is something that Spanish speakers will never know because there's a form of Present Perfect in Spanish. Even Japanese has it. But not Portuguese -- at least, not exactly like it works in English.

Japanese is my favorite language, by far, even though I'm not very good at it. I understand the basic concepts, and I understand most sentences if I use a dictionary, but it's still very difficult for me to come up with sentences on my own. I've never even felt like I could think in Japanese because it's still hard enough for me to say basic sentences. Still, it's a fascinating language.

[heywoodu 15,140]

12 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

Okay, I’ve got a question that I’ve wanted to ask for a while. For those of who speak two or more language (for example: English + Native language), do you only think in your native language, or do you also sometimes think in English, even outside of a conversation or communication with others?

I sometimes think in English, especially when communicating with our resident Brazilian cross-country skier*. Plenty of times I notice that even though my grammar is very far from perfect, I find certain things to be easier to discuss in English than in Dutch, like when we're talking about the more serious sides of life. Which is something I find both weird and interesting, maybe it's because I'm much more used to doing that in English than in Dutch since often those are not necessarily things I talk much about with my Dutch 'social circle'.

 

*Who is supposed to (and does) speak more and more Dutch these days, while I throw in a few Portuguese sentences here and there.