I genuinely hate how English is becoming a sort of de facto global language. Just more cultural imperialism. But it’s very nice to be able to communicate with comrades from around the world, it might be my favorite aspect of this site. So I do appreciate you all taking effort to think something in your native language, translate it in your head, then type it up in English. Hopefully in FALGSC we’ll get our universal translators, too.
For real, learning languages is hard. I had 2 years of Spanish in high school and didn’t do too well, something in my brain just didn’t click. But maybe you need to use another language a lot to really learn it? I lived in Germany for just two months and by the end I found myself kinda picking up things.
:soviet-heart:
think something in your native language, translate it in your head, then type it up in English
Ha you would be surprised how often a thought comes out in whatever language and I can’t remember how to translate it back to my native language to speak it out. I end up like :biden-troll: ‘you know, the thing’.
I suck at translating.
Or the code switching where I’ll talk to my parents or other Chinese Canadians and just substitute random english words for Chinese and vice versa to make this incomprehensible sentence that only a very specific subset of people can even parse.
EDIT: Is this how Singaporeans live every day?
So I do appreciate you all taking effort to think something in your native language, translate it in your head, then type it up in English.
This isn’t really how speaking multiple languages works. The human brain is remarkably bad at parallel processing complex tasks. If you want to be proficient in another language you really have to learn to think in that language. It’s definitely a skill that can be learned and there’s an added bonus of becoming a better listener.
it helps if you start at a young age. your brain handles languages differently if you learn them young vs as an adult. though even as an adult, these limitations can be tempered with immersion and hard work.
The data is still a bit unclear on that. The best study was done at MIT and actually showed that there was little difference in language mastery ability from childhood until the age of around 20. Also, the top quartile of learners over 20 did just as well as the younger cohort, which could suggest an epiphenomenal explanation for the disparity. It may turn out to be a myth and the brain’s ability to assimilate a new language may be pretty consistent throughout the lifespan.
lingua francas are good imo. they often come about due to hegemonic powers, IE Arabic due to the caliphate, Chinese back in the day, French in the medieval era, Latin in pax Romana for like 1000 years, and English now since the height of British and later American imperialism, which is bad. but, it’s cool it forms this backbone of international communication and I’d imagine that one is probably always gonna be a thing, at least in a global region if not worldwide
think something in your native language, translate it in your head, then type it up in English
When I speak in Japanese on Japanese sites I actually think in Japanese too. There isn’t a translation process of English thought to Japanese speech.
