| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Do you mix languages when talking? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| They don't understand what we say... | Oct 18, 2011 |
I have done in the past usually to annoy people or purposefully obscure what I was saying from someone.
On one occasion because I didn't particularly like the person (and I knew they didn't like me) so I knew it would antagonize them if I switched to Hebrew, and once or twice to bitch about someone in their presence without them knowing. That's always a fun excuse to code-switch
Oh yes, my mother-in-law gets really mad when we speak English - which we do most of the time because we are used to do so and sometimes because she can't understand us if we do so.
And of course it is great to comment about anything going on around us - I guess that makes us a kind of subversive family, always ready to make an acidic remark about anything that happens.
[Edited at 2011-10-18 13:31 GMT]
| | | | Jenn Mercer 
United States
Local time: 03:35
Member (2009)
French to English
| Not with my first and second languages, but my third | Oct 18, 2011 |
My daughter goes to a Spanish immersion school and I work all day as a French to English translator. I do know Spanish at an intermediate level, but the first words to come out of my mouth are usually French instead of Spanish. I'd like to tackle that last bit of learning between intermediate and fluent Spanish, but I know from learning French that the last part is the hardest part to conquer.
| | | | | Never, never... | Oct 18, 2011 |
Not at all.
It seems to me so snobby doing that. I am always trying to enrich my native tongue, so, I avoid using alien terms always and anywhere.
| | | | Dave Bindon
Greece
Local time: 10:35
Greek to English
In memoriam | Frequently, in various ways | Oct 18, 2011 |
When speaking English to other non-Greeks here in Athens the amount of Greek I use varies depending on the other person's knowledge of Greek. Certain widely-used slang expressions are almost always said in Greek (everyone here knows what ma**ka means!). When speaking to friends who have a good knowledge of Greek I usually use the Greek words for all official bodies and official documents etc. since they don't usually have an exact equivalent in English. If I'm reporting direct speech I do so in ... See more When speaking English to other non-Greeks here in Athens the amount of Greek I use varies depending on the other person's knowledge of Greek. Certain widely-used slang expressions are almost always said in Greek (everyone here knows what ma**ka means!). When speaking to friends who have a good knowledge of Greek I usually use the Greek words for all official bodies and official documents etc. since they don't usually have an exact equivalent in English. If I'm reporting direct speech I do so in the original Greek if I think the other person will understand.
When speaking Greek, especially to younger Greeks, using English words and phrases is normal. It's also difficult to find a Greek who doesn't want to practise his English, so one-to-one conversations usually skip between languages (I'm happy to say that the easy bits are in English, but they always switch back to Greek for anything more complex).
My local supermarket has a French employee. I usually mix French and Greek with her (mainly Greek...we'd known each other for 18 months before we realized that neither of us was Greek, so it feels normal to carry on communicating in Greek). Occasionally English. And a few words of Welsh!!! ▲ Collapse
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Parrot
Spain
Local time: 09:35
Spanish to English
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as a kid. Then school authorities clamped down with a fine (to be destined to charity) on anyone not capable of finishing a sentence in the language he started it in. (The environment was multilingual).
Since then I got sorted out, but I still lapse. If I'm with bilingual people, I can sometimes insert a third language unawares. But I try not to.
| | | | | Mixing languages | Oct 18, 2011 |
Anna Brinkmann wrote:
I mix many Portuguese and a few German words into my English when I talk to my husband and know that he doesn't know the proper English word for something. We call this "Terlamontenglish", after the place where we live and which might be the only place on planet earth where this particular type of creole is being spoken.
My husband and I often joke around about the strange language we speak as well. It is mostly Italian, which is neither of our native language (but our first common language). However, since we live in the US and are both speaking English all day, conversations regarding work or American friends tend to have more English words mixed in. And then there is a good dose of Brazilian Portuguese, which is my husband's native language.
I've noticed that I prefer some words in specific languages, for example a duck just seems more like a pato (PT) than an anatra (IT) to me.
| | | | msimoulin
United States
Local time: 00:35
English to French
+ ...
| Mixed up with migraines | Oct 19, 2011 |
I never mix the languages unless I come down with a migraine. This is actually my warning that the headache is about to happen! And I'll mix it while taking, or typing, it's very funny.
My children speak french with me and english with their father. Living in california, we all more or less speak Spanish also. With my first daughter, when she hit about 2, I was working outside the home and had a Mexican nanny for a few hours a day.
I thought that I had made a huge mistake, when her ... See more I never mix the languages unless I come down with a migraine. This is actually my warning that the headache is about to happen! And I'll mix it while taking, or typing, it's very funny.
My children speak french with me and english with their father. Living in california, we all more or less speak Spanish also. With my first daughter, when she hit about 2, I was working outside the home and had a Mexican nanny for a few hours a day.
I thought that I had made a huge mistake, when her first sentence was "
"MORE AGUA, S'IL TE PLAIT"
waow... But you know what, within a couple of months she had sorted it all out. I kept it up with my second one.
I have to admit that we cheat a lot when playing Scrabble and that if we can't find an English word, French is accepted. At the last resort...Spanish. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 08:35
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| With family only | Oct 19, 2011 |
Elizabeth Faracini wrote:
I've noticed that I prefer some words in specific languages, for example a duck just seems more like a pato (PT) than an anatra (IT) to me.
Our son was a competition swimmer during our 3 years in the Netherlands, but not here or in England, so swimming terms tend to be in Dutch even though I only have a smattering of the language now. And then there are a few French words which are shorter and/or nicer than English ones, so they get used all the time at home. Why not, with someone who understands both languages and in an informal situation (eg at home with family who speak both languages)?
But I don't have French friends who really master English, so I always speak 100% French (in vocabulary terms, that is - I think I invent the grammar from time to time!)
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Gudrun Maydorn (X)
Germany
Local time: 09:35
English to German
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| When I'm tired | Oct 19, 2011 |
Louise Péron wrote:
Being a French native living in France with a British boyfriend, it does happen sometimes... Mostly when I'm tired.
I am German, but I spent about 20 years of my life surrounded by British native speakers. Speaking, thinking and dreaming in English for such a long period has left its mark.
Even now, more than 10 years on, English words may still slip into my German inadvertently when I'm tired.
| | | | | Mainly with family | Oct 19, 2011 |
All members of the local contingent of my Brazilian family are fully bilingual, so we are constantly mixing things up.
Otherwise, I to stick with the agreed-upon language in each relationship.
| | | | Ventnai
Spain
Local time: 09:35
German to English
+ ...
I'll swear in any of the four languages that I know, alhtough more often than not I'll swear in German. If I hurt myself, the noise that I make will either be Spanish, German or English.
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I speak in English at home with my girls, but there are some expressions that just sound better in Italian. And vice versa...
I once read that when asked to count something people always automatically switch to their mother tongue, even if they are speaking in another language. I find I do this...it just seems easier somehow to count in English... does anyone else find that?
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| Happens a lot, sometimes it gets embarrassing. | Oct 21, 2011 |
I used to live in Britain for 6 years. When I came to visit my family in Germany and we were in a shop, for example, I kept on slipping into the English because I was so used to order my diet coke in English in my everyday life. Now that I'm back for good it doesn't happen that often anymore unless I am tired.
Or I dream in English if the conversation I have in that dream would be in English in real life because friends from the UK or US appear.
Sometimes I use English on purpose to ... See more I used to live in Britain for 6 years. When I came to visit my family in Germany and we were in a shop, for example, I kept on slipping into the English because I was so used to order my diet coke in English in my everyday life. Now that I'm back for good it doesn't happen that often anymore unless I am tired.
Or I dream in English if the conversation I have in that dream would be in English in real life because friends from the UK or US appear.
Sometimes I use English on purpose to explain something more accurately. ▲ Collapse
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