A question for the bilingual

Good question, OP. I would like to know too.

It depends on your fluency level and how often you use both (or five, Vairst Letty) languages. For the most part I don't have an issue switching between the two, but the Spanglish struggle is real. Some words just don't come quickly enough in one language and if I'm talking to someone who speaks both, it's easier to mix the two.

Depending on your level of experience and command of the second language, OP. My native language is Spanish, yet my conversations with friends and, especially with my American husband, frequently start out in one language and end in another. My brain just picks whichever words or phrases best describe my thoughts. It happens almost automatically at this point.

I can switch easily between both languages, but it depends on the subject of the conversation. If I'm talking about everyday things or discussing a TV show, I can do it in either language. But if, for example, I'm watching a particular sport, I might not know the technical terms in one of the languages.

Filipinos have their own word for switching from Tagalog to English while in conversation: Taglish.

As R2 and R3 have posted, it depends on how fluent you are as to whether you can switch between languages without thinking. I do three easily, speaking simultaneously to three different people in three different languages. I get together with other multilinguals and sometimes have three or four languages going at once.

There are of course the times when your memory banks suddenly overload and pack it in, you can visualize the thing or concept, but you can't remember what that thing or concept is called in any language. You're reduced to detailed description, .e.g., "the thing you sit on with four legs" because "chair" has gotten totally lost in the ethers.

In Miami, it's called Spanglish.

You’re not really bilingual till you dream in the other language. While functional bilingualism is fairly common, true bilingualism is very rare.

R8 I talk in my sleep in both languages.

Sounds stressful.

Thank goodness I speak only English, the Universal language that everyone else is forced to speak.

It would really suck to speak one of the lesser languages.

R10 you will never know the joy of reading Sartre in French or Tolstoy in Russian. This is why I'm learning Italian as my 6th language. I want to be able to read all the beautiful literature in its original language. And watching all the amazing foreign Netflix shows without relying on subtitles in an advantage too.

I'm thinking that it's more just so you can brag about being able to do it, R11.

I have friends who are raising their kids to be bilingual and I'm amazed by it. They're little kids and they switch back and forth with ease.

Trilingual here. Some turns of phrase just more accurately depict the idea or thought trying to be conveyed in one language versus another. One that comes to mind is “a la fois”, meaning “on the other hand” or “at the same time”. It’s just more facile than it’s English counterpart(s).

Aaaaaand. Oh dear to me above. Its. Not it’s.

The younger you are, the easier it is, R13.

Once you reach your teen years, your brain is already stuck with the language(s) you know.

It becomes exponentially harder to learn a different language when you're an adult, versus when you're a child.

R12 What are you talking about? You must be American. All my friends speak at least 4 languages (the French and the Italian ones speak excellent English). Who would I be bragging to about speaking multiple languages? My ex and I had 4.5 languages in common. We switched back and forth.

[quote] I have friends who are raising their kids to be bilingual and I'm amazed by it. They're little kids and they switch back and forth with ease.

R13, they’ll have to use both languages consistently after childhood in order to maintain the bilingualism. They will also have to learn to read and write the second language to achieve an adult level of fluency in it. It’s a great gift to give one’s child but it takes a lot of effort in a monolingual place like the US.

I can teach you German, bitches!

I started learning French when I was 5, and I can still "code-switch" with ease - 50 years later.

My brother (we are native Ohioans) married a Perurivan in Wisconsin and his son speaks very fluent SPanish but struggles to verbalize his thougths in English. Not much vocalbulary and uses "like" and other fillers a lot. He speaks his mother's tongue, but picked up English from school slang from his buddies ,as my brother also only spoke Spanish in the home.

Franglais is very common in Montreal.

But can you think in a language that is not your first language.

I speak four languages fluently and can switch back and forth between them easily, I don't even think about it. Most people outside of the US are, at the very least, bilingual. However, I'm not very good when it comes to modern slang and such in my first language since I mostly speak it with family, not my peers.

R23 Yes. I think in my second language more than in my first language. When I moved to a different country I subconsciously taught myself to think in that language as well. I never find myself having to translate anything in my head, it's just sort of there.

Does it happen to any of you that when you watch a movie or a series in a certain language, you end up thinking in that language for the rest of the day? Any time I binge watch a French or a German TV show, I have that language stuck in my head.

Yes R23 and dreaming - especially if you're in the country of the language you are speaking. Yes same here R25.

Switching between two languages is pretty easy when you are fluent - although I find I might use a word of the previous language in the first few seconds - or at least think the word and then speaking slows down and becomes deliberate as you have to think to translate it to the language you have switched to and are speaking out loud. Don't know if that makes sense or if that happens to others. But anyway - yes, ja and oui!

R25 Why would you want to watch a German movie? They all suck!

R27 Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Wim Wenders have made fantastic German films.

When I switch over, I don’t need to translate from English in my brain, it’s just me speaking in a different way.

R27 Not all! I loved 7500 (English-German spoken). And Freier Fall is one of my favourites, despite the obligatory shitty ending for the gay couple.

I’m an English speaker but can hold a conversation in Spanish and French. However, years ago I tried to learn Japanese because I was hosting a Japanese guy for a few days. While the language itself isn’t really difficult to learn I just couldn’t get my head into the Japanese mindset. I had nothing to compare it to. English speakers would use expressions that didn’t translate into Japanese. We would say , spring is just around the corner. In Japanese it would be, the cherry blossoms are waiting for the southern wind.

English as first language here. I had taken years of Latin and Spanish and then French. I'm certainly not bilingual or even very proficient in anything anymore but when I started conversing in French without having to first think in English I was thrilled. It happened without me realizing it at first and then when I realized I could think in French I felt really cool and wanted to light up a cigarette immediately.

Sadly that proficiency faded.

R28 I think the people in Fassbinder movies speak very strange. Sounds very stilted and unnatural. But that's probably what he intended. I love Paris, Texas and like Angst Essen Seele Auf, but both directors aren't that good.

My take away: you guys are boring in multiple languages. Yawn!

I grew up learning both languages at the same time so I've always been able to switch easily from one to the other. But it wasn't until I actually dedicated myself to learning to read and write in Spanish that was I able to not only verbally be able to go back and forth.

I understand that you're considered truly proficient in another language when you can do mathematics in that language. I had four years of French in high school and college and could converse and read French with a fair amount of fluency, but I could never do anything mathematical without having to translate it into English.

deux plus deux est quatre

As R4 notes, it really depends on the subject for me. I can gab away in Italian, and move back into the English phrases that everyone understands ("OK," "you know"). I will never be able to do so in sports because there is so much jargon and turns of phrase necessary to discus them, but especially soccer. Just read your local newspaper when it talks about a football or baseball game. Imagine trying to translate in a meaningful way an 80 yard drive for a touchdown.

When I'm speaking in Italian to an Italian person I can come up with the French for something more easily, though I am by no means fluent in French. Just have managed to memorize a lot of words.

R36 That is very true about algebra. I can speak several languages, but I always count in French.

And, like R25, if I watch a German movie or an Italian movie, I'm stuck with speaking German or Italian for the rest of the day, and usually want to pick it up again, etc.

If you know English, why would you ever need another language?

That's like owning a Tesla, and wishing you had a Yugo.

My ex was proficient in cursing me in both English and Polish. Most of the time using both in the same sentence.

Good times.

[quote] I just couldn’t get my head into the Japanese mindset. I had nothing to compare it to. English speakers would use expressions that didn’t translate into Japanese. We would say , spring is just around the corner. In Japanese it would be, the cherry blossoms are waiting for the southern wind.

[quote] I just couldn’t get my head into the Japanese mindset. I had nothing to compare it to. English speakers would use expressions that didn’t translate into Japanese. We would say , spring is just around the corner. In Japanese it would be, the cherry blossoms are waiting for the southern wind.

Wouldn't that be the same for European languages, as well?

I would think that their expressions are likewise different from American expressions.

[quote] My take away: you guys are boring in multiple languages. Yawn!

And pretentious, too!

[quote] One that comes to mind is “a la fois”, meaning “on the other hand” or “at the same time”. It’s just more facile than it’s English counterpart(s).

Wouldn't the simple word "meanwhile" take care of it?

R41 if you own a Tesla, you'll probably also want a Mercedes AMG GT, a Porsche Panamera, an Aston Martin and a Ferrari. Throw in a Harley for good measure.

I'll never understand people who CHOOSE not to learn other languages. That's like eating the same food three times a day, every day for the rest of your life. How are you not depressed?

But can you *write* in both languages, on day-to-day as well as complicated topics, without anyone being able to guess which one is your mother tongue?

[quote] I'll never understand people who CHOOSE not to learn other languages

What would be the reason for it, R46?

The world speaks English.

In the US, we really have no need for learning another language, the way that Europeans or other foreigners do. Everyone here speaks English. All 330,000,000 of us.

If we did learn another language, where would we use it? At a restaurant? Bar? Club? School? Foreign language club?

As an American, learning another language is just a novelty. Sort of like buying a nice hat, or coat, or jewelry. You would only use it on a special occasion, if ever.

English is all you need to exist in the U.S.

And for most Americans, it's just too much trouble with not enough reward.

[quote] If you know English, why would you ever need another language?

How dense can a person be? Speaking another language gives you hundreds of neurological advantages, but I guess you're too stupid to even understand that, so I won't even try to list them according to modern neuroscience.

As for switching, yes it happens naturally and if you think you can get by just with English, you haven't travelled enough. Even in Northern European countries out of the big cities you won't survive with English, sorry to disappoint your narrow experience. Try speaking English in small town Germany or small town Holland and we'll talk.

[quote] I'll never understand people who CHOOSE not to learn other languages.

If your mother tongue is English, learning another language has few practical applications. English speakers choose not to learn another language just like they choose not to engage in other niche intellectual pursuits. It’s a shame, but that’s how it goes. I like studying other languages because I believe it broadens the mind considerably. But we know most Americans have little interest in that sort of thing.

[quote] While functional bilingualism is fairly common, true bilingualism is very rare.

What you say has no kernel of truth. Bilingualism is very common and if you're taught a language by birth you don't have to dream in that language. That is true only to languages you learn as a teen or adult. I've never had a dream in Spanish and I'm not only fluent in it but Im also a certified translator and interpreter. When i lived in the Netherlands as a foreign exchange student though, in my early 20s I did dream in Dutch by the time I finally got the language right.

[quote] That is true only to languages you learn as a teen or adult.

Keep working on your English. You’ll get there.

[quote]Once you reach your teen years, your brain is already stuck with the language(s) you know.

Total myth debunked by neuroscience more then 10 years ago. You have some outdated notions about language that belong in the 70s.

You can totally learn a language as an adult and without any accent, the main factor for language learning is access to the language and the ability to distinguish sound and pitch. As a matter of fact it has been proven that children that are exposed to musical lessons at an early age can master any language at any point in their lives because they're trained to recognize pitch and variations of tones .

Today you can find people learning English through Netflix shows and many speak with impeccable American accent. There are many Youtubers doing that.

R47 yes, I can read, write and understand several languages. Why would writing be difficult? If you read a lot, writing is easy, no?

It's understanding certain accents and dialects that might give you trouble. For me, it's much easier, for example, to understand spoken English (have no problem understanding Yorkshire, Cork or Texas accent), whereas Quebecois is a fucking nightmare to decipher. How they understand each other is a mystery to me.

R50 FEW practical liabilities? How about watching foreign films, reading books from all over the world, working for an international company?

Americans scare me. I'm starting to believe all the worst stereotypes about you lot.

When I (sigh, used to) go to Italy, the people are pleasantly surprised that I speak a good Italian. I will say though that if I am not using it frequently it can be tough to get back into the groove. Fluency is tough because a non-native speaker will probably never stay current with trends and neologisms. I think you'd have to live in a place for fluency to be fully attainable. My professor told me that I had a wicked Boston accent when I spoke. Well, people in this country tell me the same thing.

R56 if you consume a lot of content (TV shows, sports, news, gossip) in a particular language on a daily basis, it's easier to maintain fluency. I keep up-to-date with slang and modern expressions through stand-up comedy shows. That's a true measure of everyday language.

[quote] I think you'd have to live in a place for fluency to be fully attainable.

You don't. You do have to keep up, watch tv, films and talk to natives, it's that easy. You don't need to be in the country at all. We're connected globally by the Internet. You can literally get any tv channel for free online. Watch tv everyday of that language and you'll keep up.

R57 beat me to it.

R27 Have you watched the film 3? It's from 2010 and quite good. R30 Agreed! I can think of several excellent German films.

Yes OP, the switching and or blending isn't a problem whatsoever. It's beginning to think and dream in the other languages which signifies you are completely steeped in them, as others have mentioned. This begins to happen to me, after I've been immersed awhile in my second or third language... either due to a long trip, or sometimes after reading a long book with few breaks. Sometimes the dreams persists a few days, though you are back to using the other language.

[quote] I understand that you're considered truly proficient in another language when you can do mathematics in that language.

OMG! Then I can't speak ANY languages.

Asians do it all the time.

The willfully ignorant resident American on this thread will not be able to watch this promising show with hot German and Italian hunks. More for us!

I spoke two languages equally throughout my childhood, from birth. As a result I've ended up thinking in a mishmash of both even though I speak English 98% of the time, and I have to constantly direct my brain back to English. After all this time it should be natural, but it isn't.

Speaking when I'm distracted is another annoyance. I sometimes unintentionally throw in a word or phrase of the other language which I assume is due to there being no good substitute in the language I'm speaking. I'm not conscious of doing it until the word/phrase pops out.

I also have to be aware of the intonation in interrogative sentences — rising at the end in one language and the middle in the other. Oddly enough, even though sentences are structured in two entirely different manners, I never have to think about that.

The phenomenon is called Code Switching, and it is a sign of complete fluency in both languages being used. It occurs naturally when truly bilingual speakers are together.

It is not a function of not knowing a word or term in one language, so the other is used. Just the opposite. Fluent speakers switch languages to use the words that best express the sentiment or social setting of the topic at hand.

It is also a sign of acceptance from the other speaker, that they see you as fluent and culturally proficient. It is almost always an unconscious decision, rather than a planned switch.

[quote] The willfully ignorant resident American on this thread will not be able to watch this promising show with hot German and Italian hunks.

Is there a better clip, R62? Because that didn't show a single hunk in it (other than Caesar's statue).

I’m not bilingual, but have an aptitude and interest, so I have a weird smattering of vocabulary. A lot of the time, I do a mental thing where I say it in my head in another language. And reading labels and signs in other languages is instant comprehension. But it only applies for when I read or hear it. It’s hard to speak for some reason.

[quote] FEW practical liabilities? How about watching foreign films, reading books from all over the world, working for an international company? Americans scare me. I'm starting to believe all the worst stereotypes about you lot.

And yet here you are among us, r55, using our language to tell us we ought to learn another.

Listen, reading foreign language books and watching foreign language films are both wonderful, worthwhile things to do. But as I said, for native English speakers those are niche intellectual pursuits for those who are interested in them. English speakers have an enormous supply of books and films at their disposal, both those originally produced in English as well as the scores that are translated into English.

And if an American really wants to work for an international company, then learning a foreign language might be helpful, but English is the working language of most international organizations, including the EU. The fact is, though, the average American is not gunning for a job with the Pemex, or Société Générale or Alibaba. There are plenty of good, high paying jobs available to him or her for which knowledge of a second language is not required.

To be a native English speaker is a huge advantage in life. There simply is not the same kind of pressure to learn another language that there is is for someone who's first language is Polish or Malay or Bantu. For a native English speaker, learning a second language is almost entirely optional. For just about everyone else with any kind of ambition, learning English is mandatory.

My partner is from a post-colonial country where the vernacular is a non-standard form of British English mixed with a bunch of other languages. It’s English, but just barely and between the vocabulary and grammatical differences and the accent, is barely recognizable as such if you are not accustomed to listening to it. It’s also spoken but not really written except informally and there is no standard spelling. Although I would never try to speak it, I do understand it well after being together for more than 25 years. But sometimes I do find myself reaching for one of his expressions because it will be most apt and comes immediately to mind.

I learned a lot of Spanish words from watching beauty pageants, like Miss Universe.

That was kind of fun.

Traveling throughout Europe, I could not even manage to keep my oui and si straight, in France and Spain.

I'd always screw it up.

I can't even imagine how people maintain complete vocabularies in two or three or more different languages.

That's just insane to me.

I grew up in an environment where people spoke in English, but many also spoke Spanish (I am anglo-celtic, but speak Spanish) and mixing up the languages in one sentence is/was not only possible, it was expected. It was a marker of your "coolness"...

I had an opportunity to spend some time in Copenhagen several years ago... all educated people there speak fluent English. There were TV show where most characters began a sentence in Danish and ended it in English. I mean almost every sentence. It was very odd... not just a vocabulary word sprinkled in here and there, but every sentence.

The "spanglish" seemed normal to me. The "danglish" seemed odd. Moral of the story: language + culture = reality.

R65 check the cast. For a show of this nature not to have hot men would be odd.

Writing is the easiest, in my opinion, if you've learned the language academically. Counting out loud in a foreign language is very difficult, I would say it's near impossible.

I find counting in languages like Dutch and German difficult, because they do the numbering backwards, like they say seven-and-twenty instead of twenty-seven. Also, to count in French you need to know the fucking multiplication table.

R63 is an outlier, i'm surrounded by bilinguals, everyone in my family speaks at least 2 languages and no one has ever had any problems like he claims. It's his own doing.

It took me a few days to get used to the Dutch counting system, but its just as natural to me now as it is to do it in English or Spanish.

[quote] I can't even imagine how people maintain complete vocabularies in two or three or more different languages.

If you can memorize the tune to thousands of songs, you can memorize vocabulary, it's not that hard. Its part of human nature to communicate. If you throw a dimwit at a nation with a different language with no contact with their mother tongue, they will eventually speak it, there's no other way around this.

I remember a Vietnamese-French friend staying with me (in the US). My family is Chinese-Vietnamese. We were having dinner and my friend remarked how funny it was that we were having a conversation where I spoke to my friend in English, in Chinese to my mom and my mom spoke to my friend in Vietnamese. Not having separate conversations but all 3 of us at a meal in the same conversation using the 3 languages that worked best dependent on who was speaking and being spoken to.

R76 Great story, I've had an English-Italian-Spanish dinner with a friend and her family which sounds quite like yours.

[quote]. . . to count in French you need to know the fucking multiplication table.

And you don't, r74?

R78 I do, obviously, but saying 4 times 20 plus 10 plus 8 instead of just ninety-eight makes no sense to me. Why make it so difficult?

These Manileños can't even speak their native language without switching to English.

I had a shitty childhood and was determined to leave my terrible life behind and see the world. I learned to speak five languages fluently (English, Spanish, Italian, French and Japanese) but am most comfortable with English and Spanish. I can read German, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Portuguese but have not learned to speak them.

The most difficult to learn was Japanese; however, not the speaking part but the writing. It all came together after I moved to Japan when I got a job there in my 20s and stayed for three years. After that, it was to Québec, Mexico, Italy, Argentina, and Peru where I live now.

I had to avoid translating from English to the others and just break it all down and start thinking in each from scratch. I actually often dream in each language, too.

R81 wow, well done! Very impressive!

[quote] I do, obviously, but saying 4 times 20 plus 10 plus 8 instead of just ninety-eight makes no sense to me. Why make it so difficult?

A better translation of 98 would be “four score eighteen.” In spoken form “quatre-vingts dix-huit” is only about one syllable longer than “ninety eight” so it’s really not that much more of an effort to say 98 in French than it is to say it in English.

In francophone Belgium and Switzerland they use [italic]nonante[/italic] for 90 and [italic]septante[/italic] for 70. Also in Switzerland they sometimes use [italic]huitante[/italic] for 80. Belgium use [italic]quatre-vingts[/italic] for 80.

Four score and seven years ago... Except the French speak like this everyday, not just for battle speeches.

no, but it doesn't turn on a dime. especially if I quote something in the other tongue it might take one or two words for me to then switch back to english.

My husband was raised speaking English and Scottish Gaelic. He can switch between the two with ease. However there are a lot of English loan words used in Gaelic conversation. He also has a lot of Gaelic sayings from his grandparents which are hilarious when translated.

For the many multilingual here on DL, the cake d'amour song with French subtitles. Song begins at 01:33. I've never tried the recipe.

I know how to say "poosey for sale" in five languages. I can svitch from Slovenian to English very easy.

R49, so learning languages are important to the wealthy who will spend significant time traveling internationally?

What about those without the money to travel or go to private schools where there are language programs?

When I was a kid, I wanted to learn other languages, but my family did not have the money for lessons and when I got older, it was not as much a priority.

Being multilingual should not be an affectation of the rich or a class marker.

R89 It's not an affectation, it just makes travelling and meeting other people that much easier. Of course if you're never going to travel, if you don't enjoy reading a book in the original, or watching a movie and following the dialogue, listening to music in another language etc... Of course then it doesn't apply.

Language and music are connected though. If you do NOT have an ear for music, then languages are going to be difficult as well.

I’m a sequential bilingual, learning Arabic from my late teens through immersion while living abroad. Switching between English and Arabic is no problem, and I can code-switch within Arabic between more standard language and my dialect depending on the situation or the effect needed.

Although I only started at 19 and agree it can become harder as you get older, I do think acquisition using immersion is the best way at any age (though classes/instruction can have a place). I agree having a certain ‘ear’ is important, and the ability to mimic, say, other accents in your first language mean a better chance of developing native-like pronunciation. This is true for me and my accent is clean: people assume I’m native if we speak first on the phone, only to be baffled when a white dude rolls in when we actually meet.

Not an affection but it makes things that easier---thing that only the wealthy can do. And perhaps it is easier now post internet, but when I was younger learning languages was pretty expensive. The lower middle class and poor did not have access to language education.

I would love to be able to watch films without subtitles. And I am sad that I can only read Proust in translation. But I doubt that I could read his work after a couple months of class.

R89 these days there is no link between learning languages and having money. I learned fucking Esperanto by following a free online course in 2001. Later, when Youtube came around, I picked up some German, Swedish and Hebrew by watching clips from TV shows and interviews. Now, if you can afford internet, you can learn a foreign language. Simple as that. You can download books online. You can find a 'pen pal' who will help you practice a language on Skype.

Again, if you keep finding excuses, you just don't want to try. Surely, you can find 2-3 hours a week to study a language you love if you really want to? And age should not be an impediment either. I know 60 y/o expats who learned the language of their new home country.

R90 not sure if it’s true about language and music, unless you mean tonal languages. I’m absolutely tone-deaf and languages come easy to me.

I'm cunnilingual.

Native English speaker here, who is proficient in French and Mandarin. I've lived in Turkey and Sweden for work and was conversant in Turkish and Swedish as well.

When speaking one language and I get 'stuck' with a word or phrase, my brain diverts to another language. Early on I would confuse people in Marseilles who expected Frenglish, and I would come out with Turkish or Chinese. Now I take a pause.

My accent in each language is far from native, but also far from an American accent. I am usually assumed to be Dutch.

R93, as I said, it may be different post-internet.

A while back, I did try an electronic (non-internet) language course. Without being able to speak to anyone, it was very hard to retain the language. And now, even though I watch films, it has evaporated. You just have to talk to native speakers or it does not stick.

And in the US, without language education in the public schools and the ability to travel internationally, all the free internet language instruction is not going to democratize being multilingual.

R97 if there are no expats in your city, it's very easy to find someone on the internet who will "trade" you their language in exchange for English. That way you can both practice with a native for free. And you can find any language spoken on Youtube, from nature documentaries to trashy reality shows.

In the early 2000s teens learned German through Tokio Hotel songs, now they learn Korean through K-pop. You must live a very insular life if everything around you is in English. And you really don't need formal schooling or travelling. Just open your Internet browser and pick a language you want to learn.

I'm a trilingual, I'll try any language once.

Mojosa, R93, ĉu mi konas vin? :)

Hey R68, mind if I ask what country that is? That sounds fascinating.

My best mate grew up in a household where his dad spoke English to him and his siblings, spoke Italian to his wife, Greek to his mother and Maltese to his father. His mother spoke Italian to husband and children, Arabic to friends, and when everyone was gathered together at these big functions and wanted to talk without the children understanding, they would speak French. This was so normal to him that he didn't even realise how cool it was until he met me and I was fascinated. Then he was like: "Oh yeah, I guess I did have a pretty amazing childhood!"

He and I both speak Italian and English, and we code-switch so much and include a number of French, Arabic, Greek and Maltese words so that it's almost become our own... patois? Pidgin? Sorry, I'm not a linguist, I never know the right term here. It really expands your ability to make jokes, although it's only a handful of us that will get them, I suppose, haha!

Another benefit of learning some of the language while travelling? If you're not standing around making yourself look like an obvious tourist because you just want to find the exit and all you can see are signs saying "sortie", you're not marking yourself out as a target for mugging either.

Can I just say it's so cool finding so many gay guys on here talking about their love for languages? It's totally been my geeky interest since I was about 7 years old and first found my grandmother's Greek phrasebook and wondered what all these cool symbols meant.

Gay and bi guys are very very well represented among polyglots/hyperpolyglots, R101

Really R102? That's awesome! I hope to meet more of them in the future then, rather than the guys obsessed with the latest Taylor Swift song. No problem if that's your thing, but it's not mine and those are the only guys I seem to meet.

I know a family where the father always spoke to the kids in Chinese, the mother always spoke to the kids in Spanish, the kids went to a French school and as a family they spoke English as that was the only shared language that all of them spoke. The kids understand all four languages perfectly but only choose to speak in English and French - the two languages they also use outside the home.

I was bilingual but haven't used one language in awhile and while I can still read it and listen to it, my conversation and writing skills no longer feel natural.

Pour vous, R103 :)

Thanks for that article R105, very interesting! I've met Richard Simcott,(mentioned in the article) before and he is a really lovely guy.

Luis Miguel Rojas-Bercia, profiled in the article, is gay

It's interesting they discuss that their may be a tendency for hyper polyglots to be gay, left-handed etc. I wonder why that would be.

"There" in fact. Oh dear.

He's also quite the cutie R107, I just looked him up.

I have a personal theory that left-handed people need to work things out extra-hard for themselves, all the time, and throughout their formative years, so that you will find people that have an almost innate ability for "thinking out of the box". I'm always amazed at the number of artists/performers that I like who are left-handed. It really develops something in the brain, I think.

Interesting theory! It describes my brother to a tee, actually.

Four of the last six presidents were southpaws (Reagan GWHB, Clinton, Obama).

See? I can't believe that's a coincidence.

Viggo Mortensen has all of you bitches BEAT!

The answer OP is it depends. With Italian and English I can switch quickly, with the other two languages I cannot.

I switch between languages midsentence when I'm tired and sleepy.

Sometimes honestly there is just a word in another language that is better to describe what you mean than in the language you're speaking at the moment. It's quite funny to understand how perfect that word is, but not be able to describe it to the person you're talking to.

I work as a freelance translator and when I‘m doing a translation, it’s a bit like having two languages working simultaneously in parallel in my head. I’m reading the source language and typing underneath it in the target language. It can be a satisfying task when I am in full flow, especially when I can capture the translation perfectly. Equally, it can be frustrating when I understand perfectly the meaning of a sentence in the source text, but can’t quite nail it in translation.

But for me that’s also what’s so interesting about languages. Most things are translatable, but all languages obviously go far beyond basic words like table or dog. There are just so many words and concepts, some of them unique to a certain language. Language is like a physical sensation, and a portal into another way of thinking and feeling. That’s why fluency in more than one language is such a pleasure. And I suspect it’s good for long-term cognitive health too.

I really enjoyed your post R119. Translation was actually my dream job as a child, and I got talked out of it by teachers at school, and I was too timid to stand up for myself at the time. One of my biggest regrets. I can just imagine how satisfying it is when it's all going well.

[quote] In the early 2000s teens learned German through Tokio Hotel songs

Hahah omg. Memories.

I brought my highschool aural/spoken German up from a low C to a strong B by watching Tokio Hotel interviewed on German tv shows (obviously, without subtitles). Vielen dank, Jungs!

My friend's mom and her sister will switch from English to Arabic to Spanish and then back to English all in the same sentence. I've heard it. It's incredible. Fluent in all three.

(Born in Colombia to Arab parents and moved to the US when they were 17)

Should say 17/16

I suppose with me it's whoever flips on the switch. If someone is speaking French to me, I automatically respond in French, if they switch to English, I speak English.

R122, I love hearing people do that, it's so cool. And interesting when you start to pick out certain situations or topics that people will switch for. I've noticed my friends throw in a lot of Arabic when talking about everyday stuff around the house, shopping, simple commands etc, and go into French when talking about more luxurious pursuits.

I switch English to Italian quite a bit now, sometimes my friends and I do it deliberately for humorous effect even, just to make each other laugh. And sometimes there are words I just prefer in Italian to English. To me, it's always "insieme" rather than "together" for example, just a personal preference.