Multiple Languages

[Mvrs]

To anyone who speaks multiple languages: do you think in multiple languages? Did you start off life thinking in one language  then switch to another after moving somewhere else?

 

i wonder this cuz @Leo Gura was born in Russia but moved to the USA and now speaks extremely well English. Doesn’t even sound Russian at all. 

[JosephKnecht]

There is one predominant language in which we think. 

If you are learning a new language, there is a period of transition in which words from the "old" language have to be translated to the "new" language in your mind. But after a while, there is a switch and we continuously think in the language that we predominantly use. 

[Forestluv]

1 hour ago, JosephKnecht said:

There is one predominant language in which we think. 

If you are learning a new language, there is a period of transition in which words from the "old" language have to be translated to the "new" language in your mind. But after a while, there is a switch and we continuously think in the language that we predominantly use. 

I reached a level high enough in a 2nd language that I was thinking directly in that language without translation - yet it was on an "as needed basis". My default would be my native language. For example, even though I was living in a Spanish-speaking village and could communicate directly in Spanish, I would still wake up thinking in English and would need to "switch" to Spanish. As well, if I was walking alone on a beach, my mind might think directly in Spanish or English or a mix. I don't think my mind was conditioned enough in Spanish to think directly in Spanish as the default language 24/7. 

I wonder how much of an impact the age of learning the second language is on continuity. If a German child learned both German and Japanese as a child and then lived in Japan for a year, I imagine it would be much easier for the mind to think continuously in Japanese 24/7. Yet if a 45 yr. old who had only spoken German their whole life, learned Japanese and lived in Japan for a year - I imagine German fragments would appear in the mind at times. 

 

 

[Loving Radiance]

5 minutes ago, Forestluv said:

if I was walking alone on a beach, my mind might think directly in Spanish or English or a mix

I find one language more capable of grasping (translating/forming it into words) an insight in distinct aspects than another. How come? Is it the nature of the language itself?

[JosephKnecht]

40 minutes ago, Forestluv said:

I wonder how much of an impact the age of learning the second language is on continuity.

You can easily imprint concepts on a younger brain. Therefore is easier to learn languages when one is younger.

26 minutes ago, Loving Radiance said:

I find one language more capable of grasping (translating/forming it into words) an insight in distinct aspects than another. How come? Is it the nature of the language itself?

A language is a pointer to concepts. Some languages are more expressive than other languages. Some languages have concepts that can approximate feelings better, while other languages are better at approximating metaphysical concepts for example. 

Language is also a cultural construct. Eskimos have around 50 words for "snow" because snow is prevalent in their environment. Language is shaped by the environment, principles, values of a culture to allow people to better approximate the things they want to say. 

[Loving Radiance]

1 hour ago, JosephKnecht said:

Eskimos have around 50 words for "snow" because snow is prevalent in their environment.

I think that is already debunked, but I get what you mean. Thanks!

[Fadl]

40 minutes ago, Loving Radiance said:

I think that is already debunked, but I get what you mean. Thanks!

In Arabic we have about 400 names for the "Lion".

Anyway  Josephknecht and Forestluv have described it well, I have the same experiences.

[Guest EmptyVase]

On 21.10.2020 at 10:46 PM, Loving Radiance said:

I find one language more capable of grasping (translating/forming it into words) an insight in distinct aspects than another.

Yep, same for me! My mother tongue is german and almost all the spiritual teachings, I digest, are in english. Thus, meditative insights very often come in the form of english language.

But also generally, because I expose myself to so much english content, I'm partly thinking in english. Sometimes I even forget a german word and have to replace it with an english one.

[Travelion]

Same for me as for EmptyVase. Very interesting

[Akemrelax]

On 2020-10-21 at 1:46 PM, Loving Radiance said:

I find one language more capable of grasping (translating/forming it into words) an insight in distinct aspects than another. How come? Is it the nature of the language itself?

That may be because you have a higher vocabulary in that language. So if you speak German but all your academic vocabulary is in English because you use English in school, then when you study, insights will be in English, simply because you have higher vocabulary in English.

On 2020-10-21 at 7:41 AM, Mvrs said:

To anyone who speaks multiple languages: do you think in multiple languages? Did you start off life thinking in one language  then switch to another after moving somewhere else?

 

i wonder this cuz @Leo Gura was born in Russia but moved to the USA and now speaks extremely well English. Doesn’t even sound Russian at all. 

I speak multiple languages and can think fluently in them too. It takes time to switch between them, and to switch completely can take as long as a month.

Each language carries with it certain associations my mind has picked up over the years. These can be emotional associations and can give a unique flavour when thinking in each language.

For example, certain words and phrases have deep emotional associations in my native language that I don’t have with their counterparts in English, my non-native language. Therefore I am much more “objective” when thinking in English. For example, the phrase, “I love you” means little to me in English, but means a lot more to me when translated to my native language.

You can try it for yourself, say “I love you” in your native language, then say it in another language you don’t know, like Japanese or Russian for e.g. Feel how you have emotional associations with the words in your native language and not with the words in the other language.

[LastThursday]

On 21/10/2020 at 3:41 PM, Mvrs said:

To anyone who speaks multiple languages: do you think in multiple languages? Did you start off life thinking in one language  then switch to another after moving somewhere else?

It seems odd to me that there was a time when I only knew Spanish. At the age of six I had to learn a new language: English. But I already had an ear for it as my dad would sometimes talk in English to me and my sister. But there's not much to think about when you're six, just food and play.

I can't say I think in Spanish at all. But I have a love of words and languages because of it - I'm trying to pick up Swedish. Sadly, the only inkling of my Spanishness now is when my name trips people up and I suddenly switch into a different tongue.