Question for multilinguals

I've lived in Finland for more than half my life but I think and dream almost exclusively in English. My kids are all born and raised here and also think and dream for the greatest part in English, despite having gone through the normal school system and having Finnish friends. None of us like to use Finnish except when we're making some lame humor. lol

Originally posted by CosmicEgg
I've lived in Finland for more than half my life but I think and dream almost exclusively in English. My kids are all born and raised here and also think and dream for the greatest part in English, despite having gone through the normal school system and having Finnish friends. None of us like to use Finnish except when we're making some lame humor. lol

So what you are saying, is that your are traitor of your own country and language?

reply to post by Sorgmodig


I am Puertorrican, my children are born in the US and do not speak Spanish like me, I decided that English was the only and one language they should know, soo, does that makes me a "traitor to my country also"? because the last time I check I was a US citizen and so my children.

Originally posted by marg6043
reply to post by Sorgmodig

 

I am Puertorrican, my children are born in the US and do not speak Spanish like me, I decided that English was the only and one language they should know, soo, does that makes me a "traitor to my country also"? because the last time I check I was a US citizen and so my children.

You are not aemrican, america is the land of the englishmen, or possibly the eskimoes or indians or whatever lived there,.
Amercia is a traitor nation of england.
You are spanish and always will be, it's in your genes.

reply to post by Sorgmodig


Too much Aquavit tonight, Sorgmodig?

Originally posted by Sorgmodig

Originally posted by CosmicEgg
I've lived in Finland for more than half my life but I think and dream almost exclusively in English. My kids are all born and raised here and also think and dream for the greatest part in English, despite having gone through the normal school system and having Finnish friends. None of us like to use Finnish except when we're making some lame humor. lol

So what you are saying, is that your are traitor of your own country and language?

You know there is such a thing as taking nationalism too far.

Is it not enough that we speak to each other?

In what frame of mind must one live to think that betrayal takes the form of using a learned language to speak?

reply to post by Sorgmodig


Hell are you on a short circuit or what , actually I am a mixing pot of races, black, Spaniard, Italian and boriqua (taino), so my genes could be anything within the backgrounds in my pot.

My children now are all of the above plus Irish.

reply to post by Sorgmodig


I am American, born and raised. I married a Finn and have lived here now for more than a quarter century. My children were born and raised here in Finland. We all prefer to speak English. Finnish is harsh and really unfriendly, as far as we're concerned. There is a whole undercurrent here of people who are rejecting the Finnish (and the second national language, Swedish) and taking English as their language of choice, at work and at home.

I'm a traitor to no one. I wouldn't use any language at all if I didn't have to, but using one language over another is to me not a matter of nationalism. My brain works a lot better in English, and my multilingual children think so too. My eldest speaks five languages (English, Finnish, Swedish, French, Latin) and my youngest has seven under her belt so far (English, Finnish, Swedish, French, Latin, German, Japanese). We all feel that English is the most comfortable.

Lol...interesting question.
I read and speak fluently three languages; to me it really depends on the circumstances and what language I need. When talking to my mom, for example, I automatically switch to my mother tongue, and obviously think it also.Coming to ATS or anything on internet I change to english, and my thoughts follow too. For the most of the time I use my third language, to the daily routines, also with my kids. Funny thing is, when very angry, the switch to my mother tongue is involuntarily, as the four letters words flow much easily....
I think that on a very deep level I'm still translating my thoughts, but so fast that I'm not even aware of it.

My native language is portuguese, but most of the time I think in english. Sometimes when I'm talking to people I forget the words in portuguese, but remember them in english. Other times I have a hard time communicating because there are some concepts in the english language that make no sense at all when translated to portuguese...then I just laugh to myself and can't explain to people the reason why. Blame it on the internet.

I usually speak, think and write English when in the USA, unless I interact with my German friends on Skype or via phone, or I am doing work that requires me using German.

In Germany I speak very ghetto, bastardized American-German ( I call it ami deutsch) with my German friends, mostly because I am lazy and it is fun.

I can speak, and write hoch deutsche( proper German) in situations where it is appropriate. Sometimes certain expressions come across better in one language or the other, so when I speak with my German English bilingual friends we tend to switch up depending on the kind of emotion or expression we are going for.

I tend to dream in German, especially if I have been speaking a lot of German. Sometimes i see things and think of them in german because i relate them to germany, it's kinda fluid, especially when I'm in germany; in the USA it doesnt happen as often. Really, it is just whether or not my brain has enough energy to switch gears usually.

I was raised in Dutch and Papiamento. But I prefer to read in English. I think in Dutch, swear in Papiamento, dream in all three languages (depends on the people, context I am dreaming of) and express my feelings best in Dutch.
Weird thing is that my brain seems to categorize the person I am looking at when talking and chooses the language that is coming out of my mouth. I tend to speak Papiamento to some black friends, who are born and raised in the Netherlands with different backgrounds, until I register the bewilderment in their eyes and realize I am not speaking Dutch!!! So the brain (my brain?) sees color of the skin and chooses the language it thinks is suitable.
Or is it just my poor brain that cannot keep up?

It is depends entirely on who I am with, I speak English, Afrikaans (South African Dutch) and German, which we had to take at school, also a little French but can just make myself understood in it.
If I am in a group of friends who all speak one language I speak what they speak, in a mixed group I speak the language of the person I am speaking to but if I am with an friend whose mother tongue is Afrikaans but who speaks English well I usually end up speaking to them mostly in English with a smattering of Afrikaans thrown in!
It also depends on how quickly I have to think because often I use an English word during an Afrikaans or German discussion if I can't hit upon the word in the language that is being used!

I was raised speaking English, so most of my thoughts are in English, as well as dreams.

When I went to school, I studied French and progressed to the point where I was thinking in French. That helped a lot when having a conversation with the teacher in class, as you had to respond quickly, without taking the time to translate what the teacher said into English, come up with the response in English, translate it to French, then speak the response in French. All that internal translating works okay when translating documents on paper, but it won't work when you actually have to interact with someone on the streets (who really don't speak like what you learn in class anyways )

As for what was mentioned earlier about not using language when thinking, I've tried that as well. The problem with thinking without using a language is that the thought become too fast to organize and put into words that can be communicated, and ultimately are forgotten and lost. I seemed to have had some great ideas, but could not recall them all when I tried to sit down and write them down so I could address them later when I had more time.

I have a suspicion that perhaps language actually helps us to slow down and better organize our thoughts in order to make them easier to use and remember and communicate to those around us.

I do not think in any language, letters, words, numbers etc. I think in the realm of encompassing ideas, and, once you remember how to think this way it is far more natural feeling.

I am born and lived the most part of my life in Germany.
I moved to the States, married an US American, and we are now talking English on a daily basis.
I am now thinking and also dreaming in English.
"Switching back" to German, talking to my sister etc. is sometimes really hard...i think English is much easier to speak/"think".

I find myself thinking in English more and more. I have certain emotions or thoughts that are exclusively in Spanish. They tend to be my high strung passions. I think in English for technical issues like manuals or instructions, and all tinkering. I like Spanish for expressions and sentiment. I articulate in English far better than I do in Spanish, yet I find the more in depth thoughts I try and understand take my thoughts and feelings to a hybrid of both.

My native language is English, but I also speak, read and write Mandarin and Spanish. Now that I live back in the United States I only think in English. When I first moved to Mexico I translated in my mind what was being said or what I was reading into English, but after living there for half a year, I began to think in Spanish as well and did so for the next 3 years. However, upon moving back to the US, I instantly started thinking in English again, as it is my natural language.. even when I use Mandarin or Spanish now, I'm still thinking in English but if I get caught up in reading something in one of the two, I don't convert it into English. I'm not sure if that is what you were looking for, but that's my experience.

For my aunt she thinks in her native language, she has said so many times.

For me my first language was English, and my second was ASL(American sign language).
It's a hugely different language far more discript yet more vague at times too.

I don't think in sign all the time though it's increasing more and more.
When I do I find myself figuring out math, and spacial reasoning faster.
It's even affected my public speaking, I'm an engineering student and I sucked at public speaking.
Now my professors find my presentations among the best because subconsciously I am adding in very descriptive gestures that I'm not even aware of until they are pointed out to me.
One professor asked what speech professor I had because they had never seen someones gestures match the mechanical function they were describing so well.

Fun thread!

Ive been raised speaking and writing Dutch and Papiamento ( spoken in Aruba / Bonaire / Curacao ) and I'm fluent in English and not so great in Spanish. Somehow I think in English, I can express myself better in English. I also prefer to read In English. Speaking with family and friends I switch between these 3 languages without consciously thinking about doing so. It just goed effortlesslyI've notice'd that - when wanting to point something or a certain state out- I use the word in the language that I consider to be giving the most power/ explanation / color to whatever I'm trying to indicate. Throw in an occational Spanish word and BAM! it just brings much fun in our conversations. Swearing goes best in Papiamento, Dutch I find quite ...boring and greyish.