| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Do you ever mixup your langauges? Thread poster: DavidMTucker (X)
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| Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member for the following reason: empty post | | Frequently, at home... | Aug 21, 2012 |
...but I am reminded of a funny situation that happened in my holidays a few weeks ago, in a small Portuguese village near the Galician border.
I was approached by a Galician couple asking me for directions. Instead of answering them in Portuguese, which I speak well and which they, being Galicians, would have understood perfectly well, I found myself making a silly and rather unsuccessful effort to speak Spanish to them. Only after they had left (probably confused), I remembered th... See more ...but I am reminded of a funny situation that happened in my holidays a few weeks ago, in a small Portuguese village near the Galician border.
I was approached by a Galician couple asking me for directions. Instead of answering them in Portuguese, which I speak well and which they, being Galicians, would have understood perfectly well, I found myself making a silly and rather unsuccessful effort to speak Spanish to them. Only after they had left (probably confused), I remembered that Galicia and Portugal share a common language... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Marina Steinbach
United States
Local time: 23:53
Member (2011)
English to German
Ty Kendall wrote:
To see that the OP is already "xxx". He seemed like a decent guy and was very active on the forums despite being a new user.
I have asked you to explain what "xxx" means and received the following message from ProZ:
The author has been asked to edit this post in line with site rule http://www.proz.com/siterules/forum/4#4
Why?
| | | | Ty Kendall 
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:53
Hebrew to English
| It just means... | Aug 23, 2012 |
...that he left the site.
To give a little something on-topic, I don't tend to mix my languages up normally (they're quite divergent languages) and code-switching isn't that natural for me for some reason. I prefer to stay in one or the other.
However, I vaguely remember a few dreams where I think I was mixing Hebrew and English. (Intersentential switching though only -One sentence in one language, then t... See more ...that he left the site.
To give a little something on-topic, I don't tend to mix my languages up normally (they're quite divergent languages) and code-switching isn't that natural for me for some reason. I prefer to stay in one or the other.
However, I vaguely remember a few dreams where I think I was mixing Hebrew and English. (Intersentential switching though only -One sentence in one language, then the next sentence in another). ▲ Collapse
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Marina Steinbach
United States
Local time: 23:53
Member (2011)
English to German
| I can't remember looking a word up in my dreams... | Aug 24, 2012 |
I sometimes mix up languages on the telephone or if I'm angry. Well, and I really can't remember looking a word up in my dreams...
Edited: Oops! I had to toss in another "e" and "m".
[Edited at 2012-08-24 02:33 GMT]
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An interesting post and it made me think of two events in my life when something like this happened to me.
When I was a student at the university, I took up French classes - unfortunately, the people in my group were more advanced than I was and it was rather difficult for me to keep up with them. I was, however, fluent in German. In one of the first classes after summer vacation we were supposed to say a few words about our vacations.
Sure enough I was asked to tell about my ... See more An interesting post and it made me think of two events in my life when something like this happened to me.
When I was a student at the university, I took up French classes - unfortunately, the people in my group were more advanced than I was and it was rather difficult for me to keep up with them. I was, however, fluent in German. In one of the first classes after summer vacation we were supposed to say a few words about our vacations.
Sure enough I was asked to tell about my vacations as well. I started in French all right but switched to German as soon as I uttered the name of the German town which I visited. The funny thing is I didn't even realize it! I finished my story feeling very proud of myself and thinking that my French definitely improved over the summer. You should have seen the look at my teacher's face when he said "That was very nice, Miss Ujma. Now the French version please...". Talk about a rude awakening;).
The other story is work-related. It was a few years ago when I just started working as an interpreter. I was doing some chuchotage EN/PL for a Pole and a Dutch. I should mention that the Dutchman spoke some Polish as well but he preferred to have an interpreter with him just to be on the safe side. The meeting was very long and complicated and I was already very tired. Suddenly the Dutchman started to speak Polish. I was so engrossed in my job that again I did not realize it and started to interpret into Polish (or rather give the correct version of what he said). Imagine my embarrassment when he stopped and asked me what I was doing - wasn't he speaking Polish? Luckily everybody started laughing and all ended well.
Thankfully, it has never happened to me again. It is funny how the mind works though.
Have a good day!
Anna ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Exactly the same scene | Aug 24, 2012 |
Anna Ujma wrote:
An interesting post and it made me think of two events in my life when something like this happened to me.
When I was a student at the university, I took up French classes - unfortunately, the people in my group were more advanced than I was and it was rather difficult for me to keep up with them. I was, however, fluent in German. In one of the first classes after summer vacation we were supposed to say a few words about our vacations.
Sure enough I was asked to tell about my vacations as well. I started in French all right but switched to German as soon as I uttered the name of the German town which I visited. The funny thing is I didn't even realize it! I finished my story feeling very proud of myself and thinking that my French definitely improved over the summer. You should have seen the look at my teacher's face when he said "That was very nice, Miss Ujma. Now the French version please...". Talk about a rude awakening;).
In my teens, I was studying the 6th year at the local ESL school sponsored by the British Council, and the 3rd at the Alliance Française. So one day I had a rather long (2 minutes?) speech to deliver in French during class. At a certain moment (my classmates told me so later), instead of a mais..., I uttered a but... and went all the way through the end brilliantly... in English!
My teacher was a very young and good-looking parisienne, though quite pale-skinned. When I finally stopped speaking, she had blushed to the color of a ripe tomato. She said to me slowly, in a heavily accented English, "Aye heupp zett soum day yoo veel speek joost as flooentley zee Frrench aye am trraying soo harrd too teech yoo." And then I blushed.
Bottom line is that I dropped out of the Alliance by the end of that year, leaving French to be my L5, adequate for emergencies only.
| | | | | Mixing up languages | Sep 5, 2012 |
I only work into EN, but from four passive languages.
I never mix up languages professionally, as EN is my mother tongue and I've never been tempted to utter a word of another language on mic.
Having said that, on the few occasions I've interpreted informally to help friends on holiday between C languages I found it rather a confusing business...particularly between two Latin languages, where I would find myself thinking an intermediary phrase in English which is absolutely u... See more I only work into EN, but from four passive languages.
I never mix up languages professionally, as EN is my mother tongue and I've never been tempted to utter a word of another language on mic.
Having said that, on the few occasions I've interpreted informally to help friends on holiday between C languages I found it rather a confusing business...particularly between two Latin languages, where I would find myself thinking an intermediary phrase in English which is absolutely unnecessary!
What a weird process it is.
There are people who can become relatively fluent in a foreign language but still have a tendency to let elements of another language flit in and out of their conversation. Typically they aren't linguists though, and I've heard it a lot in places like Luxembourg, where a French-speaking descendant of Portuguese parents will often have a bizarre form of expression in both languages...that's the sort of thing interpreting juries (and clients) hate!
Effectively a hybrid language ends up limiting the scope for communication more than a single language does, as potentially a French speaker AND a Portuguese speaker might have difficulties understanding the hybrid. ▲ Collapse
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Phil Hand
China
Local time: 11:53
Chinese to English
| Multilingual speakers | Sep 5, 2012 |
They're a nightmare. I've never had this professionally, because I'm in mainland China, but during training we did some speeches from Singapore, where speakers will mix English and Chinese with gay abandon. Because we interpret both ways (and you're likely to have speakers of both in an audience), you try to follow along, interpreting whatever comes out, but by the end you can have literally forgotten which way you're supposed to be going.
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