lingustic confusion

[SunWuKong]

do you ever get confused in your head with what language you want to speak when you're around a multi-lingual crowd?

as my Mandarin gets better, i get kind of messed up sometimes when i'm in a crowd that speaks all three of Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. sometimes i intend to say something in one language, but a different language comes out when i actually speak it.

and when i was first learning Mandarin, sometimes my high school French came out. hahhah!

[Chester]

and when i was first learning Mandarin, sometimes my high school French came out. hahhah!

I was exactly the same way.

I would rampantly use "de" incorrectly in both languages.

I mix up Cantonese and Mandarin too...mainly because I understand more Cantonese but speak more Mandarin and my poor little head has a hard time parsing between the two sometimes.

[kimpossible]

Sometimes when I'm in the midst of Mandarin my Japanese comes very easily and sometimes when I'm in the midst of Japanese Mandarin comes very easily.

Always there when I don't need it, hardly ever there when I do. It's a hoot for me when I meet 1.5 gen Chinese who've studied Japanese for a few years. Then we can talk in weird Japa-Chinglish.

[kasia]

i took spanish, german, and french in high school...and during my junior year, they were scheduled back-to-back - fifth, sixth, and seventh periods. i was very confused.

[kboy75]

a friend of mine is korean, but grew up in france, then moved to the USA. he's perfectly tri-lingual.

he often thinks in french, but has no accent in either english or korean.

[TTChino]

I used to speak the wrong language in grade school. Teacher asked a simple math question, I would accidently say the number in mandarin. Now that my mandarin goes down the tube slowly day by day I mostly speak a ghetto chinglish.

[applehead]

i use konglish with my korean friends.
and i'll use konglish when i'm with
non korean friends.
i used to correct myself and consciously
try to speak only english.
but i figure. oh who cares.
i'll just use korean words anyway.

[TTChino]

i use konglish with my korean friends.
and i'll use konglish when i'm with
non korean friends.
i used to correct myself and consciously
try to speak only english.
but i figure. oh who cares.
i'll just use korean words anyway.

"Grommu Grommu?"

[jenjen]

nahh.. haven't got that problem coz i don't speak dialects. i speak mandarin. english. learning french.

but i sometimes speak tryhard shanghainese or canto when i come across a situation when i can use an appropriate phrase that i know:D

[applehead]

"Grommu Grommu?"


it's gomu gomu.
kekeke

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Whenever I try speaking Spanish these days, Japanese always comes out once I get going.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Yesterday when I was practicing my basic phrases in Japanese class I accidentally said 'nan' or 'na neun' ('I' in Korean) and 'wo3' ('I' in Chinese) instead of 'watashi wa' like fifty billion times.

In terms of Spanish, it's my personal opinion that nobody growing up in America that speaks English fluently should have an excuse for not learning Spanish. It is arguably the easiest language to learn for native English speakers (if they are motivated) in practically all areas (writing/reading, spelling 'no exceptions like English', grammar, pronunciation, etc.), and since there are shitloads of Spanish-speaking people (and increasing) in the states, there is plenty of practical value beyond simply hitting on hot women (and running from their boyfriends) around the Miami waterfront.

[Ogumo]

The only time nihonglish comes is when I think of a word and cannot remember the english word for it. Or if didnt know the word in english to begin with I will take a chance and say the japanese variation in a hope that they both have the same meaning.

[SunWuKong]

Yesterday when I was practicing my basic phrases in Japanese class I accidentally said 'nan' or 'na neun' ('I' in Korean) and 'wo3' ('I' in Chinese) instead of 'watashi wa' like fifty billion times.

In terms of Spanish, it's my personal opinion that nobody growing up in America that speaks English fluently should have an excuse for not learning Spanish. It is arguably the easiest language to learn for native English speakers (if they are motivated) in practically all areas (writing/reading, spelling 'no exceptions like English', grammar, pronunciation, etc.), and since there are shitloads of Spanish-speaking people (and increasing) in the states, there is plenty of practical value beyond simply hitting on hot women (and running from their boyfriends) around the Miami waterfront.


actually plenty of places in the US don't have that many Spanish speakers. you're really just talking about California, Florida, and NYC (Texas?). for example, in New England, French is a lot more common for kids to learn than Spanish.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

for example, in New England, French is a lot more common for kids to learn than Spanish.
Yeah, but that doesn't mean French is particularly useful, just that New England public school bureaucracies with their lifetime tenure and secure base of support from the Democratic Party are heavily resistant to change. 7% of the population of Massachusetts is still Latino, heavily concentrated in the cities, and virtually all of them are young immigrants and their kids. Spanish isn't useful for employment unless you're in job dealing with the public, but if you need your piano moved or your roof retiled, don't be surprised if you laborers who would feel far more comfortable explaining their company's damages policy in Spanish than in English. My high school was an hour north of Boston and still all the cafeteria staff were Hispanics.

In contrast, all the people who actually speak French as mother tongue are in their 70s and 80s and spread out throughout the backwoods, the only place they're concentrated is in nursing homes. And most of them speak English fluently too, in contrast to the Hispanics. So basically, you'd never get a chance to practice your high-school French. Then again, if you found some Alzheimer's patient who was going deaf, you'd just end up repeating the same thing over and over again very loudly. Which is how teachers recommend you practice. There's an idea ...

(As an aside, some of those French-speakers are 2nd and even 3rd-generation Americans, too. How? Quebec-Americans had their own Catholic schools teaching in French. It turned out to be so much of a problem for assimilation that the State of Maine expropriated the schools from the church, replaced their administrations, urged State not to issue visas for priests from Quebec to come to the US, etc.)

[SunWuKong]

ok. what you say about French speakers in the US is true. not sure about the reason you cited for public schools teaching French though. my school had no Hispanic people and it was a hell of a lot closer to Quebec than Mexico.

but it's a little far-fetched to say that Spanish is so common that it must be learnt. when you're out of California, NYC, and southern Florida, you'd probably not have that many Spanish-speaking people in your social circles, especially if you're not living in or close to a major city. in my experience, you'd probably mostly come across them as, unfortunately this has not exactly be a simple stereotype in my experience, gardeners, janitors, construction workers, cafeteria staff (and actually i've never had Hispanic cafeteria staff, they were white in high school, and black in college).

and to be honest, i'd much rather have any future kids i might have learn French instead of Spanish. unless Latin America catches up to the EU, French would probably be more useful in terms of opportunities because it's the most common language in Europe.

[Chris]

I have that problem. I have a habit of thinking in cantonese while speaking in English and followup to listenign to japanese music. I don't have a distinct accent because i speak them so much that it become jumbled.

[nonamerasian]

I have mixed up my Spanish and my sub-par French more than once. I even mistakenly gave a presentation partially in French during a Spanish finals.

I don’t do that so much anymore. Actually, I’ve been forgetting French pretty badly, which explains it.

Now, my trend is more of mixing Spanish and English.

A couple of days ago I found my self lecturing my niece in Spanish. That was odd because it was the first time I ever did it that way. I was thinking completely in English, yet Spanish was coming out of my mouth.

[purezero]

This reminds me of a story my Bio teacher told us about the AP exam. There was a German student who was taking the class. Part way through the exam, he forgot how to explain stuff in English, so he wrote out the rest of his test in German. The AP graders simply passed it over to a person who could read German. And the guy passed.

I tend to stick to English a little more than Cantonese than Spanish, mostly because I'm comfortable in it. But when I'm with my parents or with friends who speak Cantonese, I start speaking it. Or just to throw in some random quip. I guess I slip every now and then. I doubt that I would switch in a presentation or something though.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

This reminds me of a story my Bio teacher told us about the AP exam. There was a German student who was taking the class. Part way through the exam, he forgot how to explain stuff in English, so he wrote out the rest of his test in German. The AP graders simply passed it over to a person who could read German. And the guy passed.
Damn, why didn't I think of that on the Euro History AP? Instead of answering that damn question about different types of grain, I could have just started writing sial, saya tak boleh cakap bahasa inggeris. Then they would never be able to find anyone who speaks Malay, so they'd just have to pass me. Otherwise I will sue them for national origins discrimination cuz they passed the German guy. Bastards.

[SunWuKong]

This reminds me of a story my Bio teacher told us about the AP exam. There was a German student who was taking the class. Part way through the exam, he forgot how to explain stuff in English, so he wrote out the rest of his test in German. The AP graders simply passed it over to a person who could read German. And the guy passed.
Damn, why didn't I think of that on the Euro History AP? Instead of answering that damn question about different types of grain, I could have just started writing sial, saya tak boleh cakap bahasa inggeris. Then they would never be able to find anyone who speaks Malay, so they'd just have to pass me. Otherwise I will sue them for national origins discrimination cuz they passed the German guy. Bastards.


wait, didn't she say that the graders gave the test to someone who can read German to grade it? they didn't pass him because nobody could read German.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

wait, didn't she say that the graders gave the test to someone who can read German to grade it? they didn't pass him because nobody could read German.
Yo stop correcting logical errors of drunks.

But seriously. I wonder what would happen if some guy did write in Malay or Burmese or some other language where they couldn't find a guy who speaks it in reasonable amount of time (i.e. the chance is effectively nil that the guy who works across the hall studied that language in college or immigrated from there), what would they do?

Personally I think they should have failed the guy in the first place. If it was an on the spot policy decision, it was stupid, and if it's a standing regulation it's even stupider. At some point is gonna try again it in another language, he will get failed, he'll blame it on discrimination cuz of the fact that he wrote in a foreign language, and next thing you know there will be a lawsuit to get the SAT, the AP, and every college application in the country translated into 54 languages, and the fees will go waaaay up.

[AngryABCGirl]

I speak Chinglish to my family and friends and then I unconciously start doing it outside and I did it in Taiwan and made people confused.

[seanp]

I went to the viet christian camp thingy... and I was kinda surprised how they could mix viet and english into one while they were talking.. I can't do that really..

[kimpossible]

what's up with taglish? i've been transfixed by these Filipino shows lately.

[SunWuKong]

what's up with taglish? i've been transfixed by these Filipino shows lately.


huh? why are you watching Filipino shows and where are you getting them?

[Chris]

Damn, why didn't I think of that on the Euro History AP? Instead of answering that damn question about different types of grain, I could have just started writing sial, saya tak boleh cakap bahasa inggeris. Then they would never be able to find anyone who speaks Malay, so they'd just have to pass me. Otherwise I will sue them for national origins discrimination cuz they passed the German guy. Bastards.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[BeTheReds]

The only problem for me is that where my knowledge of Korean ends, Japanese will creep its way in.