can you believe there are people out there who speak MULTIPLE languages and then APOLOGIZE for not having perfect grammar in their third or fourth language?????? like do you know how incredible you are???
when i was really little, my babysitter only spoke spanish with me so i became bilingual but i never knew when i was speaking spanish or english. one time i told my mom i wanted an avocado & she understood but then when i said the same thing to my babysitter later that day, she burst into tears with laughter because i was saying “quiero abogado” which means “i want a lawyer.”
imagine a two year old repeatedly saying “i want a lawyer!” as an adult laughs at her.
Reminding me of also funny story: So my piano teacher of many years when I was a kid had a baby when I was in my teens. This little girl was super bright, and also bilingual in Mandarin and English from her first word.
I do not speak Mandarin. At all.
One day as I’m waiting for my mom to pick me up after the lesson, Baby Girl is playing in the kitchen and hears me sneeze! And she runs over and says, “You need [incomprehensible]?”
Now here’s the thing: I knew she was not speaking Mandarin. I don’t speak it, but my aunt and uncle both do, and a close family friend’s family growing up would code-switch quite comfortably around us. I was old enough and it was sufficiently different from English that because there was no formal teaching, I never derived anything from it? But I was very familiar with how it sounds to an uncomprehending ear.
What she said did not sound like Mandarin at all. It sounded like gibberish. Like English baby gibberish.
As I clearly didn’t understand, Baby Girl repeats, “You need [gibberish]!” and then, when I still don’t understand, she stamps her foot and makes Angry Noise at me, which attracts her mother’s attention.
Bewildered, I relate what’s going on. Her mother covers her face and says, “She wants to know if you want a kleenex.”
And then my piano teacher explained that Baby Girl had figured out that some people didn’t speak English and some people didn’t speak Mandarin and she needed to confine herself to one language around them.
But sometimes, as is very natural especially for quite young children, she’d run up against realizing she didn’t know the word for something - and sometimes she knew the word in one language, but not in the other!
And it seemed intuitive to her that the way to fix this was to say the word from the other language … with the right accent.
So what she’d been doing was taking the word for “tissue” or “kleenex” in Mandarin and saying it like an Anglophone would: no tone-change and different vowel shapes and all. And it made Baby Girl VERY FRUSTRATED when this did not solve the problem, and at that point she seemed to believe that the adults around her were being stupid on purpose.
children are amazing
My mom told me about a family friend’s kid who was swimming in the pool and kept repeating a Spanish word she learned from watching Dora. None of the adults paid her any attention because they didn’t know Spanish, but her older sister jumped in and pulled her out, explaining that she was calling for help (because that’s a Very common word on the show). Her parents were pretty embarrassed and annoyed.
The evidence for bilingualism having cognitive benefits beyond the ability to speak another language is very poor, but I’ll tell you this: I’ve never ever met anyone who regretted being bilingual. I’ve met many people, however, who regret that they’re not. –Gareth Roberts on twitter
Why does my ability to speak Spanish disappear in Spanish class? Like, I’m fluent in normal circumstances and then my teacher asks me a a question and it’s just ningún pensamiento, cerebro vacío
Do any fellow native English speakers get really worried about messing up the formal/informal you distinction in most languages?
Like generally I get it, but my brain is like “well what if you meet someone for the first time but they’re you’re age but they may be a year older than you but they might also be younger” like sis calm down
If you’re Mexican,at some point you must’ve listened to at least one song by Molotov. And in the last few years they more than likely gained even more followers when they were featured on the first episode of one of the greatest TV phenomenon of our times, a little show called breaking bad.I consider them the Latin equivalent to rage against the machine. If you’re looking for feel good music that raises your heart beat an blood pressure and makes you wanna do reckless shit or starting a revolution or stick it to their higher power, listen to these guys. Three Mexicans and one America. Song title is a great word play, like most of their material - Apocalypshit - #Molotov #Apocalypshit #RockEnEspañol #Rock #RockRap #Rap #Bass #Guitar #GuitarSolo #BassSolo #Bilingual #Mexico #Gringo #Music #BreakingBad
There’s only one week until I take the TOPIK II exam and now that I’m almost done, I figured I would stop in, let you know that I haven’t died studying, and talk about how the process has been so far.
I’ll make a couple of posts including free resources and textbooks which I’ve personally found helpful, my feelings leading up to the exam, and finally a little bit on what happens when you actually take the TOPIK exam. If there’s anything that you’d like to know, drop me an ask, and don’t forget to request some dramas for when I start posting again!
The TOPIK exam that I’m doing takes place on the 9th, and from then I’ll be taking a break to visit London and Paris until the 22nd. I’ll resume posting Studying Korean with K-Drama posts from then, unless I decide that I can’t wait. I also have a few surprise announcements to make too! I’ve really missed posting my usual content and interacting with you guys. See you all soon
Person A: You know… the thing Person B:The “thing”? Person A: Yeah, the thing with the little-! *mutters under their breath* Como es que se llama esa mierda… THE FISHING ROD
As someone with multiple bilingual friends where English is not the first language, may I present to you a list of actual incidents I have witnessed:
Forgot a word in Spanish, while speaking Spanish to me, but remembered it in English. Became weirdly quiet as they seemed to lose their entire sense of identity.
Used a literal translation of a Russian idiomatic expression while speaking English. He actually does this quite regularly, because he somehow genuinely forgets which idioms belong to which language. It usually takes a minute of everyone staring at him in confused silence before he says “….Ah….. that must be a Russian one then….”
Had to count backwards for something. Could not count backwards in English. Counted backwards in French under her breath until she got to the number she needed, and then translated it into English.
Meant to inform her (French) parents that bread in America is baked with a lot of preservatives. Her brain was still halfway in English Mode so she used the word “préservatifes.” Ended up shocking her parents with the knowledge that apparently, bread in America is full of condoms.
Defined a slang term for me……. with another slang term. In the same language. Which I do not speak.
Was talking to both me and his mother in English when his mother had to revert to Russian to ask him a question about a word. He said “I don’t know” and turned to me and asked “Is there an English equivalent for Нумизматический?” and it took him a solid minute to realize there was no way I would be able to answer that. Meanwhile his mom quietly chuckled behind his back.
Said an expression in English but with Spanish grammar, which turned “How stressful!” into “What stressing!”
Bilingual characters are great but if you’re going to use a linguistic blunder, you have to really understand what they actually blunder over. And it’s usually 10x funnier than “Ooops it’s hard to switch back.”
I use Spanish and English daily, none is my native language. When I’m tired or did not have enough sleep I loose track of who to address in which language; I caught myself explaining something in Spanish to my English-speaking friends more than once. When I’m REALLY tired I’ll throw some Polish words in the mix.
There is nothing more painful than bad fake Spanglish by an American writer. Bilingual people don’t just randomly drop words in nonsensical places in their sentences ffs. “I’m muy tired! I think I’ll go to my cama and go to sleep!“ Nobody does that.
From my bilingual parents:
- Only being able to do math in their original language. “Ok so that would beeeeee … *muttering* ocho por cuatro menos tres…”
- Losing words and getting mad at you about it. “Gimme the - the - UGH, ESA COSA AHI’ CARAJO. The thing, the oven mitt. Christ.”
- Making asides to you in Spanish even though you’ve told them to not do this as lots of people here speak Spanish. “Oye, mira esa, que cara fea.” “MOM FFS WE’RE IN A MEXICAN NEIGHBORHOOD.”
- Swears in English don’t count.
- Swears in Spanish mean you’d better fucking run, kid.
- Introducing you to English-only Americans using your Spanish name so that they mispronounce your name for all eternity because that’s what your mom said your name was. “Hi Dee-yanna!” “sigh, Just call me Diana.” “Yeah but your mom said your name was Dee-yanna.”
- Your parents give you a name that only makes sense in Spanish. “Your name is Floor?” “No, my name is Flor.” “FLOOR?” “Sigh.”
- conjugating English words with Russian grammar and vice versa. Sometimes both at once, which is extra fun. самолет -> самолетас -> самолетасы
- when vice versa, dropping English articles entirely. The, a, an: all gone. e.g. “I go to store and buy thing, I fix car and go to place.” This also happens when i am very tired
- speaking English with heavy accent you don’t actually have - when my family and I are switching over fast, we say the English words in a very heavy Russian accent that mostly doesn’t show up otherwise
bonus:
- keysmashing in the wrong language when your keyboard is still switched over
- using ))))) instead of :))) or other culture-specific emoji/typing quirks
all of the above
I don’t actually speak Tagalog, but my mom’s Filipino. One of my favorite things is when she forgets how to preposition, so something is ‘in the table’.
SOMEHOW I NEVER REBLOGGED THIS?!?!?!?!? this is one of my absolute favorite posts on all of tumblr
also, to add to the pile of fun things bilinguals do: cackling over bilingual puns that nobody else in the room will get and then being completely unable to explain why this is funny
Interesting. Reblogging this for future reference.
my favourite is that feeling when you have the perfect response to something but halfway through saying it you realised it’s in a language the other person doesn’t speak so you either just kind of… fade out, or try desperately to make it make sense in the other language
I lose my place all the time when I’m counting in English, but never when I count in German.
I’m swedish but at this point I’m so fluent in english that I can switch between languages on a dime.
i hate forgetting a word in english and having to describe but realizing that i cant describe it in english. so im just stuttering between russian and english and none of my english speaking friends can help
Same
Let’s not forget speaking in a mixture of the two languages all the time, especially when you’re around people who also speak both languages. Also, making puns in their mother tongue.
Quickly switching to your mother tongue while insulting your friends.
God, the typing quirks…almost always need to reprimand myself for doing them ♀️
im only like. barely conversational in german but in english i STILL end up tagging ‘ge-’ onto the beginning of verbs and ’-en’ onto the end
‘i have. up gefucken’ is absolutely stupid and doesn’t mean anything and yet i say it constantly
Me constantly:
“Where did you put the…the thing. *tries to find second word for the thing, can’t remember it either* You know, the thing that…it thats. THe thing. It’s black. MY ENGLISH IS NOT ENGLIGH TONIGHT. Flat. Hand tray. For the hot things. *burst of realization*
OVEN MITT!”
I also can almost never count properly in English, especially if I’m in a hurry. And the worst thing is that my boyfriend is also German so if I ask him, he will instantly also forget the word I am asking the other person which is not helpful.
Not sure what recipe he used, but this looks pretty close. [ETA: Not completely, but still looks promising. His used butter and no egg. Easier to veganize that way too, if you’re so inclined.]
The first batch, still on the baking mat, turned out best eaten pinched up into little oaty balls, but very tasty buttery oaty balls they are! Having trouble leaving roughly half of the rest for him, tbqh.
(He wants to credit subbing in unfamiliar gluten free flour. Though, I’m guessing that working from an new recipe, in a newish oven you’re not used to yet, after like 20 years since your last batch might have more to do with unexpected behavior!)
The second smaller batch apparently baked just a little longer, and did go crispy all the way through. They came off their silicone sheet pretty easily, and we’re waiting there to go in a Ziploc for later.
Those look fairly easy to make, and should taste great even if they don’t set up quite right. That basic recipe also takes well to variations, as I can totally imagine. Definitely worth a try.
Oh my. I also had to get amusef at one further episode of Bilingual Brain Scramble in action earlier.
For whatever reason, he decided to copy that recipe onto a piece of paper instead of printing it out, though I’m pretty sure he did find it online. Working with a Swedish language recipe, of course. Which he then brought into the kitchen with him, and showed me, laughing. While he had been under the impression that he was indeed straight copying it down? His brain apparently decided to run its own autotranslate module in the background, without consulting him. Yep, he wrote the list of ingredients down in English instead–and it then took him glancing at it again minutes later to even realize.
I did have to get a little giggle out of that one too. Even if I’m not fluent enough yet in any additional language(s) for mine to pull similar crap on me.
The world premier production of “Romeo y Juliet” is nearly upon us! Join us at the Bruns from May 25—June 19 for our reimagined bilingual adaptation of a classic tale of star crossed lovers.
This article reminds me of the recipe for pasta mista:
Much as this Italian recipe elevates pasta that Americans might throw away, the article discusses how middle-class white families are beginning to elevate their perceptions of bilingual education. However, unlike the worrisome implications of this strain on those students who might be pushed out of multilingual instruction, you’ll find this recipe for an usual type of pasta, chickpea, and basil dish has only delicious implications if you give it a go. Good cooking, and see you in 2018!
Jako v životě. Křehkost, zranitelnost dnešního stavu.
To, že bych teoreticky každou chvíli mohla vším
pohnout jinam. Mé věci, šaty, skříně a stoly jsou prosyceny provizorností mého pobývání na zemi, mou nejistotou a smrtelností.
Všechna cizí akvária nekriticky přijímám (pokud v nich není umělohmotný hrádek), jen s tím svým se nedokážu smířit, zdá se mi tmavé, jeho špína padá na mou hlavu,
jsem svědkem ryb, které v něm umírají a které musím vyhazovat do záchoda,
květiny v něm musí být přeskupovány, nahrazovány novými, protože žloutnou.
Ale už mnoho let ho držím při životě, kupuji nové ryby, topím jim, čistím písek a kameny a nedokážu s tím přestat. Ovšem, že dokud nepraskne a nevyteče, svoje akvárium dobrovolně nikdy nezruším.
-
What I like about other people’s apartments is that the way
objects are arranged in space is given, I can only
watch them be.
In my own apartment what makes me nervous is the opposite —
nothing is definitive.
As in life. Fragile, vulnerable the way things are today.
I could, theoretically, move anything
at any time. My things, clothes, wardrobes and tables
are suffused with the provisional nature of my existence
here on earth, with my uncertainty, my mortality.
I uncritically accept all aquariums belonging to other people
(as long as there is no plastic castle inside) only my own aquarium I cannot come to terms with, it appears dark, its dirt falls on my head
I witness dying fish that I then have to throw into the toilet
the flowers in it have to be endlessly moved around replaced with new ones because they turn yellow.
Yet, I keep it alive for years, buy new fish, keep them warm, clean the sand and stones unable to stop. Of course, until it cracks and the water pours out I will never voluntarily abolish my aquarium.
Miss Lucy Tom, chief operator, looks on as telephone operators man their boards in the Chinatown Telephone Exchange which handles all of Chinatown’s incoming and outgoing calls. June 19, 1946.
For more than 50 years, the only Chinese telephone exchange outside of China itself was in San Francisco’s Chinatown. It was manned by Chinese men and women who knew by heart the names, addresses and phone numbers of every one of the 2500 Chinatown subscribers. The operators, whose switchboards were flanked by two golden dragons, were fluent in English and several Chinese dialects and were even supposed to know their customers’ favorite hangouts in case they weren't home when an urgent call came in.
On the topic of English people being shitheads towards Welsh people - This fucking dude today on AITA
Yeah pretty sure we’re all hoping for a divorce on this one lol
how did this fucker say it’s “not as bad as it sounds” and then somehow end up being even worse than it sounds by the fourth sentence
Further updates, I couldn’t resist looking this one up.
Character development.
His last comment translates from welsh as:
thank you very much everyone and good night
Yes, you’re the asshole of course As the comments are yelling themselves hoarse Your daughter is fine She’s bilingual - don’t whine! So thank god you’re showing remorse.
Shop is open! Get our bilingual, 400-page physical zine + several additional eZines, as well as merchandise and stretch goals. Included are fanart, fanfiction, cosplay, fan manga, essays and much more from 350+ contributors from 40 countries!
This is a charity Zine. All proceeds go to the AO3 and the OTW!
Hard to tell, right? Well scientists have figured out that this question isn’t so hard for newborn babies to answer. And this discovery could make a difference for parents who want to raise their children as bilingual. Here’s the full story fromThe World in Words podcast.
(ps- the first sound is English, and the second is Filipino —if you’re keeping score)
Learning a language can be a pain in the ass. I know, I’ve been there. Don’t get me started on the grammar and all its exceptions either. However, the more experienced I got with the languages, I got the hang on what works best for me. So here they are.
1. Learn vocabulary first. The first thing I did with English and Dutch was to learn as many words as possible. I didn’t bother on how I had to write them. I simply focused on how I had to pronounce them I tried to remember them. If you think about it, that’s exactly how babies learn how to speak. They start with simple words and then start to add on.
2. EXPOSURE. This is what will make the difference. For English, I listened to an unhealthy amount of music. And I watch all Friends episodes subtitled in Spanish so I could slowly pick up what was going on. This way I even learned new phrases. Like how to pick someone up with a “how you doin’?” and a wink.
3. Learn some basic sentence structure. I try not to go full on the grammar but introducing it bit by bit as I familiarize with language. And I play around with the sentences. I try asking for different things and I translate the sentences I use the most so I practice with those first.
4. Befriend a native. THIS THO. When I was learning Dutch and English I became best friends with a Dutch girl in my class and a guy that speaks English like a native. We had this thing when I made a grammar mistake I had to give them 25 cents and that 25 cents quickly piled up so I picked up my pace and I actually learned to speak proper Dutch and English in a matter of 6 to 8 months. I’m not kidding, those 25 cents were the best 25 cents I’ve ever spent because no teacher would have helped me as fast as these 2 did. Now, 8 years later, we’re still besties.
5. Study of grammar. I studied grammar properly after I was more familiarized with the language so I could definitely perfect it. And I think this was actually an advantage because most of the rules and structure of grammar suddenly came like second nature to me. There were, of course, some things that I wasn’t applying correctly, but it was actually very easy to fix them from then on. But think about it, you don’t teach a baby grammar first thing. So why would you do too?
In a nutshell, start by familiarizing yourself with the language you want to speak. Learn a lot of words, get a lot of exposure so you can get a feel of the pronunciation and culture of speaking. Befriend a native, and make it interesting so you can learn and practice. And then try to truly understand the grammar. Do you have any other tips? Feel free to share!
P.S: Spanish is my first language. I learned Papiamentu, which is the language of some of the islands of the Netherlands Antilles. And then I learned Dutch and Spanish.
May 2022 Rincón Literario title: The Daughters of Juarez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border / Las Hijas de Juarez: Un auténtico relato de asesinatos en serie al sur de la frontera, by Teresa Rodriguez, Diana Montané, Lisa Pulitzer.
Rincón Literario es el club de lectura bilingüe de la Biblioteca que se reúne cada tercer Sábado del mes a las 10:30. La discusión es en inglés y español, lo que permite a los miembros practicar un segundo idioma y también expresarse en su primer idioma. Las reuniones se llevan a cabo actualmente a través de Zoom pero, a partir de Enero de 2022, los miembros tendrán la opción de unirse a nosotros en persona o continuar participando en línea. Nuevos miembros siempre son bienvenidos, ¡así que únase a nosotros!
Join us tomorrow, May 21 at 10:30 a.m. upstairs in the Library Board Room and on Zoom!
