Technically, I’m talking about Personal Milestone #2, as Personal Milestone #1 was crossing the threshold into being able to think in another language so I didn’t have to translate in my head when reading/speaking. And that one was huge for me, as Spanish was the first (non-English) language I managed to do that with.
Afterward, however, I felt like I stagnated. There I was, happily chatting with whomever and reading whatever while thinking in Spanish, but all it took was not knowing a given word (must do vocabulary drills!) or overhearing someone speaking English, and bam, I’d be jerked out of Spanish with bone-jarring force. Then I’d stand there, blinking, not quite thinking in either language, inwardly cursing my inability to sustain Spanish thoughts when those accursed English speakers were around. *g
Fast forward, oh, forever. OK, maybe 2 years. During this time, I visit Spain a couple times, Costa Rica a few times, no problem thinking in Spanish b/c rarely did I overhear any English. But in the U.S., same problem. Here virtually *all* the background noise is in English. I’d get jerked out of the Spanish moment just by overhearing Duran Duran or a car commercial.
UNTIL NOW.
I met someone from Costa Rica maybe 4 months ago, and over the past month we’ve been talking every day, sometimes in English, sometimes in Spanish. At first it drove me crazy that he’d flip back and forth between languages (sometimes mid-sentence! Aargh!!) but after awhile, I not only could follow along, I started doing it too, without even thinking about it.
And then this past weekend, I went to D.C. to visit some (English-speaking) friends, and while we were strolling down the pier in downtown Baltimore and chatting amongst ourselves, some people ambled past in the opposite direction. I accidentally overheard a word or two of their (Spanish) conversation, and got knocked out of English.
Yes. Insanity. All it took was literally a single word in Spanish and instantly my mind flipped over to that language instead, and all of a sudden I’m blinking at my English friends and grappling for the conversation thread.
Twice that day this happened. I wasn’t sure whether to high-five myself (yay, automatically thinking in Spanish!) or impale myself on a machete (oh crap, automatically thinking in Spanish!) but it seemed like a milestone either way.
Later, I paid more attention to the thoughts in my head, and realized I’d been Spanglishing for who knows how long. At least a few weeks. Even when there’s nobody around and I’m not being tempted by either language, my thoughts sometimes are one or the other or a mix of both, with no apparent cause.
Last night, I had dinner with a friend of mine who grew up in a Spanish-speaking home here in the U.S., so she speaks both languages fluently. I told her this story and asked her whether she tends to think in Spanish or English and was surprised to learn she often thinks in Spanglish, just like me.
And then I thought, maybe it’s not without rhyme or reason. Maybe, when I’m thinking, the phrase that comes to mind is the better phrase. Every language has its own idioms and nuances and connotations for given words and phrases. Sometimes I can better express myself in one over the other. Maybe my brain is just taking the best of both worlds and using the right word for the moment, regardless of language. (I’ve even been known to accidentally respond to my Spanish friends in French, if that’s what comes to mind first.)
Wonder if I can sell a book that way…
You know, it’s been a long time since I’ve known German that well–I was ten when I learned it, and for a few years, I was nearly fluent. I can still read it, and understand it (for the most part) but speaking’s not so great any longer. Nonetheless, I still speak German with a different part of my head than I speak English, and never do they meet.
BUT the weird thing is there are still some words that I use in German because there is no English equivalent. The big one is “kennen”–which gets translated as “to know.” But that’s not really what it means. There’s another word for “to know”: wissen. And “wissen” is kind of like, “to know with thoughts” or sometimes “to believe because you think it.”
But “kennen” is a much more visceral, intuitive, and personal kind of knowledge. You use it to describe familiarity with a person, or a language, or a concept. And when you play the German prefix game, erkennen = to discern, bekennen is to confess, zuerkennen is to judge, and aberkennen is to deny–all very visceral things.
No English word for it.
Comment by CM — May 28, 2008 @ 10:08 am
Maybe, when I’m thinking, the phrase that comes to mind is the better phrase. Every language has its own idioms and nuances and connotations for given words and phrases. Sometimes I can better express myself in one over the other. Maybe my brain is just taking the best of both worlds and using the right word for the moment, regardless of language.
I agree with this. I have a number of francophone friends, and like your friend from CR, we tend to slide from one language to another and back again, depending on which has the better idioms for what we want to say.
What I find especially intriguing is that I sometimes dream in French. Long, fluid, elaborate conversations take place in which I seem to have a fluency unmatched in my waking hours. Weird.
Do you ever dream in Spanish?
Comment by Bill Clark — May 28, 2008 @ 10:15 am
CM: Yes, exactly! Spanish has two “to know” verbs, and they mean totally different things. And two “to be” verbs, and two ways to say “for” depending on context, and so on. Last night, I pointed out a word to my girlfriend for which there really is no direct English translation (not even a bad one) and she was shocked to realize it was true, b/c since we *know* what it means, we just don’t think about it. When I started learning French, I discovered a few French equivalents for things I thought only existed in Spanish, so sometimes it’s easier to do my vocab flashcards Fr/Sp instead of Fr/En just because there is no English equiv. (Er, when I actually study vocab. Must get back on the wagon…)
Comment by Erica Ridley — May 28, 2008 @ 11:23 am
B: Yes, sometimes I dream in Spanish or English, and sometimes I dream without words/thoughts altogether. Which may be weirder. When I was a child, my worst recurring nightmare was one that only included sight and feeling. No words, no sounds, no tastes. Just a swirling nothingness that terrified the crap out of me. Maybe I didn’t even have language yet when I started having that dream. (Luckily, it hasn’t been back for ages.) Wow, I got totally off-topic…
Comment by Erica Ridley — May 28, 2008 @ 11:24 am
That sounds crazy, but also like a great milestone. Congrats.
Comment by AngryMan — May 28, 2008 @ 1:48 pm
Congrats Erica. When I took Spanish in high school and college, I could see a word in English and know what the word would be in Spanish. I don’t think I could do that now, no matter how hard I tried.
Comment by Liza — May 28, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
i did a little research after you told me about your “thing”, and if you want a way to make more money using your your blog you can enter this site: link. bye.
Comment by bernard n. shull — May 29, 2008 @ 12:58 am
Wow, Spanish and English going on in your brain at the same time!
I would love to learn Spanish. Yes, I took the class way back in the HS days, but really not much stuck with me.
I even tried watching the Spanish TV shows for awhile, since I’ve heard people who come here from other places watch Amercian TV and learn the language. Yeah, not so much. At least it didn’t help me.
Comment by Vicki — May 29, 2008 @ 9:41 am
I have to add that there are some English words for which there is no German equivalent, despite a desperate need.
Two concrete concepts that lack German expression: zucchini and pie.
Comment by CM — May 29, 2008 @ 2:27 pm
Wow Erica!
I’ve been learning French off and on since middle school and have never devoted sufficient enough work to be fluent in the language. Do you have any tips on becoming fluent and remaining fluent?
Comment by La Belle Americaine — June 7, 2008 @ 4:11 am