What is it like to speak your language as your mother tongue?

[Hotteok]

I speak English and have good reading skills but I could never know what it feels like to be able to understand English as a native English speaker.

For me as a Korean-whose mother tongue isn't even remotely similar to English- understanding English can be likened to wearing a pair of special effect glasses that enables you to watch and hear things from another parallel world. 

You can't be in that world, but with these glasses, you can at least see that world. 

 

This is a correct observation because I've never been inside a mind of a native English speaker. I can only guess by learning meanings of words and trying to get the sense of it.

Those who observe me might not see the difference because they are watching imitations of themselves. 

Inside of me, though, I don't quite know what it really feels like when one says 'love' or 'hate' in English.

I only know thoroughly the corresponding Korean words for love or hate.

I can't also create in English. I always google before I write or speak because I don't know if someone has ever said in a certain way or a grammar pattern.

 

What is it like to speak your mother tongue? English, Russian, Japanese or French.. whatever..

 

Of course, Jehovah made languages in such a miraculous manner.. 

Your mother tongue is like ... a part of your brain.. a part of you.

It'd be difficult to explain the feelings to others.

 

A genuine, perfect bilingual would be better in explaining them. (one who has spoken more than two languages with the same proficiency or frequency from birth instead of learning to speak one of the two later in his/her life) 

Edited July 30, 2019 by NobleEndeavours

[carlos]

I feel like you, Timothy. I can understand the words in English. In fact, I don't even have to translate them in my mind anymore, I understand them directly. But those words are not attached to sentiments as they are in my mother tongue, so they are not as moving by far.

 

It also happens with bad words. I know what a bad word is and learn to avoid it. But if someone uses it, it doesn't cause the same effect of disgust I have when I hear a swear word in Spanish. It's just a word.

[Dages]

The Pure language will really be a miracle.

[carlos]

Your mother language models to some degree the way you see the world.

 

One interesting difference between languages is the amount of information that is required to make a statement. For example, in English you can say "I met my neighbor at downtown" or "I have a friend in Paris", and no one knows whether that neighbor or that friend is a man or a woman. In Spanish or French, though, you cannot do that. In those languages every noun has a gender, so you use a different word for a male neighbor and a female neighbor, a male friend and a female friend. When you use those sentences, you necessarily have to specify the gender of the person.

 

A feature some languages (especially American indigenous languages) have is evidentiality. That means that when you make a statement you need to add a different preffix or suffix or use a different form of the verb depending on how sure you are of the information. So it's not the same to make a statement about something you witnessed yourself, about something you heard from a reliable source, or something you were told or read but do not know how trustworthy it is. Of course, all languages have mechanisms to express that you are very sure of a certain information or that you have doubts about its veracity, but in those languages it's impossible to say anything without expressing your degree of certainty.

Edited July 30, 2019 by carlos

[Hotteok]

1 hour ago, carlos said:

I feel like you, Timothy. I can understand the words in English. In fact, I don't even have to translate them in my mind anymore, I understand them directly. But those words are not attached to sentiments as they are in my mother tongue, so they are not as moving by far.

 

It also happens with bad words. I know what a bad word is and learn to avoid it. But if someone uses it, it doesn't cause the same effect of disgust I have when I hear a swear word in Spanish. It's just a word.

Hi, Carlos. 

(I actually thought you were American living in Spain because of your excellent writing skills.. : - )   

 What is it like to speak Spanish as your mother tongue? I once heard that Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese all stem from the ancient Latin?

 Oh you've already kind of answered that... You can add to that. ) 

 

I often feel English can't express who I really am inside.

This person inside of me has grown up in Korea listening to Korean, speaking in Korean so it has a Korean soul, deeply to the core. 

Different words, ways of speaking that fit each different situation or atmosphere that make up my inner soul... are so KOREAN that even if I translate them directly to English, it won't make much sense or be fun enough the way I imagined in my mind.

 

I once heard a famous Korean American actor saying that he always feels kind of lonely because he knows both worlds so well but then again, no one around him actually understands what it's like to speak two languages and to be in two worlds at the same time. 

 

I watch this world through the lens of Korean language so much so that I feel like if God changes my mother tongue overnight, I will end up as a different human being. 

 

Edited July 30, 2019 by NobleEndeavours

[JennyM]

Language is a culture. When you learn a language, you are learning the culture. 

 

There's an expression that "learning a language can take a lifetime." It just mean that it will take long time to  master a certain language. 

 

I've learned English since birth.. My father was fond of listening to English songs..Bee gees, Beatles, John Denver. For that reason, I am more fluent in speaking English than  my own native language.  But Im not fond of writing English.   Nevertheless, If I want the bible to touch my heart, I read it in my own language.  

 

I have a friend who is a polyglot.... Its really hard for him to be a master of one language. When he speaks, his brain pauses because  lots of vocabulary mix up in his mind. 

 

My native language sounds strong and you have to pronounce it strong.. But American English is smooth. 

 

 

 

 

[Buttrfly71]

9 hours ago, carlos said:

Your mother language models to some degree the way you see the world.

 

One interesting difference between languages is the amount of information that is required to make a statement. For example, in English you can say "I met my neighbor at downtown" or "I have a friend in Paris", and no one knows whether that neighbor or that friend is a man or a woman. In Spanish or French, though, you cannot do that. In those languages every noun has a gender, so you use a different word for a male neighbor and a female neighbor, a male friend and a female friend. When you use those sentences, you necessarily have to specify the gender of the person.

Haha! This is something that happens with my husband quite often. His 1st language is Spanish, so often he forgets to add the pronoun in english when telling a story...then, I ask who was he with, and he looks confused for a second, like I should know, and then he gets it. 

[carlos]

8 hours ago, JennyM said:

Language is a culture. When you learn a language, you are learning the culture. 

That's very true.

 

Jenny, you have reminded me of another example. A few days ago at the convention there was a Filipino sister seated next to us. We started a nice conversation with her and I asked how do you say "brother" in Tagalog. She asked: "older brother" or "younger brother"? Apparently, there is no generic word for "brother" in Tagalog, you have to specify if the person is older or younger. I was actually looking for the way to call all my spiritual brothers, no matter their age.

[JennyM]

1 hour ago, carlos said:

That's very true.

 

Jenny, you have reminded me of another example. A few days ago at the convention there was a Filipino sister seated next to us. We started a nice conversation with her and I asked how do you say "brother" in Tagalog. She asked: "older brother" or "younger brother"? Apparently, there is no generic word for "brother" in Tagalog, you have to specify if the person is older or younger. I was actually looking for the way to call all my spiritual brothers, no matter their age.

There's a generic word for brother in Tagalog. "kapatid"  

In other language here, brother can be  "manong -older" "ading - young" 

 

 

Our language has evolved much due to Spanish and English language influence. Because of this, we also adapt the culture such as siesta and maniana habit... Unlike in east asian culture wherein people work fast and hard.  I mean u know East asian culture normally work at 10-12 hours a day which is not our culture. 

 

[Qapla]

In most cases a person doesn't only speak in their mother tongue, they think in it also.

 

This is something that many people have never really given much thought about.

 

Years ago I knew a sister who had a Mexican mother and her father was from California. She was fluent in both English and Spanish. She did not have a Mexican accent to her English. We were talking about her language abilities and I asked her, "What language do you think in? WHat language do you dream in?" She got a funny look on her face and said she did not know. She never gave it any thought.

 

A week or so later she told me she discovered that, most of the time, she thought in Spanish ... but sometimes she did think in English. She said she dreamed in both languages. She came to the conclusion that SPanish was her native language. She was mostly raised by her mother who spoke mostly Spanish - though, she did go to school in Southern California where English was the predominant language - at least, it was back then.

 

Since I have never actually spoken another language, I cannot say what it is like to have a native language and other languages - so, to me, since I speak, think and dream in English, speaking English just seems natural to me.

Edited July 30, 2019 by Qapla

[Sylv]

I was raised in the Netherlands and moved to Canada when I was 16. I now think and dream in English, but still do most mathematics in Dutch.

[JennyM]

1 hour ago, Sylv said:

I was raised in the Netherlands and moved to Canada when I was 16. I now think and dream in English, but still do most mathematics in Dutch.

I also dream in English now. Im using English  since I was employed in American  companies in 2007  then I do teaching .. Almost everyday, I use it for my work. 

We use 3 languages at home. My parents speak different language so I  was exposed to 3  languages since birth. When I started to go to school  at 4 or 5 years old,  I learned my 4th language. 

 

 

[hatcheckgirl]

I too can speak a few languages, my first two being Italian and Greek, until I went to school, then added English (much later French). I think, dream and am most fluent in English. But with my family, and particularly within an animated conversation, I lapse into all three languages as some words convey the meaning better than just English. 

 

And then there’s the hand gestures too! 🤣

[carlos]

3 hours ago, hatcheckgirl said:

And then there’s the hand gestures too! 🤣

Gestures? Do you mean Italians and Greeks make gestures with their hands?

[hatcheckgirl]

Emphatic gestures! 😜

(and no, we’re not shouting when we talk! Just repetition for emphasis, and a little bit more enthusiasm with pitch, pace and volume 🤣)

[Hotteok]

2 minutes ago, hatcheckgirl said:

Emphatic gestures! 😜

(and no, we’re not shouting when we talk! Just repetition for emphasis, and a little bit more enthusiasm with pitch, pace and volume 🤣)

That's interesting. :-)

Do you at times feel each language you speak represents each different version of you? or at least displays you differently? 

[hatcheckgirl]

I wouldn’t say that, no. I’ve lost some of the fluency of Italian and Greek due to no one to practice with where I live, but whenever I do use these languages, they are just an extension of English to me. I just have extra words in my vocabulary to use. It’s all just one language to me, with English more prominently used. 

[Bek]

On 7/30/2019 at 4:50 PM, carlos said:

A feature some languages (especially American indigenous languages) have is evidentiality. That means that when you make a statement you need to add a different preffix or suffix or use a different form of the verb depending on how sure you are of the information. So it's not the same to make a statement about something you witnessed yourself, about something you heard from a reliable source, or something you were told or read but do not know how trustworthy it is. Of course, all languages have mechanisms to express that you are very sure of a certain information or that you have doubts about its veracity, but in those languages it's impossible to say anything without expressing your degree of certainty.

We have this feature in Turkic languages. You use suffixes or small verb particles to show whether info is what you personally have heard/seen/know or picked up from elsewhere. It can be quite complicated grammatically, but it plays an important role in daily speech. 

 

An example in Kyrgyz:

 

Al kabardy uktu (he has heard the news) - you know personally that he has heard the news. 

Al kabardy ugubtur (he has reportedly heard the news). 

Al kabardy ukkango (I think he has heard the news)

Al kabardy ukkan imish (it is said that he might have heard  the news)

All kabardy ukkan bolush kerek (I am not sure if he has heard the news, but I think he has)

 

As you can see, there is a gradation of certainty. 

  

16 hours ago, carlos said:

A few days ago at the convention there was a Filipino sister seated next to us. We started a nice conversation with her and I asked how do you say "brother" in Tagalog. She asked: "older brother" or "younger brother"? Apparently, there is no generic word for "brother" in Tagalog, you have to specify if the person is older or younger. I was actually looking for the way to call all my spiritual brothers, no matter their age.

It is the same in many Turkic languages. There is no word for brother in general. There is an older/young brother/sister. In Kyrgyz, when we talk about brothers in faith we just say relatives or siblings. When we speak of a specific brother or sister, we say an older brother/sister or young brother/sister. 

14 hours ago, Qapla said:

In most cases a person doesn't only speak in their mother tongue, they think in it also.

 

 

When I was learning English, I was told about that concept. Amazingly, my English improved immensely when I applied it. After six months of study, I was already able to speak. Some western friends were amazed and they started saying that I had a gift for languages. I may have the gift, but I think this thinking in the target language has also played a very important role in my progress. Eventually I started dreaming in English. Then I sounded so natural that people thought that I had lived in the UK. 

 

1 hour ago, NobleEndeavours said:

That's interesting. :-)

Do you at times feel each language you speak represents each different version of you? or at least displays you differently? 

There is a saying in Russian, "as many languages you know as many times you are a human". I confirm that your personality will be expressed differently in different languages. It is all to do with cultures. Some cultures encourage people to speak loudly with gestures, others make you reserved and modest. It also depends on whether you use all the languages you know actively and live in the environments they are spoken, because over time, languages fall out of use or become rusty. So that means you also lose a bit of the cultural aspect that comes with knowing the language. 

 

I don't know which language is my mother tongue. Technically it should be Russian, because I started talking in Russian and picked up Kyrgyz only in my early teens. But there were times when I did not speak Russian for long periods of time because I was either in a Kyrgyz or English-speaking environment. I started learning English in my late teens when I was also learning Arabic. It was tough for me to learn two languages at the same time. I reached fluency in standard Arabic in my early 20s, but I have not used it since then. So my spoken Arabic is quite rusty now.

 

I also happen to know languages that are part of larger language groups like Slavic and Turkic. If you know one Turkic or Slavic language, that means you can understand many other related languages right away without studying them. The difference between some of them is not that huge. For example, a Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Uzbek and Karakalpak can sit down and talk in their own languages and understand one another quite well with some gestures thrown in sometimes  when communication is not clear. The same goes for Russian, Ukrainian and Belarus. So I have thought how many languages I can understand by ear and it is 13. By sight, the figure is bigger. That is not because I am a genius, but because they are closely related, much more than Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese.   

 

Many people in my region are bilingual, trilingual, quadrilingual and quintilingual etc depending on the country. For example, in Kyrgyzstan a majority of people speak at least Russian and Kyrgyz. There are also those who speak Uzbek, Turkish, Tajik, English or their own ethnic language in addition to the main two. 

 

Personally I like learning languages because they keep your brain active and you tend to have much broader mental horizons, but at the same time, I wish there was only one global language. Learning languages and maintaining your fluency in them is hard work. You just forget many things and then wonder why bother. 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Hun

[Qapla]

Past of the difference between out first language (mother tongue, native language or whatever term you use) is "how" it is learned. In most cases, your first language is the only one you learn "from scratch" ... unless you may learn two (or more) languages at the same time - and, even then, we may still only have a single "first language"

 

What do I mean by this?

 

When we learn our first language much of it is learned without actual instruction - as little children without a language we learn many of our first words by association and observation. While our parents often "teach" us words like "Mother" and "Father" (or Mommy and Daddy) we learn others without actual instruction. When teaching us how to walk they support us and encourage us to walk. They are not trying to teach us the word "walk" - they are teaching us the action of walking - but, we learn what the word walk meant. To take that a little further, that say something line "Walk to Mommy" or "Walk to Daddy" .. ok, they taught us the words "Mommy" and "Daddy", they are teaching us to walk and we associate the action of moving forward, upright on our feet with the work "walk" ... at the same time, we "learn" without them consciously teaching us what the word "to" means.

 

When we begin to learn additional languages we generally do so by associating the new word with the word we already know for whatever that it is we are being taught - we usually only learn our first language by "observation and osmosis" - not comparison to something we have already learned.

[Bek]

46 minutes ago, Qapla said:

When we begin to learn additional languages we generally do so by associating the new word with the word we already know for whatever that it is we are being taught - we usually only learn our first language by "observation and osmosis" - not comparison to something we have already learned.

Old school approach is to compare and memorise, which is what many language schools have done and do to this day in some parts of the world. In the past, we had Soviet books where the main emphasis was on text, understanding and translating it into Russian. Many people would learn a language, but it would not be natural and often limited. 

 

The new school approach is not to compare and translate at all, but to learn like children, as you say, by observation and osmosis. That is how I have learnt my languages. I would never use a bilingual dictionary, but a monolingual one. It is painfully hard, but worth it. Then I would force myself to think in the language and try to understand the word or rather the idea without translating it or linking it to words in the languages I know. I would also try to speak from the very first day. Today I know many words in English or Arabic or some other language that do not have their equivalents in the other languages I know. Often I had difficulty explaining or translating into Russian something I learnt in English or some other language. So I had to learn "comparing and translating" separately after I became fluent. I started using bilingual dictionaries to get the equivalents. Only then was I able to work as a translator/interpreter. 

 

When I learn a new word in English today, I read its definition in a Webster's or some other monolingual dictionary and try to understand it the way you would. I would not look it up in English-Russian dictionary. So if you asked me what it is, I would explain to you in English what it is and if you asked me if I knew its Russian equivalent, I would probably say no. That is often the case. So the focus is on the idea, not the word. 

 

Besides, when you have learnt a second language, mastering another one becomes easier. The more languages you know the better and faster you can learn a new one. 

 

You can also forget your "first language" completely after a certain period of time and switch to your second or third language. I have seen people who could not speak properly in their native tongue after 3 years of not using it. There were documented cases of some Soviet soldiers who got lost in Afghanistan  during the Soviet-Afghan war and after 30 years, when they were rediscovered, they had no memory of Russian or their mother tongue. They just spoke Persian. It became their natural language, which they learnt by observation and osmosis while in captivity. 

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Hun

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

English can be a challenge...

Just Older

[carlos]

20 hours ago, Hun said:

We have this feature in Turkic languages. You use suffixes or small verb particles to show whether info is what you personally have heard/seen/know or picked up from elsewhere. It can be quite complicated grammatically, but it plays an important role in daily speech. 

 

An example in Kyrgyz:

Fascinating. That adds an additional whole layer of complexity to the language. I have a friend who served in Tirkey for some years and told me turkish is one of the most difficult languages he's come across. I'm assuming that Turkish and Kyrgyz are related, although I don't know how much.

 

17 hours ago, Qapla said:

When we begin to learn additional languages we generally do so by associating the new word with the word we already know for whatever that it is we are being taught - we usually only learn our first language by "observation and osmosis" - not comparison to something we have already learned.

This is very true. That's why, no matter how fluent you are in several languages, your mother tongue is the one that reaches your heart better, because words in that language are linked to your feelings.

 

When I began learning English (and later Romanian) I had to translate every word in my mind. Now I don't need to do that anymore. I read or hear the words and I understand them directly. Sometimes I think in English but most of the time I think in Spanish. When I speak with my wife we often throw in some English or Romanian words because they express exactly what we mean and there's no equivalent for them in Spanish.

[jayrtom]

On 7/30/2019 at 11:01 AM, carlos said:

I feel like you, Timothy. I can understand the words in English. In fact, I don't even have to translate them in my mind anymore, I understand them directly. But those words are not attached to sentiments as they are in my mother tongue, so they are not as moving by far.

 

It also happens with bad words. I know what a bad word is and learn to avoid it. But if someone uses it, it doesn't cause the same effect of disgust I have when I hear a swear word in Spanish. It's just a word.

 

On 7/30/2019 at 11:50 AM, carlos said:

One interesting difference between languages is the amount of information that is required to make a statement. For example, in English you can say "I met my neighbor at downtown" or "I have a friend in Paris", and no one knows whether that neighbor or that friend is a man or a woman. In Spanish or French, though, you cannot do that. In those languages every noun has a gender, so you use a different word for a male neighbor and a female neighbor, a male friend and a female friend. When you use those sentences, you necessarily have to specify the gender of the person.

 

Also, English is a more simplied languagte in the way you treat people. You call "You" to everybody but for example in French they give a lot importance on that. If someone is a friend or a colleague you use one thing, if not you must use a more formal language

On 7/30/2019 at 2:08 PM, JennyM said:

I have a friend who is a polyglot.... Its really hard for him to be a master of one language. When he speaks, his brain pauses because  lots of vocabulary mix up in his mind. 

 

I'm not a polyglot but where I work I have to talk Portuguese, Spanish, French and English. And it's not rare that I'm mixing all those languages when talking to someone from another country

 

There were 2 important moments when I realized how important is our language from the heart. The one connected with emotions. It was when we receive our NWT translation into Portuguese from Portugal (The Bible gained another life to me) and the 2nd was when we received the watchtower in Portuguese from Portugal. For years we used the version from Brazilian Portuguese and this shows really well the significance of a language from the heart. Everybody from Portugal understands Portuguese from Brazil because it is basically the same language, but the little differences that exist make it strange for us to hear and read that Portuguese. It was a huge difference to read in our own Portuguese!

 

I wonder if it is the same for British English in comparison to American English

 

[Bek]

18 minutes ago, jayrtom said:

 

 

I'm not a polyglot but where I work I have to talk Portuguese, Spanish, French and English. And it's not rare that I'm mixing all those languages when talking to someone from another country

 

 

That is impressive! You are definitely a polyglot. A polyglot is someone who knows more than 3 languages.  

 

 

[carlos]

1 hour ago, Hun said:

A polyglot is someone who knows more than 3 languages.  

Does Pig Latin count?