Languages

I had an interesting epiphany a few days ago - English has become my first language since moving to Australia, and I realised that I have been thinking in English too. It's interesting for me as Mandarin is my mother tongue, but I've become so comfortable speaking in English that sometimes I'd pretend not to know Mandarin just so I could speak to someone in English! Other languages that I know are Malay, Cantonese and Hakka, although the last two are technically Chinese dialects. I also know a bit of Japanese.

How many languages do you know? If it's more than 1, which language do you think in?

English and some phrases in Spanish

I did 7 years of German through school, and can't remember anything about it.

Just English, I only ever did French for 3 years at school, that was the only language option we had - I would love to learn it still though.

como te llama tengo un doth anos - hello i am 12

una pluma - fountain pen

una goma- rubber

una casa - house


and that's what i learnt from3 years of spanish.

I did German for a year at GCSE and I only remember phrases of it, though that was like 5 years ago so

English and Afrikaans, been learning Afrikaans because of my partner and I find myself constantly thinking of stuff in Afrikaans.

I'm a sleep talker and am told that I speak in different languages during the night. I'm inclined to think that I just make up my own language and words in my sleep though, cos don't we all? I've lived briefly in france and french canada so I know how it feels to have that shift in thinking. I've found that watching TV shows or listening to radio or just having a conversation in a familiar but secondary language is a really surreal experience when you notice it's happening and you're not having to think very much. I speak english, french and russian but my thinking language remains predominantly english unless I've been fully immersed for at least 2 weeks.

ive learnt some Korean obviously lol, it's really much easier than you might think :) I just think the language sounds awesome and the alphabet looks nice!

i speak welsh and english. welsh is my first language and i started speaking english when i was about 7 (???). i studied french for 5 years at school, but i don't remember enough of it to speak it properly. maybe enough to hold a basic conversation and one or two useful phrases if i ever go to france, but that's it really.

i think in welsh since it's what i speak every day. the only time i speak welsh on skype etc is when @Jazzy; forces me to say random words like the llanfairpwll. village name lmao

English is the only language id consider myself fluent in. I know a good bit of Irish, as I studied it up until I left school but I find now I'm beginning to forget it without practice. My mum would some times talk to me in Irish but since I don't live there any more I haven't :( I studied German for five years and can remember bits and bobs of it. I used to get excited when I was in work and could hear Germans and was able to understand them :)

I did GCSE Spanish and then carried it on at A Level but the jump was too big (plus the class was wrong because I was learning independently and the teacher had lied about the syllabus) and I gave up.

I could never speak very well at all but I was always good at listening and knowing what other people were saying - I remember being in London and listening to a Spanish couple talk on the bus and being really happy that I knew what they were telling each other :)

well i did spanish for 3 years in school then changed to french for gcse and a-lvl but i have already forgotten 80% of what i learnt and now i do german at beginners level in uni which i am kinda enjoying

Think in Italian when I'm in my lesson or doing work for it. Also, though technically not a language, I have to think in "maths" when doing work for it (lots of symbols to shorten English, basically). Otherwise, it's English all the way (with the odd maths symbol creeping in) :P

je n'ai pas de calculette - I do not have a calculator

That's about it.

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Originally Posted by Sho

i speak welsh and english. welsh is my first language and i started speaking english when i was about 7 (???). i studied french for 5 years at school, but i don't remember enough of it to speak it properly. maybe enough to hold a basic conversation and one or two useful phrases if i ever go to france, but that's it really.

i think in welsh since it's what i speak every day. the only time i speak welsh on skype etc is when @Jazzy; forces me to say random words like the llanfairpwll. village name lmao

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wow such a gog

english and a very tiny bit of welsh

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Originally Posted by Drew

I had an interesting epiphany a few days ago - English has become my first language since moving to Australia, and I realised that I have been thinking in English too.

If it's more than 1, which language do you think in?

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I asked my french teacher this once but she just looked at me like I was deranged. I'm glad there's someone who did subconsciously switch cos now it doesn't sound so stupid lol.

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Originally Posted by Kyle

I'm a sleep talker and am told that I speak in different languages during the night.

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My dad said he once heard me talking in french when I was asleep. I had a french exam coming up so that probably explained that.

I did A Level French but I've forgot most of it.

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Originally Posted by j0rd

wow such a gog

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hey leave me alone :(

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Originally Posted by Inseriousity.

I asked my french teacher this once but she just looked at me like I was deranged. I'm glad there's someone who did subconsciously switch cos now it doesn't sound so stupid lol.

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Haha it's not exactly surprising but it is still a bit strange.

I have this weird thing with accents as well - I used to have a weird accent, like a mix of Asian & American (picked up from the TV shows I was watching I guess?) but after a year in Australia it has changed to somewhat like an Australian accent. I think it's still not 100% Aussie but I had friends at uni who thought I was Australian the entire time and I just thought that was ridiculous! Point is, I get influenced really easily by the accents around me - if I had studied in the UK, I probably would have an English accent by now! I used to be able to switch back to my old accent when I go home (so I don't get mocked by my friends) but last year I met an old friend at the airport and she was like "Oh my god you sound like an Australian now!" and I was just like oh no hahaha

I am half Turkish but I only talk & think in English, mainly because my Mother & Father(Turkish) parted ways when I was quite young. My Father has children with someone else and he would only speak Turkish to them and my Step Mother will only speak English to them. This way they will understand how to speak both properly. Sometimes I wish my Dad had somehow carried that on with me as I would of liked to know both Languages. I only understand a few basic words in Turkish :)

speak english, german & maltese. i've known all these languages from birth since i've grown up in a multi-language household. funnily enough when im angry i think in maltese, otherwise it's typically always english. when i'm talking on the phone in public to my family i'll speak in maltese/german but always still be thinking in english, lmao sometimes its annoying af.