Quote:
Originally Posted by Fealiks
Do you still think and dream in your mother tongue? Really weird to me  |
As for dreams, that depends. Usually the rule with me is that if the dream has people who speak English, it'll be in English, if it has people who speak French, it will be in French.
So a dream with Sam and Max would have them in English, but a dream with, say, my brothers, would have them in French.
As for thinking, one of the most crucial rules is that when you speak another language, you don't think in your language, then translate. You think in the other language.
It can be weird and confusing, especially when I talk with other billingual people as we tend to go back and forth without always noticing. I remember a conversation we had in French about Harry Potter, until someone said "Sirius Black" and because the name is in English we just switched to English and didn't realise for a while.
I've also heard conversation in the bus in France between people from North Africa, that had arabic and French words in the same sentence. It's not really a problem when you're both fluent, as often the only word that really describe what you mean exists in only one of the two (or more) language.
Personally I couldn't not learn more languages. I can't hear someone speak, or read something, and have no idea what it means. I want to know. And I know that a lot gets lost in translation, so to me it's an acceptable option only insofar that you can't learn every single language, but it always comes second to learning the language yourself.