Being bilingual/multilingual
What’s that like?
Are you writing a bilingual/multilingual character and would like to depict them realistically?
Or do you simply want to better understand a friend who speaks more than one language?
This post might be helpful.
Contrary to popular belief, people who speak more than one language aren’t very likely to accidentally start speaking another language. However, there are little slip-ups that are more realistic.
In my experience, here are the things that are more likely to happen when someone knows/has learned/is learning multiple languages:
Franken-language
I grew up bilingual and then picked up a couple more languages while at university. To this day, when my family and I are having a conversation, we switch between the two of my native languages.
It’s not accidental, though. Sometimes we just recall a word in one language faster than in another.
So, our conversations are more like a bunch of parts from both languages put together, and none of the participants of the conversation bat an eye.
Idioms and idiomatic expressions
No matter how well you know a language, there will always be areas where specific words or phrases will be unknown to you.
This is especially true when it comes to idioms, idiomatic expressions, and cultural phenomena.
I remember the first time someone told me to “break a leg”, and my response was a confused, “Pardon?”
I also find myself often searching for an equivalent in my native language to various English idioms and having a good laugh in the process.
Word order
Sometimes when I’m exhausted or speaking too fast, the sentences can come out wrong. I found this to be especially true when a person speaks two languages that differ vastly in sentence structure.
Forgetting words
Sometimes I catch myself talking about one thing or another and hit a wall because I can’t recall a specific word in English for the thing I’m talking about.
So, I usually end up describing the thing, and it goes something like this:
- Can you pass me that thing?
- What thing?
- You know, the thing you use to flip the pancakes with?
- You mean the spatula?
Conversations like this are fairly common in our household, and it can be rather humorous at times.
Learning certain subjects in a certain language
I learned math and science in my native language, and to this day I think about those subjects in that language.
Of course, now that I’m homeschooling my children and they’re learning those subjects in English, I find myself relearning along with them. But I still think in my native language.
So, when someone says they count in their native language or analyze literature in their native language — those are very real.
Being fluent in a language vs translating/interpreting it
It’s a common misconception that someone who speaks a language fluently will also be able to translate/interpret it. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
The difference between interpretation and translation is that interpretation deals with spoken language in real time, while translation focuses on written content.
Both require the ability to bridge two languages in your brain, find equivalents, and switch from one language to another continuously — which is a step above and beyond the ability to speak two languages fluently.
Finding equivalents
Speaking of translation/interpretation brings me to another point: sometimes there are simply no equivalents to a word or a phrase in another.
For example, the Spanish word sobremesa (which literally means ‘over the table’) is used to refer to the period after a meal when you can chat with friends or family and enjoy each other’s company. But there’s no equivalent to this in English.
The “no equivalents” difficulties can be experienced with more than just the lexicon. Sometimes entire parts of speech can have no equivalent in another language.
An example of this would be articles in the English language. In Russian, they simply don’t exist. This is why you might find that someone with Russian as a native language might use articles incorrectly when speaking English.
Jean Burnet, a French poet, said, “Learning a language is not a destination, but a journey.”
There are many difficulties along the way, but overall, it is a fun and rewarding experience.
