Question about Mika's language.

[Guest]

My friend and I were talking a long time ago about how she speaks Finnish, and she said that she heard someone say once "You are never fully fluent until you think in the second language." Meaning that instead of doing like I do, where I hear German and quickly try to think what the English translation is, you could completely think in German. Make sense?

 

 

Anyway, Mika said he learned English from his dad, and I heard him say once that he got teased at school in London because he didn't speak English as well as the other kids.

 

BUT, in different French interviews, he's struggled with words at times. Like at that Taratata thing, he didn't know how to say 'gulf war'.

 

 

What do you think he's better at? Do you think he thinks in both, or just translates everything very quickly?

[Hannah]

Definitely English. He said that he always had his English, meaning that he had been taught it at a very early age, probably as he was learning to speak, but of course, from being brought up for those few years of his life in a French-speaking country, he was more confident with his French and spoke it most often. However, his French vocabulary is probably that of an 8 year old, and he is obviously more comfortable with English.

[Guest]

Alrighty. But do you think he has to translate things in his head?

[backflip_76]

I doubt he translates everything in his head, but I'm sure he does it for some, less commonly used words. You can see him struggle a bit sometimes in French interviews.

[Niki27]

Alrighty. But do you think he has to translate things in his head?

 

Of course not...

When you're bilingual you think in the language you're using... but sometimes things get mixed up and the word you're looking for pops up in the second language. Especially when there are no exact equivalents.

[Hannah]

I don't know. It's odd to think about. I mean, if someone were to speak to me in Spanish, I would just respond without thinking, really. I'm by no means fluent, but if I'm talking with a Spanish-speaker, I think of what I'm going to say in English and then just say it. It's a very quick process unless it's something complex.

[violet_sky]

I think when you are abroad and have to express yourself in a foreign language without any possibility to use your own ... you start to think in that language automatically after a certain time (provided that you have the basic vocabulary at your disposal ...) - at least that's my experience. I just think as Mika left France at an early age he just couldn't adapt the entire range of an adult's vocabulary in French, so I guess it's absolutely normal that he lacks a word every now and then... Besides I find his French adorable and very, very articulate. While I often have difficulty understanding French people talking I understand Mika instantly in his French interviews .... but then again that can be because I often anticipate his answers, lol

[cath85]

Of course not...

When you're bilingual you think in the language you're using... but sometimes things get mixed up and the word you're looking for pops up in the second language. Especially when there are no exact equivalents.

 

hihi yeah that can sometimes make a funny mixture

I think he doesn't think in anything else but English, maybe he used to think in French, but he hadn't spoken it in a pretty long while so he lost some of it I would say...

[Lucy]

My friend and I were talking a long time ago about how she speaks Finnish, and she said that she heard someone say once "You are never fully fluent until you think in the second language." Meaning that instead of doing like I do, where I hear German and quickly try to think what the English translation is, you could completely think in German. Make sense?

 

 

Anyway, Mika said he learned English from his dad, and I heard him say once that he got teased at school in London because he didn't speak English as well as the other kids.

 

BUT, in different French interviews, he's struggled with words at times. Like at that Taratata thing, he didn't know how to say 'gulf war'.

 

 

What do you think he's better at? Do you think he thinks in both, or just translates everything very quickly?

 

Personally, I think MIKA speaks better English than French but he definetely thinks in both languages.

[sienna]

I would like to say, when you understand a language without translating it in your head, you have got a grip on it.

 

As you can see, English is not my native language and the really hard stuff is try to make jokes or talk about feelings.

[babspanky]

I think when you are abroad and have to express yourself in a foreign language without any possibility to use your own ... you start to think in that language automatically after a certain time (provided that you have the basic vocabulary at your disposal ...) - at least that's my experience. I just think as Mika left France at an early age he just couldn't adapt the entire range of an adult's vocabulary in French, so I guess it's absolutely normal that he lacks a word every now and then... Besides I find his French adorable and very, very articulate. While I often have difficulty understanding French people talking I understand Mika instantly in his French interviews .... but then again that can be because I often anticipate his answers, lol

 

I was born in Beiruitttt in 1983...........

[Lucy]

Of course not...

When you're bilingual you think in the language you're using... but sometimes things get mixed up and the word you're looking for pops up in the second language. Especially when there are no exact equivalents.

 

You hit the right point!!!. I speak two languages and sometimes I get confured with the primary language I usually speak. lol

[violet_sky]

I was born in Beiruitttt in 1983...........

 

Actually I think it is a good thing that I don't talk very much in my sleep

[Lucy]

I was born in Beiruitttt in 1983...........

 

 

I bet you're cute and sweet, polite and the list goes on.......

[Guest]

I was born in Beiruitttt in 1983...........

 

ROFL.

 

"It was sort of a stick-you song to the recording industry..."

[cath85]

I would like to say, when you understand a language without translating it in your head, you have got a grip on it.

 

As you can see, English is not my native language and the really hard stuff is try to make jokes or talk about feelings.

 

I do never ever translate anything in my head

[backflip_76]

ROFL.

 

"It was sort of a stick-you song to the recording industry..."

"My granny in the States had an obsession with Grace Kelly..."

[Guest]

"My granny in the States had an obsession with Grace Kelly..."

 

"I was watching this documentary, because I couldn't sleep, and it was about obesity in the States..."

[backflip_76]

"I was watching this documentary, because I couldn't sleep, and it was about obesity in the States..."

"My mum's quite big, my aunties are big, I used to get teased because of it..."

[Guest]

"My mum's quite big, my aunties are big, I used to get teased because of it..."

 

"I'm very dyslexic, and I couldn't sight read at ALL... I still can't sight read."

[sienna]

I do never ever translate anything in my head

 

So where are your translating going on?

[CazGirl]

whenever I speak in Italian (which is VERY little) I do no translating.

 

Okay let me do this properly.

 

i do NOT speak Italian. I cannot carry a conversation, I just know a few words.

 

But the words I do know, I know very well!

 

If someone says to me "ciao Caroline, come stai?" I don't stop and think "hello Caroline...how are you?" I just simply reply "bene grazie".

 

I don't think of other languages as another language but as an extension of this english language.

 

For example, in English, there are loads of words for "scary" i.e petrifying, terrifying, spooky, eerie etc...and in Japanese, "kowai" means "scary" so I just of Kowai as another english extension of a particular word.

 

Not to say that all people do this...I suppose it depends on how comfortable you are with that language. Mika maybe uncomfortable speaking French sometimes because he commonly uses the English Language and has done so since the age of 8/9.

My Italian nan moved to England in her twenties and obviously had to learn English, and rarely spoke Italian unless she was speaking to a relative. I remember once when my Italian Aunt came to visit and my nan had to stop and think sometimes. She got used to speaking her second language she was slowly "forgetting" her mother tongue.

 

I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, but I think you get me.

[sienna]

Interesting, Cazgirl.

Sad to hear about your nan losing her mother language.

 

What I mean by the "not translation in your head" is when you for example read a book or a magazine and don't have use a dictonary all the time.

Or when you can see a movie without subtext and understand it anyway.

 

I'm really interested in how people learn a new language.

 

In my country we use English more and more.

[Guest]

Well I know basic phrases in German, and I don't have to translate in my head. But if someone asks me something, or one of the old ladies at the nursing home my mom works at tells me something in German or Pennsylvania Dutch (which is basically the same, except for a little bit), then I have to stop and think "Okay, X means Y, and Y means Z. So they're asking me YZ."

 

Except it doesn't take that long, it only takes me a few seconds.

 

I was just curious, because I know alot of people on here are bilingual.

[cath85]

So where are your translating going on?

 

LOL I don't know... I don't think I translate... I had a conversation about this with a friend once! because we noticed that French people for example translate every word first in their head before they can say a sentence in a foreign language. we had to translate an English text to French. I remember there was the word "field", they all immediately knew the right translation was "champ". they usually found the translation much faster than me, although I think I'm much more fluent in English than them. (I'm not French and French is not my first language) before I found the translation "champ" I put much longer and as I read the word "field", what I had in mind was the concept of a field... and then I had to think how I would say that word in French before I found what we were looking for!

 

I hope you understand what I'm saying it's hard to explain, really