Which language to speak?

Question

Being bilingual (English 1st, Spanish 2nd, with two university quarters of German), I am able to enjoy conversations with lots of people on different stuff in different places.

I have noticed some interesting dynamics in determining which languages get spoken between two or bilingual folks. For example, if somebody is a native spanish speaker and they speak maybe 70% English, we end up speaking Spanish, even though I can understand them. I also noticed that when talking to a Native German Speaker with maybe 80% English, he wouldn't speak to me in German, even though I wanted to practice.

Also, I have a friend who is bilingual (100% English/85% Spanish). His wife (100% Spanish/70% English) is always fighting with him to get him to speak English to her.

Has anybody else experienced this, fighting over which language to speak?

Esta bien. Estoy aqui en Mexico y todos quieren que les hable en ingles, pero prefiero practicar mi espanol.

Corinthian, it's great being bi and even tri lingual, eh?

Oh, I don't me like serious fighting, just jockeying for position, kind of like you were talking about.

Corinthian and izzie, both are great answers, so I'm going to let the voters choose this one.

Good luck!

Answer 1

Sure - I have friends in Brazil who want to practice their
English . . . . while I wanted to practice my Portuguese. I wouldn't say there was fighting, but we'd each try to steer the conversation in the direction we wanted - it was actually funny at times.

I have another friend - she is from Peru (speaks Spanish), but now lives in Italy (speaks Italian) and she understands a little English and Portuguese. I live in the USA (speak English) and have lived in Brasil (speak Portuguese) and understand a little Spanish and even littler Italian - when we communicate, it is quite the lingual olympics trying to keep everything straight. It's kind of fun actually, even though it takes a bit of work.

Answer 2

I know what you mean...I'm a native Hispanic American. Speak both English and Spanish. I've been living in Italy for more than five years. For purposes of work I had to take two levels of Portuguese. I do understand Portuguese, though I'm not able to communicate fluently.
At home is a madness, because we do speak three languages consecutively, though English rules...

Cheers

Answer 3

no nunca he tenido ese problema..bueno es que soy latinoamericana y no mucha gente habla ingles (que yo conosca) entonces no tengo con quien pelear
good luck with your fights!!