When you speak two lanuages...?

Question

lets say your native language is english and you learn german in school and eventually you are fluent in it. So if someone were to talk you in german, would you understand it like english and respond the sameway or would you translate it from german to english in your head then translate from english to german to say something.

i hope you guys get what i am saying.

Answer 1

I think that once you are really fluent in a second language you begin to think in that language when you speak it. So you don't spend the time thinking of what each word means in your native language, you think of the actual thing the word represents.

Answer 2

I know what are you talking about, because I am fluent in four languages. When you are starting to learn a new language, you do translate using your first language to translate in your head before talking. After you become fluent, you don't translate anymore. And you can keep a conversation talking three languages at the same time, with out having to do the translation. Now, I HOPE you understand.

Answer 3

Korean is my native language. However, having moved to the states at age three, English has become my dominate language. But most of the time when I hear or speak Korean, I don't translate it into English in my head. However, when I hear or speak Spanish, a language I'm not fluent in, I translate things into English in my head. So I suspect that usually happens when there is no fluency in a language. Just a guess.

Answer 4

If you need to translate it in your head before you answer,then you're not really fluent in that language
If you are fluent in both languages,then,not only would you not translate into your native language,but you would actually be able to hold two conversations at the same time with two different people about two different subjects,each person speaking to you in different languages and you answering each one alternately - and you would be able to do it at the same speed as you would speak to one person in one language about one subject.
Btw,contrary to what most monoglots think,you don't "think" in any language - you merely verbalise your thoughts in a particular language - thinking is more a visual process,rather like looking at a picture - if someone who was fluent in English and German looked at a photo,they wouldn't be looking at it in either English or German,but they could describe it in either - thinking is somewhat similar.
For this reason polyglots generally have no problem imagining how animals,(who have no language)think,whereas it generally tends to mystify monoglots.

Answer 5

I speak 3 languages. In order of fluency they are: English, Spanish and Italian. Funny fact is that I learned English after learning Spanish.

I don't need to translate anything in my head when speaking English nor Spanish. Only on rare occassions do I need to translate a word in Italian to Spanish (since they are very proximate languages).

In learning a second language what happens is that you learn to cut the middle man eventually. Think of it as when you learn a new word. Every time you hear the new word you'll remember the object, but eventually, you'll just "know" the object without needing to imagine it.

Answer 6

I understand what you are saying. As I have learned German since a little kid, I don´t have to translate it from German to my native language in my head to say something. I´ts another thing with Spanish, a language I´ve learned much later, than I have to translate it to my own language in my head and than answer in Spanish.

Answer 7

I know exactly what you mean! it is really funny..My native language is Dutch,I'm from Belgium,so I learned French in school early on(elementary school),I never was that good at it,but I do understand it and can make myself understood in it.Later on,in junior high,English was added on as a 3rd language,it was easier to learn,(more similar to dutch than french,and also the popculture,music and movies is predominantly English.On belgian TV they have subtitles,so that is a GREAT way to learn a language.The best way is to live in the country...In highschool German was added to the curriculum..that was really easy for me ,I had lived there since I was born,my dad was stationed there with the belgian army,so I went to Belgian school ,but was surrounded by German(and on German TV they do voice overs,so had to know german to understand even english programs or movies.at age 18 I moved to Belgium,and six years later to the US,where I've been living ever since.When I first came here,I knew English,but still made my shoppinglist,counted,dreamed and talked to myself in Dutch.Now I do all those things in English,and sometimes have a hard time finding words when I talk on the phone with mom! but to answer your question..I guess it depends on how submersed you are in the language

Answer 8

if you were fluent. i mean fluent fluent, you would be able to understand and respond without going through english.

the reason is this: by the time you were able to speak this language fluently, you would have learned lots of idioms and cultural things that apply only to that language and mightn't even have a translation in your language. so you'd use canned expressions.

when you start using these expressions, you don't have to think when you use them and the language becomes more automatic.

Answer 9

There are so many assumptions in this question :)... I would understand it like my native language and respond. I don't know if it would be the same way I would respond in my native language. It depends because the differences between cultures would make me react to certain things differently.

Hope this makes sense!

Answer 10

I think it depends how well you know the language. I live in Europe now and I have to translate it in my head from Italian to English and then back to Italian to speak it, but I hope in a year I will be able to understand and speak it back all in Italian.