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In lugnet.starwars, Bram Lambrecht writes:
> "Dave Schuler" <orrex@excite.com> writes:
> > In lugnet.starwars, Shiri Dori writes:
> > > I've seen lots of families in which the parents constantly
> > > speak to their kids in one language, and the kids reply in
> > > another; it's not unusual in billingual families.
> >
> > I always marvel when I see that happen--I hate to seem like a rube,
> > but that sort of mental gear-shifting stuns me!
>
> Actually, IMO its easier to communicate that way than for one person to
> switch over entirely. I understand Flemish (Dutch) and Spanish much
> better than I can speak them, so if the person I'm talking to speaks
> English well enough, I may very likely answer in English. I rarely speak
> in Flemish to my parents, but they "often" speak to me in Flemish.
> --Bram
Exactly. It doesn't happen in my family much 'coz we're all better in hebrew,
but my parents' friends' and their kids often switch languages, for example
when the mom talks Hebrew to the kids (her native language) and the kids,
who've lived in the US most of their lives, reply in English.
I've also seen this with immigrant families, e.g. one of my good friends in
Israel used to reply to her grandmother's Russian in Hebrew.
It's not so much of a mental switch, because the thought process (although
it's hard to really explain this) often gets languages mixed up (for me). When
I first moved here, I thought in hebrew and then translated myself to english;
now, I often think in english but sometimes I suddenly slip in a hebrew word
(and thus confuse everyone around :-). Other times I think in hebrew, and I
have to mentally "switch" languages a few times a day- it's not something I do
consciously, not at all.
There's a lot that we don't know about how the brain works yet; some people
say they think visually, while others say it's verbally. Studying the way
people think is very interesting - I worked on a brain-study project two years
ago, and it was truly enlightening... :-)
-Shiri
xfut .off-topic.debate (I guess that's the best place, although we're not
really arguing)
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: A couple stupid SW questions...
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| (...) Actually, IMO its easier to communicate that way than for one person to switch over entirely. I understand Flemish (Dutch) and Spanish much better than I can speak them, so if the person I'm talking to speaks English well enough, I may very (...) (24 years ago, 13-Jun-00, to lugnet.starwars)
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