Do you mix your language and English when having conversation?

[whnuien]

When I'm having a conversation with somebody I prefer to use only one language at a time. But lately, most of my friends would mix our language and English when we are having conversations. I don't mind of course but it feels awkward to me. It's fine if they are only using certain words but no, they say a long sentence in our language followed by a long sentence in English.

Are you doing the same or have you encountered somebody to speak that way?

[Miya]

I mix in languages all the time. Sometimes I do it for fun to make fun of myself for speaking broken Japanese (Let's go tabemasu!), but other times I add in English words because I can't think of the appropriate word to use in that language. Like in Chinese (Cantonese at least), the word for "project" has always been "project". There is a direct translation of the word "project" but it's used differently. So sometimes I'm forced to mix in English in my conversations.

[Elly]

My mother language is English, so that's what I usually speak, but sometimes there's going to be a word--though not a whole phrase--in a language that I grew up hearing and it just feels right. So, that's when I mix a word into an English sentence.

But if I say a whole sentence in a language other than English, it's deliberate rather than natural. It's not like with the occasional word with no English equivalent or translation (or maybe there is, but I just don't feel like searching my mind for the English of a perfectly good word that's already there) where I just do that without thinking.

[MrHurricane89]

My mother tongue is Hungarian, and I try not to mix in any English woeds while speaking it, but I noticed recently that sometimes I really have to think hard before speaking, because some expressions and words usually come at me easier in English than in Hungarian.

[Rosa]

This happens with most of our nationals, whether directly or indirectly. It so happens that not everyone is fluent in the queens English and so if someone who is not very fluent is communicating formally with a stranger or someone in a formal setting they normally try speaking English but get both languages mixed in their conversation. Also, a person may meet an old friend and they greet each other in English but as soon as they become comfortable they will both start conversing in our native tongue.

[Trellum]

Yes, actually something very weird is happening to me lately. Lately I am at a loss of words, I'm having a normal conversation, then I just forget the word I want to use in my mother language. Oddly enough I can remember the word in English, but not in my mother language. 

I can struggle a lot trying to find the word I need in my own language sometimes, actually I will be going to see a neurologist very soon because I'm having awful headaches and a lot other neurological issues, one of those issues is this one I just described.  I'm unwell right now... not sure what I have, but I'm quite sure is  not good at all.

[tikilalalove]

Mixing my language and English language is natural here in my country. Because it's more awkward if you speak pure Tagalog. It's like you're going back to old times. I feel comfortable, I was able to express everything that I want to say if I'm mixing English language with my language.

[Gelsemium]

I'm Portuguese so we have some words in English. Also, there are quite a few English expressions that sometimes express better what we want to say, so I use the. English is really turning into a global language.

[Linguetronix]

Definitely. Primarily, because in my mothertongue, you cannot express all words. For example, "toothbrush" or "soap" or "phone", like many other modern words, don't have convenient alternatives in my mothertongue.

[CeliVega]

Yes. It depends on who am I talking to though. If it's with my close friends, I tend to be more relaxed and I try fooling around with different languages, trying to see if I can make new puns with different combination of dialects and languages XD

Of course I usually stick to only one language when I am speaking formally or in a public place.

[Rosa]

Yes, actually something very weird is happening to me lately. Lately I am at a loss of words, I'm having a normal conversation, then I just forget the word I want to use in my mother language. Oddly enough I can remember the word in English, but not in my mother language. 

I can struggle a lot trying to find the word I need in my own language sometimes, actually I will be going to see a neurologist very soon because I'm having awful headaches and a lot other neurological issues, one of those issues is this one I just described.  I'm unwell right now... not sure what I have, but I'm quite sure is  not good at all.

Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday Trellum, in spite of your physical issues. I dc hope you pull through all the negatives. I'd love to have a group of people praying for you if that's ok with you, and if so should I say Trellum.

[dorannmwin]

I've been known to do this quite a bit. I can't say that I'm fluent in any second language other than English, but when I'm working on studying Spanish then I start to get in a Spanish mindset and I'll be having a conversation with another person and without thinking about it I will start throwing in Spanish words.

[Baburra]

I try to use one language as well, but if the person I'm talking to knows both languages then I'd allow myself to use both interchangeably. There are situations wherein I'd forget what word to use in my native language but remember the English version, and there are also times wherein English is the only language the word is available in, so whenever those happen, I do use different languages.

[Lasonax]

It's very common for that to happen in Sweden actually, it's so common that some Swenglish (swedish and english combined) words has became real swedish words in the official dictionary.

I find it to be quite silly, but since swedish is a language that has a lot of loan words, it's not something that suprises me.

[Gelsemium]

There is quite a debate here in my country sometimes, because some purists of the language disagree that we use so many English words instead or the Portuguese ones, I tend to agree, not to the extreme though.

[Cheesy Potatoes]

Nope. Not really. Well actually, it depends on who I am speaking to. if that person speaks to me in English, I will also speak in English and once he or she shifts to another language, I will also do the same. My native tongue is Cebuano which is a dialect in the Philippines, but a lot of my friends prefer to speak English.

[Aag2393]

At first it is natural to only want to speak only one language at a time. It is much easier for our brains to focus on only one difficult task at a time. Once you become more comfortable with the language, and more confident, you may actually find yourself mixing the words here and there. Every fluent Spanish speaker I know will even speak Spanglish depending on who they are around. I feel like I would mix the languages up when speaking to a familiar person.

[Oogles]

This is actually pretty common in our country to the point that we have an official name for it. We call it Taglish lit. Tagalog-English. Personally I don't mean to use it but there are some words in English that I can't say or don't know in Tagalog, so I end up using English words instead.