Getting so used to your second language

[deathbyprayer]

This just happened to me the other day, so I came to visit my family and friends back home in Japan and I just noticed that I'm so used to speaking English all the time that when I went back home I kept on speaking and casually talking in English and  I forgot that my folks and friends know little of the language and I would constantly slip back and forth, it was a real riot.

[beccagreen]

Wow that must've been really hard for you then, but it's just weird that you're more familiar with your second language that your first, or wait, was English your first language or Japanese? I never had the same experience but I usually cuss in other language instead of English so I guess that counts in a way.

[deathbyprayer]

Wow that must've been really hard for you then, but it's just weird that you're more familiar with your second language that your first, or wait, was English your first language or Japanese? I never had the same experience but I usually cuss in other language instead of English so I guess that counts in a way.

I was actually born and raised in America but English even though it's sort of my native language in a way is not really practiced in our home so I'm more trained to speak Japanese.

[pcgamer]

Getting used to it takes a lot of time. At first when I heard the words of English, it sounded like an alien language. I had no idea what was going on, but fast forward 10 years, I prefer watching English TV shows and movies than in my own language.

[Muthoni]

English is my second language; my English teacher taught us that if we want to speak impeccable English, we had to think in English. I never noticed how much it has become part of me that even when talking in my native language I include a lot of English words.

[dostava]

I don't think that's weird at all! If you know more languages than one, than you surely know more names that label the same thing or more utterance patterns that express the same event. it's only natural for your brain to find one option or the other in they both lead to the same meaning! Especially if you live in an environment, which is bombarded with English (or any other language) on advertisements, TV shows, newspapers and so on.

[Kektheman]

I sometimes have similar problems. I spend a lot of my free time browsing English websites. I read a lot about certain topics, but don't discuss them with my friends. When I try to tell them about something that I read online, I sometimes have problems coming up with proper words in my own language, since I'm used to thinking about it in English. It feels extremely weird, but quite funny at the same time.

[raytalks]

I used to do that, but eventually gave more importance to my first language, whenever I am back home. You feel more part of the group when you speak your native tongue. I have this habit of mixing English with my native tongue, like most of us, which I try to avoid when I am back home. This is especially great when you go out, and are trying to buy something, and get a good deal. It is always better to speak the first language. Or they will think you are from out of town and don't know the rates and don't know the ways, and therefore not get a good bargain.

[chigreyofthenorns]

This happens to me, too. I have been speaking and writing in English since I was in preschool, so it is safe to say that I am fluent in the said language. At work, I use it all the time, too. This is because I usually deal with many kinds of people from different countries. There are times though when I speak in English even at home. My parents think that I am just showing off, but in reality, I am just used to my second language.

[gmckee1985]

What's happening to you is what I want to happen to me eventually. I want to become so good and used to speaking Spanish that it becomes almost second nature to me. Although I'll probably always enjoy speaking English more than any other language, I really enjoy speaking Spanish and as I expand my vocabulary within that language I'm sure I'll be speaking it more and more. I'm sure that'll annoying my friends to no end, though.

[Languagetat]

I think there is actually a term for this. They call it "transference" and it is often discussed in translation and second language learning research. The brain has a lot of plasticity and it can get used to really think in another language. I think this process is actually quite fascinating.

[wayzteacher]

I can totally relate with your experience, although this is more with dialects than with languages.

I live in the Philippines and the country has many different dialects, that are quite linguistically distinctive from each other.  There was a time that I lived in a different part of the country where I had to learn and speak a different dialect.  It took me over 2 months to learn the new dialect. 

When I came home, after being away for almost two years, I had a hard time switching back to my mother tongue.  I kept talking to other people in the other dialect which is totally different than my language.  It took me almost a month before I was solidly back speaking my native dialect. 

[Rosa]

I can only imagine the confusion that was going on in your brain. I'm only comfortable speaking non-native languages with family members or peers, which means I only get to speak English most times. The closest experience I have had to that is when I listen to too much of other accents I usually start speaking in the same way until I get it under control.

[sidney]

I think it's perfectly normal to speak in your 2nd language more than your native language, especially if you have not spoken your native language for quite some time, or if you use it quite often at work. It's like you just use it naturally, That happens to me too at times. You get so used to speaking it through constant repetition.

[Baburra]

This has never happened to me before as I always have been conscious of the language I use, but for some of my foreign friends it happens from time to time, especially if we are all different nationalities in a room wherein they would be forced to speak in multiple languages alternately. It also sometimes takes them a while to choose which language to use when searching on Google which I always found amusing.

[Traveler]

Haha, that's an interesting thing. I haven't done that. But I have accidentally mixed languages when speaking. For example, when I was trying to learn some Tagalog I would often accidentally mix in some Spanish. (A lot of the vocabulary in Tagalog originates from Spanish, so I think that ¨triggered¨ switching.)

[Trellum]

I have no issues in that department to be honest, I only seem to have issues when I go back to my country and start speaking my language... I often use words in english instead.  I don't do it on purpose tho. This is something most people don't understand ,specially most people in my country, since there are few bilingual people here. 

[Saholy]

We just had a similar experience when we went home on vacation. My husband and I would be speaking about something and look at each other and have to use a word in our new language that just fit better than any word we could think of in our first language. People would look at us like 'what did that just mean' and then we would try to explain it but couldn't. I think it is cool when you begin to think in the language that you are learning. Some words are so unique you cannot find a compensation for its meaning and thus you begin to prefer certain ways of saying things in your new language. I think its a good sign. At least I hope so anyways.

[JessiFox]

I'm actually a little jealous, haha. I'd love to be so good at other languages that I just slip back and forth effortlessly, even unconsciously. I used to be like that with Spanish when I studied it all the time and made a more regular effort to speak and listen to it frequently. I would find that sometimes it would be the same way in dreams, as well, which was a little strange waking up and trying to remember it when it was all jumbled together.