I Can't Speak: the Challenges of Bi/Multilingualism

[randihassel11]

nice page…



[MarieCurie83]

It's really easy, just speaks spanish, risk your life crossing the border and find some job like house keeper...Si señor!!!

[AntacidForTheMind]

I am multilingual and do not have the same problems. The only similar problem I have is switching between languages. If I am on the telephone speaking Spanish and someone in my office asks me a question in English, I sometimes reply in Spanish and vice versa. However, I have no problem remembering words in the various languages. I only become unaware of what language I am speaking until the other person looks at me with a blank look and I realize I'm using the wrong language.

[cryozo]

I speak Swedish, Arabic, English and French.

[pitreichert]

My mothertongue is luxembourgish. In addition to that, I speak french, german, english, spanish and hungarian. I spent several years in France, Spain and Hungary. And I still don't have a problem remembering luxembourgish. Even though I lived years that haven't even heard of the existance of my country before they met me, let alone my language. I think what you try to do is to show off that you spent 4 month in Mexico and that you can speak another language.

[Toubuki]

I speak Japanese almost fluently, and sometimes I will be talking to friends in English and completely forget the word I'm trying to say. I'll know the word in Japanese, but I'll just sit there for a few minutes before I can actually remember the word in English. And I've taken 3 years of Spanish in school, but I can not speak Spanish without speaking in Japanese now. I've made a fool out of myself in Spanish class because I'll either start in Japanese or Spanish and then switch halfway through.

[DrumersRock]

What an idiot. You dont know Spanish. That doesnt happen for having spend 4 months in Mexico.

[orlandopunk]

the reason why it would take that long is because of differences between English and Spanish. It usually takes 8-10 years for a Spanish speaker to be really fluent in English

on the other hand if an Italian tries to learn Spanish he or she would be able to be fluent in less time because Spanish and Italian are both romance languages

[orlandopunk]

haha i agree with ouilah .. shes trying to bullshit people

honey you speak English much better than tons white people in America and you have clear pronunciation.

instead of trying to improve your native language lol ... focus on Spanish, 2 years is not enough for a English native speaker to be real fluent in Spanish haha

it would be more like 8 to 10 years of constant learning and practice

[mkrp4]

5 stars!!Thank for bringing this up!!

When I was in my speech class my instructor always objected my accent; this dumb bull did not know that if you learning your second language after age of 10 you going to have some sort of accent!! After being almost 20 years in the US, it is easier to type for me in English then in my native language! At home I speak my native language with my family, and only English outside.

[12blin]

English is my second language and Russian is my first, and I experience some of the things you described. I'm not as fluent in Russian as I am in English. I also tend to have difficulties remembering words in Russian. I sit there trying to think of it, or try to describe it to them.

[ouillah]

He conocido tanta gente como tú... y sois asquerosos!

You learned a language for two years and did a semester abroad. Suddenly you're the fuckin' sensei master and you (*OMG!*!) have forgotten your native language! You are so outrageous and smart!

You're not bullshitting anyone. You still speak English fine...

Also. That's LANGUAGE LOSS! If you wanna act like you have an idea about linguistics and language aquisition, at least go look up the correct term for what you're talking about.

[rizukx]

I don't think my last comment posted. So, I'll kind of leave another one again. I totally agree that America is not very open to learning other languages (outside of Spanish). I'm like you and your spanish with my Korean. I've been studying Korean for 2 1/2 years and now its like...second nature to me. I think in it and I can't think of some english words anymore. My speech pattern has changed at bit too...I am also learning Japanese in college. Estudie espanol tambien...pero its not good.

[rizukx]

I DO! And I'm american.

I'm totally with you (and we should totally be friends).

I've studied German and Spanish in High school, Spanish again in college, and now I'm taking Japanese classes and I taught myself how to speak Korean (check my videos).

Anyway..I'm all about spreading the language love around the world. ^^

[rizukx]

Oh...I guess it did post. Sorry for the comment spam~

[dayron25]

oh dear, us Polyglots have it way worse lol, but yeah sometimes we blank out completely when speaking. And about the translating of the subtitles, I do that too :P lol

[Kasarii]

I use English more than Danish, because text-books and internet are mainly in English, and while I still have a good vocabulary in Danish, I find myself choking on some of the words now and then.

Starting to affect my mind.

[puppyfive]

Me encanta su vlog porque es exactamente lo que siento casi cada día. It used to be more severe for me, especially when I visited Panama, Its completely normal, but its something that you just HAVE to work through. Spend time speaking only Spanish, Then do the same in English, and in time both will be come fluid in themselves.I faced the same humiliation of not knowing a word in my language for a while. I also noticed that adding in a 3rd idioma like French helped expand both Eng and Spa vocab.

[matthewandrew]

i agree. i've been biligual ever since i was a child. And I have noticed that the more i practice speaking Filipino, the less articulate I become in English. Whenever i speak English, there are just certain words that i can't seem to say that I at the moment can only think of in Filipino. I guess my advice is just keep on practicing.. annunciate your words more clearly.. that helps me a lot!

[JamieDanger]

As for spelling, when I was in Japan, I didn't have too much of a problem, since it's a different alphabet (3, actually). But trying to come up with English words was sometimes hard.

When I got back from Japan, I would find myself saying "yes" or no in Japanese a lot. It doesn't happen anymore, though I talk to myself in Japanese a lot, still.

In German... it wasn't so bad once I got back from Austria, since I could mask my "ja" as "yeah"

Anyway, Good luck! Buena Suerta or whatever!

just subbed!

[kingcrimson234]

i totally know what you mean!! i had the same problem when i was over in germany for 3 months. this was about 8 years ago. i could speak german moderately well before i went there, but once you get to the other country you're just completely immersed in it. when i got back to the states it was hard getting used to it. like one of my friends would say "i love that movie" and i'd be like "ja, ich auch"

and they'd just stare at me like i'm completely insane. interesting vlog.

[bplus1plus1]

I can understand English, small bits of German and French and my own language. :p

I pretty much learned English by playing video games and watching movies with subtitles I guess, and it's amazingly convenient if you can understand a lot of websites, read books and watch tv. There is a lot of information and entertainment only available in English at the moment.

The only problem I still have is understanding jokes with references to specific American culture, like George Carlin makes sometimes.

[chikotube]

part of the misspelling is from keyboard muscle memory, too, as it happens to me in either language or cross-language.