 Hello everyone! So, being freelance translators, chances are everyone watching this video is bilingual, at least bilingual. And you speak two languages more or less the same, more or less fluently. So, I wanted to talk about being bilingual. You've all heard how great it is to be bilingual and the advantages of being bilingual, and they're all true. But today, I want to talk about the disadvantages of being bilingual. So, let's get into it. Disadvantage number one. You can sound pompous. So, you're talking about the Divine Comedy. And I might say, well, as Dante said in the original Italian, in the middle of the path of our life, you'll find a dark jungle in the middle of the street. That sounds pompous, especially when everyone's kind of watching, not understanding what you're saying, and just know that you're rattling off something. On the other hand, everyone in Italy has to learn the Divine Comedy and knows at least the open and section by heart. So, you know, for an Italian, it's still kind of pompous just to blurt it out for no reason. But, you know, everyone at least knows it. And so, it's not considered all that pompous. By pompous, I mean haughty like you're above everyone else if you speak another language. Because every now and then you're just going to start using words, expressions, or quoting literature in another language in the original of, you know, whatever language it might be. And it can come off a bit hoity-toity. So, I find myself sometimes trying not to do that and try to be a bit less embarrassed about it. So, be careful about that. Disadvantage number two. This is a big one actually, and this is when the wrong word can come to you. Now, this happens a lot usually with stuff like metaphors and similes and euphemisms. You're used to saying something one way to an expression like, let's cut to the chase and you might just translate that directly into whatever language, other language you speak, and it makes no sense. This happens a lot with expressions like that. He has an axe to grind or skeletons in the closet or waiting for the other shoe to drop or stuff along those lines. You usually can almost never translate them literally into the other language. And yet it comes so natural to do so that very often you'll use the wrong expression. This also happens with words, by the way. And at least for Italian, I know there's certain words that like pretend that you have a word in Italian pretendere and you have English pretend. These mean to very pretendere does not mean to pretend. And yet it's spelled almost exactly the same. And so it sounds like it should mean the same thing. Another one is incidente and incidente. Incidente actually means accident. And so you have these two words that are very similar and yet mean different things. And so very often it's very easy to confuse those two. There's another example that I've heard of a German person once saying, Oh, we should become pizza. And which is an odd thing to tell someone. Oh, we should become pizza, except the verb become means to get. So this German person was obviously saying we should get pizza. And there are other things that I've been made fun of for in the past. I said, well, one thing that I never lived down in college was once I was talking about how my ears were tapped. I meant my ears were blocked, tappati in Italian. And it just sounds so natural to say my ears were tapped. And my roommates made fun of me for a long time because of that. I've also found myself saying weird things that actually might not have anything to do with being bilingual, but just my brain. But I've like plane station. I use the word plane station for airport and co-students instead of classmate. I don't know, but that might just be my brain being wired incorrectly. Anyway, so that's the disadvantage number two is using the wrong words. And this is probably very common if you speak more than one language using the wrong word expression in various occasions. Disadvantage number three, mispronouncing words. So and this happens a lot. Unfortunately, I could only think of one occasion, which was I remember and this again was in college. I was making a speech and I was saying how something was innovative. And then everyone made fun of me because I kept saying innovative, innovative and it should be innovative. And I was thinking innovative. Anyway, I found out years later that actually had I been in the UK, it would have been fine because you say innovative there, which I would have been fine. But anyway, but this happens all the time. You know, you mispronounce words because you have very similar words that are pronounced differently in one language rather than the other. And so you'll mispronounce them. Let's go on to the next. I think we're on number four now. Disadvantage number four. Mispronouncing people's names. Now I have this a lot in the States. You have a lot of people with Italian last names. And so I'll see an Italian last name, like say, M-A-N-C-I-N-I. And that's a common Italian name, Mancini. And I'll say, oh, your name is whatever Mancini. And they'll be like, oh, no, Mancini. My last name is Mancini. And then I really feel like saying, no, it should be Mancini. It should be Esposito, not Esposito. And there are a bunch of Italian last names that you want to correct people for. And I found over the years that I'm the one who's wrong. This person, whoever lives, has been in the States for many generations. And their name, if it's Mancini, it's Mancini. That's the way they pronounce it. And that's the way it is for them. And so, you know, as much as I would like to say on the original time, it should be Mancini. Yeah, in the original time, it's Mancini. But the way they pronounce it is Mancini and that's how it is. And so, you know, you don't really have to correct this. And this happens with many other languages. I know, like in the States also, you have the last name Choi, which is a Korean last name and it should be pronounced Che. But they spell it C-H-O-I and they pronounce it Choi here. And yeah, you correct it all you want. But, you know, at this point, if someone's last name is Choi, they go by Choi and that's it. So, and chances are when you're dealing with two different languages, yeah. And you see this especially in places where you have a lot of, like places like the States, where a lot of people came here from other countries and so you have a lot of this mixture of last names that then get their spelling and their pronunciation changed. And so, it tends to be a very common thing depending on where you are. Next, disadvantage of being bilingual. I think we're on number five here. Let's say it's number five is, oh yeah, this is a big one, being asked to translate and interpret all the time. I mean, I wish I had a dime for every single time. I got song lyrics, I got movie titles, I got just random snippets of conversation or, you know, an article or this, that and the other that I have to interpret or have to translate from one language to the other. And chances are if you're bilingual, you're going to have to deal with this and you're going to keep having to deal with it. There is no antidote. It's going to keep going on. So, deal with it, unfortunately. Next, disadvantage of being bilingual is what I have. Making other bilingual people mad. Oh yeah, making other bilingual people mad. So, if you are a, I don't know, an Arabic to English translator, let's say, or you're bilingual and Arabic and English, and then someone else is bilingual in Spanish and Portuguese, you might tell them, you know, you might say something like, well, your languages are very similar. They're nothing as different as Arabic and English. You know, and that can make them kind of mad because they'll be like, actually, there are a lot of, you know, nuances and because the languages are so similar, there can be a lot of things that can trip you up or, you know, that you need to understand between them. And the fact is you're both right in a way. And so, yeah, you can make other bilingual people mad. You know, you might think we're all in the same boat, but then you start saying, we're like, I am doing the Chinese and this language and so you have no idea what I'm dealing with. And yeah, they have no idea what you're dealing with. You have no idea what they're dealing with though. So, you know, it's a cool down. And look, all languages are different and it's true, a lot of them have more similarities between each other than certain other ones do. And that's the case. On the other hand, you know, a lot of them have different nuances and a lot of different issues. If two languages come from two countries that are side by side, chances are these countries at some point in history have clashed. You know, you take like, you know, some might say, oh, Korean and Chinese, well, I know there's also Sino-Korean and so there's a lot of similarities. Yeah, but on the other hand, they've clashed many times throughout history. Like, I know they have issues now in Korean between the Korean-Korean and Sino-Korean and all that because one is more Korean and one is more Chinese-influenced and they're trying to... Anyway, that's the whole issue there. And this stuff you have to keep in mind when you're translating that maybe you don't have to deal with if your two languages are Chinese and Portuguese, right? So, anyway, something to keep in mind. There are lots of nuances and yeah, a lot of different languages. Next disadvantage, number seven, I guess. Disadvantage number seven is... Oh, yeah. Another disadvantage is you miss out on stuff growing up. This could be TV shows, childhood games and songs or stuff like that because even though you're fluent in another language, you only grew up in one country, chances are. So you didn't grow up in the other one. And even if you speak the language fluently, you probably didn't grow up with the same watching the same cartoons, you know, or the same TV shows or stuff like that. And I know I had this coming to the States. People start talking to me. They think I'm from here, but I didn't grow up following American sports. And so I feel very much like a fish out of water when that happens. Also, I didn't grow up watching American cartoons. And I remember people would be talking about Animaniacs or this, that, and the other and I had no idea what they were talking about. On the other hand, if you talk about the cartoons we had in Italy, especially like, well, I mean, you know, all the ones of Cristiano Davina and my favorites were Cavalieri de Los Odiacos, Olia Benji. Anyway, those I can wax lyrical about. On the other hand, someone else who speaks flu in Italian, but didn't grow up in Italy, might not know anything about them. And so you kind of miss out on that. You feel like you're a local and then every now and then stuff will come out from someone's childhood or something from their home life or something along those lines. And you kind of feel like you're lacking in that sense. And so you do feel like you're missing out in a way. At least I felt that way. And also other issues like, you know, I come to the States and I hear people complaining that when you call a number, you have to pick press one for English, press two for Spanish and people are complaining about that. And I'm like, I mean, I came from Switzerland. We have four different languages there. Everything's in at least three different, you know, three of those languages and many times in four of them. And so I mean, to me, it seems like such an odd issue, but depending on where you are, it can be an issue. So there you go. And finally, the last disadvantage of being bilingual is actually, well, yeah, this is sort of a disadvantage is that you might be a different person in each language and this can happen in many different ways. You might actually even speak with a different voice. This sort of does happen with me. I've noticed with various languages, you know, the main ones are Italian and English, but I know it's also when I speak Chinese and stuff like that, I have a different octave. I don't know, a different voice is kind of weird. But also you end up just being a different person. You think in a different way and you might find yourself acting in a different way, liking different jokes, liking different things. And you notice it's a lot probably if you watch comedy, you watch something funny in any one language and then you try to translate into the other language and it doesn't come across as funny at all. And you realize that you like two very different types of humor depending on what language you're watching. And so this is very interesting to me because, yeah, you realize that you are kind of a different person in each language. And I noticed this quite early on. I worked in a place for two right out of college. I worked for two years in an Italian speaking place and for two years everything was Italian. And then I trans and then I changed job and I moved to an English speaking office and everything was in English. And I realized I was two very different workers in these two different places. Obviously there are different companies. So, you know, that contributes to it. But a lot of it was the language and because I'm just used to expressing myself in a different way depending on the language. So I think this is very interesting. And I try now, I said this is a disadvantage but I'm going to switch it to an advantage. I try to use this to my advantage. What I'll do very often is if I have an issue that's been bothering me for a while that I've been thinking about for a while, something that I'm stumped about, I find, you know, if I've been thinking about it in English or what I'll do is I'll try to go through it in English. Maybe in my mind go through like I'm having a conversation with someone. Having the conversation and going through the issue in English and then later again in my mind, I'll go through it. You know, at another point in time, I'll go through it in Italian and see if maybe it sparks something different or something new. It gives me a different way of thinking. Obviously if I can, what I try to do is actually talk about it with someone in two different languages and then try to see what comes up. But even just thinking about it in these two different languages, many times could spark something new that you hadn't thought about in the other language. So yeah, that can be a disadvantage that you use to your advantage. So that's it. These are some disadvantages of being bilingual. Once again, being bilingual is a tremendous advantage. Of course it's an advantage. And if you have a chance of being bilingual or, you know, of learning a new language or if you're wondering about it, then yes, you should learn a new language. It always helps to learn a new language. And so, yeah, it is a tremendous advantage. But you've heard about all these advantages. So I just want to talk about some of the quote unquote disadvantages. All of these to me are quite small disadvantages and kind of just, you know, the price you pay for having that huge advantage of speaking another language. So I don't think they're much to worry about but with something I get to whine about, I guess. And there are things that come up every now and then and, you know, that we have to deal with if you have more than one language. And so, yeah, if you know of any other ones, feel free to let me know. And if any other disadvantages come to mind, I'm sure there are other ones. And, you know, everyone finds themselves in different situations, especially depending on what language combination you have. So, yeah, I hope you found this useful and or interesting. And don't forget to click like if you did and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't. And I will see you on the next video. Thanks, bye.