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GalFisk t1_jdwo3s0 wrote

Reply to comment by spamjwood in ELI5 How does the brain remember words from another language as being separate from your native language? by sweetnaivety

I grew up bilingual, and in my mind, the things themselves and their words are separate entities. I can imagine a thing without thinking any of the words I know for the thing. I only translate my thoughts into words when I think about saying or writing something.

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sweetnaivety OP t1_jdx66pe wrote

But when you're translating your thoughts into words do you ever accidentally use the word from the wrong language in the middle of a sentence?

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GalFisk t1_jdx73kt wrote

No. Every language is a context, and switching context takes conscious effort. I sometimes forget a word in one language, but I never forget which language a word belongs to. I grew up speaking Swedish at home and Norwegian with friends. The languages are pretty similar, and Norwegian has many varied dialects, so being aware from the start that language is just a description of a thing, separate from the thing itself, may have helped.

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sweetnaivety OP t1_jdxbu0t wrote

That's what I want to know is HOW do you never forget which language a word belongs to? How does the brain do that?

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GalFisk t1_jdxdwv9 wrote

"Context" is like a room, or more accurately describing how it feels, an angle. When I look at my thoughts from a Swedish angle, I can describe them using Swedish words. When I look at them from an English angle, I use the words that belong there. They're simply stored in different mental places, or states, and jumping between them takes mental effort. I could try to speak a sentence alternating between Swedish and Norwegian words, but it would be difficult. Staying in place is not.

Interestingly, this context or angle hinges on the person I'm speaking to, and I know a few people who speak Norwegian and Swedish in just the same way as me, and with those I can switch back and forth - not on every word, but every sentence if I wish.

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sweetnaivety OP t1_jecmxsc wrote

I just want to know how the brain is so capable of sorting the languages into different "angles" as you put them. That you can never get confused between the two languages, not a single word out of place. I can be pretty scatterbrained sometimes and get confused with things and I forget a LOT of stuff. But if I hear a word in another language I know, I never confuse it for English. Heck sometimes I can even hear a word from another language I don't know but somehow it still FEELS like a word from that language.

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