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Re: Somewhat Off-Topic: thinking in conlangs

From:Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
Date:Monday, September 29, 2008, 12:57
This hasn't happened with any of my conlangs, as I've never really
learned any of them.  Mostly because I haven't regarded them as worth,
or at least ready for, learning - but of course trying to learn them
would probably be the fastest way to get them ready.  It's an odd
mental block.
   Of course, the wrong-language thing happens all the time with other
langs.  Reach for a word in Russian and come up with Spanish, reach
for a word in Spanish and come up with Esperanto, reach for Esperanto
and come up with Klingon...



On 9/29/08, Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets <christophe.grandsire@...> wrote:
> Selon "M. Czapp" <0zu149@...>: > >> >> Did it also happen to you already that you only remembered a term in your >> conlang and not in a language, you are supposed to be fluent in? >> > > (quickly delurking as this is a topic of interest for me) > > This hasn't happened to me as such, but what happens often with me is that I > cannot find my words in any of the languages I speak. Since I've been > speaking > fluently (or conversationally) three languages (which I use all nearly > daily), > plus three others at various other levels, I've discovered that I *don't* > think > in any specific language any more, but rather in free-form concepts, that > get > translated into words at the last moment, and only in the language I'm using > at > that particular moment. This means that: > - I am not good at translating my thoughts from one language to another. I > usually reformulate them in the other language, and the formulation is > different > enough that it cannot be called a translation any more. > - I often have concepts in my head that get blocked at the "translate into > words" stage, whether because they aren't represented by any word I know, or > because I just cannot find the right word at that time. And when the last > one > happens, it usually blocks me in every language I try. > > Perhaps contradictionally, I also code-switch very easily and naturally, > switching from language to language when speaking with different people (or > sometimes with the same person) without thinking about it. The drawback is > that > I've often used the wrong language when talking to a particular person, only > realising my mistake after half-minute when I noticed they looked at me with > a > weird face! ;) > -- > Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets. > > http://christophoronomicon.blogspot.com > http://www.christophoronomicon.nl > > It takes a straight mind to create a twisted conlang. >
-- Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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Peter Collier <petecollier@...>