Re: Somewhat Off-Topic: thinking in conlangs

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.

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