Masha's rabbit hole

language issue

I don't know anything about scientific view of analyzing this matter, but I'm gonna try to figure out how my overall language ability lowered as I started gaining foreign languages.

When you learned an additional foreign language outside of its original countries, you might have been told that you shouldn't think in your mother tongue but in that newy languages.
People ask me the same question, especially after I started gaining the third and the fourth languages.
The answer is... I don't really know. I was never really aware of that.

I can no longer say proudly that I'm perfect in Japanese(as some people noticed it became only one of "her" languages and sometimes queer way of saying can be heard from my mouth, a little writing difficulties. *ashaming*) However, it is the same as in English and, Italian and German are out of this question.

What I can say is unless practice use of each single words, all the shapes and images came into my head rather than words as themselves. Then, what about those things without shapes, you might ask. Those things might be abstract or something supposed to be expressed in written words. Well, it looks like those turn into feelings/impressions form in my head. It's like waking up from very impressive dream but you don't remember exactly what happened. Only the feelings or the abstract images remain in yourself.

Well, I know this isn't too good, 'cause I always have this feeling of not being able to say what I really wanna say.

Posted by masha at January 24, 2004 9:36 PM