How do I think in multiple languages?

Question

English is my native language, German my second, and Latin is my third. I guess you could also count Toki Pona (a 120-word linguistic experiment). What I want to do is get the most out of all of these languages even when I'm not speaking to people in Germany or reading text in Latin, I wanna make the languages I know a part of my everyday life and I want them to benefit my brain and thought processes.

I think that one way I could do this is assign (but not limit) a language to a certain everyday situation. I heard of such a man who spoke Spainish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to horses. Should I speak German to God, Latin to women, English to men (or when I just want to be understood), and Toki Pona to horses? (Or more like think in German during scientific/technical/philosophical situations, Latin during aesthetic/poetic/artistic situations, Toki Pona to animals, English everywhere else or somethin' like that). Tell me what you guys think. :)

Answer 1

I've studied many languages, including toki pona (I'm jan Mato on the forums). The feeling of thinking different tends to just last for the initial duration of learning a language, afterwards you become good enough at expressing yourself that you don't feel you are modifying your message to fit the things you know how to say in a given language. In the world of fake languages, lojban is a good thing to try because I (and other people upon trying to read the grammar) react to it by thinking, man, this is so alien. In the world of natural languages, I recommend ASL (or BSL, I can't tell where you're from), since sign language can incorporate a level of transparency that spoken language can't-- i.e. in English, dog and cat are arbitrary tokens, where in sign languages they can be, but don't always have to be arbitrary tokens.



Read the Through the Language Glass if you haven't already-- it gives the best scientific description of how a language might change the way you think, in particular it can give you better skills for noticing things that your grammar requires you to notice, which can be sort of trivial, like gender and number, or sort of practical, like an extraordinary sense for the cardinal directions.

Answer 2

The German to horses etc bit was not meant to be taken entirely seriously, you should understand.



I don't think your way of dividing your life between languages is very practical. It would, for example, be a pity to speak only Spanish to women in a world in which no women spoke Spanish. It is very doubtful whether there are any circumstances in which one language is definitively better than another. French and Italian, for example, both claim to be 'the language of love', but it is not obvious that love poetry in those languages sounds better than the best in English, say, or Russian.



A better plan would be to make sure that you use all your languages as frequently as possible. Put yourself in situations where you have to speak German. Make sure you have a good supply of German and Latin literature on your Kindle (Project Guttenberg is excellent as a source of free e-books in many languages), and read it. Visit a German-speaking country and immerse yourself in the language. For a few days you may find that instead of speaking German you have lost the ability to speak English properly, but the German will come - and stay.

Answer 3

very intriguing, however you're lacking the larger image. Do you don't forget the Jewish holocaust and even the one who many do not recognise approximately, however makes the witch trials and the jewish holocaust appear like an afternoon on the seaside (the six hundred 12 months Christian holocaust). See what you're mistaking is the paintings of God and the paintings of guy. See guy is well at manipulating men and women chiefly utilising the devout card. Do you don't forget how Bin Ladin bought his men and women to stop their lives attacking the U.S. The use of the devout card. They twist the phrases to get what they desire. And in a few instances even difference the phrases. However the phrase of God remains to be there should you learn it together with your middle, similar to the actual that means at the back of being a Wiccan is within the Wiccan Reed should you truthfully learn it appropriately. illustration: so long as it does not harm someone or some thing, do as thee will may also be taken to intend that you'll more often than not do some thing you desire (I did not bodily harm any one) however as any precise Wiccan is aware of it manner a entire lot extra then that. It manner you are not able to harm any one in any respect. (adding however no longer confined too fate, good fortune, emotions, ect.)