gwnn Posted June 23, 2010 Report Share Posted June 23, 2010 What's your first language? I am continually astonished when people say 'oh English is not my first language' and I thought it was. Please also answer if your first language is English. Mine is Hungarian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdonn Posted June 23, 2010 Report Share Posted June 23, 2010 English. I think in my case it's most accurate to say English is my second language and I don't have a first. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junyi_zhu Posted June 23, 2010 Report Share Posted June 23, 2010 What's your first language? I am continually astonished when people say 'oh English is not my first language' and I thought it was. Please also answer if your first language is English. Mine is Hungarian. Chinese. Could be Shanghaiese because I don't speak Mandarin before I was 6. Still, I can't speak Shanghaiese well now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanoi5 Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 Spanish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matmat Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 I don't have a first language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobowolf Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 English. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 English, French, Fortran... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbrr Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 english brah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlson Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 Russian but my English is undoubtedly better than my Russian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkDean Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 English. I used to have a second language, but I am sad to say I lost it somewhere along the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aberlour10 Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 Polish/German Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 Danish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shyams Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 What does "first language" really mean? - Does it mean the language you learnt first (chronologically in your life)? - Do you assume it to mean the operational language that you use when you still communicate with family members older than you? (parents, uncles/cousins etc)? - Does it mean the language in which you do most of your thinking? If it is the last option, my answer is English! I'm Indian and speak / spoke various Indian languages with my family members, but my thinking process is almost totally in English. And I often find it more difficult to express myself in my "native language" than in English. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 Yah, I speak Minnesotan. You bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwnn Posted June 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 I was trying to figure out the other day whether I really use some language when I am thinking, I think the conclusion was that there are no specific words and it's just a sort of human ASM that I use. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codo Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 I think in German. I need to be a long time in the States or GB to start thinking English. And yes I think words, I am very bad in viszualising- that is why I suck at bridge. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aberlour10 Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 The longer I stay in Germany, the more I think in German language, its a natural process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 I was trying to figure out the other day whether I really use some language when I am thinking, I think the conclusion was that there are no specific words and it's just a sort of human ASM that I use. Thoughts? Roger Penrose made an interesting point in "The emperor's new mind". He said that it is a prevailing idea in the literature on consciousness that language is a prerequisite for consciousness, and that that is probably due to the fact that most of it has been written by philosophers, who are a sort of people that think a lot in words. He, as a mathematician/physicist, thinks mainly in images. I think mainly in words but can also think of some abstract concepts without using words (for example about abstract concepts that I don't have words for). I will then mainly think in some kind of meta-graphical, i.e. something that is semantically close to images not quite images. I am very bad at drawing which I attribute to my thinking not quite crossing the boundary between meta-graphical and graphical. When thinking about emotions, smells and sounds I will just recall the sensation and not putting words on it except if I am musing about how to explain it to someone. When smelling food and musing about which kind of food it is I will sometimes think only in images taste of the food but sometimes in names of food also, especially if it is highly processed food where the ingredients have become obscured. I think mainly in English nowadays but I thought mainly in Dutch until recently, and will still think in Dutch when I think about social issues, gossip and such. There have been times when I thought mainly in German. But the other languages I speak a little bit of (French, Spanish, Russian, Esperanto) I have never used for thinking, except when thinking about something I wanted to say or something I have heard in that language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwnn Posted June 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 Helene doesn't your throat hurt if you think a lot about gossip? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanoi5 Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 I think your first language is the language you count on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 Helene doesn't your throat hurt if you think a lot about gossip? Lol! Actually Dutch used to hurt my throat but not any more, I have become used to it. I think your first language is the language you count on. Yeah, people will usually count in their native language even if they don't use their native language otherwise. I generally count in Dutch up to 20 and in Danish thereafter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y66 Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 English is my first and only language. I know just a little French. I am semi-optimistic that someday I will learn how to use language to describe things that are interesting to me and make them intelligible to others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwnn Posted June 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 so Helene you think half sixty is fifty? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 Yeah. I know it's ridiculous. They use sensible numbers on banknotes but beyond that it never really caught on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olegru Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 Russian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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