The language of blogging

[franceslievens]

The internet is a place where I talk, write, read, and communicate in English. The language of Shakespeare is so entangled with my web-experience that I switch to it the moment I think about posting on LJ, talking to my friends, putting my everyday experiences into a bit more poetic words for you all to read, dear audience. I don't feel more constraint because of the language I use, than I would when using my mothertongue. The only real constraint there is for me, is time: it'll take me longer to write a silly paragraph in English than it would take me to write a comparable paragraph in Dutch. What I did realise recently (and I already said it in a comment in French at syderia's) is that the English I use cannibalises* my skills in Dutch. I forget correct terms and difficult words. I used to be a walking encyclopedia, but now I only feel like a school teacher that spends too much time talking English on the internet. The constant use of English let something shift in my head: like when I was still a teenager and visited my friend in Sheffield, and I had forgotten how to think in Dutch. It's that experience, but unwanted and in the middle of a perfectly good conversation. "Switch back, head," I think, but all there comes is Dutch using French grammar** and stuttering.

*For lack of a better word.
**Appears courtesy of my pupils.

Comments

[anyasbuttmonkey.livejournal.com]

I admire everyone - and I'm not just talking about my flist, but others on message boards and whatnot - who uses fluent English when it isn't their mother tongue. Especially because the English/Americans among us tend to bastardize the language with so much slang. It must be hard for you to think in two different languages - I have enough trouble trying to formulate Spanish sentences that actually make sense, without thinking in the language too!

I apologise for the rambliness, I am a *leeeetle* bit drunk :D

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

I admire you for being able to be able to sound more or less okay when drunk! ;-)

I don't know. English has never been hard for me. I've been able to get by since I was ten -- simply because I watched too much telly! French otoh is very hard for me. And I'm never able to switch as easily between languages as other people. At the moment writing is easier, than speaking.

And I can't speak any Spanish at all.

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

I'm like that, too. I honestly believe that I've got two different language sets in my brain and that they don't talk to each other. That's why I couldn't be a translator. I either think in English or in German - though of course, sometimes I can't come up with an English word when I'm in the English set or the other way round. I think it all started when I prepared myself for going to NZ and I started trying to think in English.
That said, my competency in English isn't quite at the same level as my German, but that's only natural. When I came back from NZ and also from England, my German had really suffered with English sentence structure creeping in. Now, I'll sometimes talk English to my students and then they complain and say "We don't have English now, Miss!".

I've never had enough contact with French to become fluent.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

I could be a translator when I could translate to my own language. I noticed that when writing things in Dutch and then translating them into English for LJ (you might recall I've written some reviews in Dutch and translated the in English, posting both languages). When translating into English I sometimes translate to literal, wereas the other way around I can understand and translate the nuances better.

According to an Englishman I'm probably fluent in French as well, but living with P. has taught me otherwise. He actualy is bilingual and will corroborate your idea of the two different sets. When we talk Dutch with each other he'll have a lot of difficulty to translate things into French. When talking French with someone he'll have a hard time trying to translate something into Dutch.

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

that the English I use cannibalises* my skills in Dutch. I forget correct terms and difficult words. I used to be a walking encyclopedia, but now I only feel like a school teacher that spends too much time talking English on the internet.

I have the same feeling that's why I said that I needed to practice my written French on LJ before I lose it!

As for English, unlike you I didn't grow up with English (we don't get English networks and English programmes in France tv and before the cable "came" every tv shows or movies were dubbed), it was only something I learnt in school and highschool and I never got to practice it before the Buffy fandom and my Internet days.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Aha, that's what you meant. I thought you were just being very chauvinistic!

Thing is that these language skills come back very quickly. I more feel it's something I miss. I miss writing in Dutch, but I don't have a reason for it, because I don't have an audience when I write in it. I could have made an effort to write for a magazine or something, but now it doesn't really appeal to me.

French is something I learnt in school, and the only practice I get is ordering a loaf of bread and giving directions and talking to you. (I just can't seem to get myself to talk to you in English. I think that would be really silly.)

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

I noticed!

Yes talking to each other in English would be silly...besides you live in a country where French is one of the two official languages! ;- P

I'm teasing you bu it always amazed that Flemish people in Belgium often understand English better than French, even in Brussels. In Middle Ages they would have said that you're all so "anglaisés".

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

We probably are. I still blame television, and general pop culture which is much more anglophone than francophone. We actualy do have more French in high school than English and still it doesn't work. There is this whole debate going on about language education at the moment btw. I don't feel like writing it down now, but maybe we could talk about it. In French. ;-)