As you progress in your Japanese language training, do you ever have the feeling that you are forgetting the other languages that you thought you mastered, including your native language?
Noticing improvements in your language skills is great. Not only does it give you a confidence boost, but because of your increased knowledge of a particular language, learning new things in that language becomes easier as you have a much wider frame of reference to help you contextualize and compartmentalize new information.
On the other hand, I’ve noticed in my own case that I’m losing fluency in other languages, such as English and Dutch. At least, that is what it feels like. Recently, I find myself looking for words that were previously readily - almost instinctually - available to me. Sometimes, unconsciously, I even create words that do not exist. It sometimes seems like my brain is overflowing with linguistic information, as if there is a maximum capacity, and my brain is trying to make room for new material to the detriment of the old.
I have mixed feelings about this phenomenon. In some cases, the fact that all these languages are competing for dominance creates connections and associations between languages. But in others, it only causes confusion. I often feel as if new knowledge of another language makes me hyper-aware of my native language, and in turn makes me doubt other forms of knowledge that I previously took for granted.
I’m curious whether you have similar experiences. Do you ever feel like your brain is drowning in language, or that it absorbs new information only to then override previous knowledge of other languages? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
I also have had the experience of forgetting words in my native language. I was born in India, but come to Belgium when I was 2,5 years old. (adopted by the most lovely parents). So I'm from Belgium, but when I was seven (having only just learnt to read and write in my native language) we moved to England, there we lived for 3 and a half years. Where I went to an English primary school. In the beginning I couldn't speak nor understand a word of English and we kept speaking Dutch at home, but very soon, more and more English words and thoughts crept in and gradually we spoke more English than Dutch and I was forgetting easy words like "daffodil" is my own language. In under three months I could hold basic conversations and in under three years I could speak at 'native' level. (pity it's not the same with my Japanese). After three and a half years living in England we move to Holland. And guess what?; in the beginning I really had to think, especially when it came to writing in my native language. It contained all English words, more than Dutch. Gradually it became more and more Dutch, luckily I still hadn't forgotten my native language. I believe it is hard to switch between language perfectly. When I write in English, I think in English and when I write in Dutch I think in Dutch. Having to write a poem in Dutch and than translating it in English is very hard to do. Our brain is amazing, but for me thinking in multiple language is quite hard and I wonder how anyone can manage doing that. I have seen polyglots on YouTube, going back and forth in different language and that is beyond me, how they can process this all. Thinking in one language, is often hard enough. Thank your all for sharing your thoughts and thank you Bunsuke for raising this exciting topic of which the last hasn't been said.
Hi Koppa, thanks for sharing! It seems that you, like many others here, juggle so many different languages at once. It's quite exciting to see that we have such a diverse community and that we can learn so much from each other. Keep up the good work!
Yes! I majored in French in college, but struggle to speak it at all now, searching for even basic words since I spend all my time living and working in English or studying Japanese. Receptive language (listening, reading) doesn't seem to be affected much, as long as someone else is producing the content I can understand it, but I can't come up with it on my own.
My wife attended medical school in Japan, and practiced there as a doctor for 2 years, but then came to the US with me, and has been practicing here for the last 5 years. She recently had to give a medical presentation to a bunch of Japanese doctors, in Japanese, and discovered she could not remember many Japanese medical terms! Fortunately in technical fields, you can often substitute the English term and be understood.
Do you often find when switching between languages it takes a few minutes to settle into the new language, but then it flows more smoothly? For example if I was living in Japan and would switch from Japanese, to French (which only occurred while out with a French speaking friend) Japanese vocabulary will keep unintentionally popping up in the middle of the French sentence, especially nouns, verbs and interjections (tashikani! hai. sou desu ka) which can seemlessly enter the grammar of any language.
Hi Jeff, thanks for sharing this. It's interesting that your wife is experiencing the same thing, and I suppose it's even more the case with specialist language.
Yes! I have a lot of trouble switching between languages. Even though my Japanese level is high, I'm bad at 通訳 for that very reason. I can only think in one language at a time. (I have this in general: when I'm focused, the world around me disappears.) Your example of switching from Japanese to French is very relatable. The other day I had to speak German on the phone. I hadn't used German since high school (and I haven't been in high school for a while now...), and Japanese kept popping up. Not just interjections, but Japanese would take over mid sentence. Such a strange experience.
I was born and raised in Thailand so my native tongue is Thai. However, I've studied and worked in several English-speaking countries such as Canada and Australia and English has become like second nature to me. I'm now living in Flanders, Belgium and I've also learned some French, Dutch, Spanish as well as Japanese. Since I'm here you can probably guess that, out of those languages, Japanese is my absolute favourite to learn 😊 Anyway, to answer your question — no, I don't feel like my brain is full, but I'd like to think of it as a cupboard full of 'language' spices. See, the thing is I primarily use English in my everyday life and my work so that "English spice" is on the first shelf of the cupboard where it's easy for me to reach and use it. For Thai, it's also on the first shelf, although it might be in the back of the cupboard where I have to reach a bit. I don't necessarily forget that it's there, but since I have to reach past my English spice in order to get to the Thai, meaning that the English will come to my brain first before I can think of its Thai equivalent.
As for Japanese, it's probably at the front of the second shelf and Dutch is right behind that. The remaining languages in my repertoire are all on the third shelf where I need a ladder to get to 😆 I hope that as I progress with my Japanese, it will eventually get moved to the first shelf where I can just grab and use it just like I do with Thai and English.
Hi Chanun, I really like this image of the cupboard. I can relate to this to a certain extent...I often feel that my Japanese level has now surpassed my English level in some respects, but it completely depends on the situation what comes to the front of the cupboard - to borrow your analogy - first. I often encounter situations that favor commentary in Japanese over English, because there is a phrase in Japanese that perfectly fits that situation, where no such phrase exists in English, or vice versa. This is especially apparent in humor: some situations are funny in Dutch precisely because there is a phrase to comment on it, interpret it, or contextualize it, whereas there is no such expression in other languages.
So cool that you're learning Dutch! But I agree, Japanese is the most fun ;)
I totally get what you mean! Dutch is cool because it shares so many similarities with English and I can kinda fumble my way through it without much hassle. Can't say the same for Japanese unfortunately (although Japanese does share a lot of features with Thai, things like particles and the way we express ideas etc.)
ขอขอบคุณ, for your answer. Is that correct?, my Thai is zero, I'm afraid. I live near Mechelen. Gent isn't that far, always nice to meet people from different cultures, and even more so if they share our passion for learning Japanese. I like your analogy with spices. Indeed we have many spices on our shelf.
That's why I often wonder how translators manage to stay so fluent in their first language. I remember that when I started learning foreign languages and was at N4-N3 level, translating felt really natural to me, but now I can get the meaning (or more like the atmosphere) of the phrase, but my translations are way less beautiful than they used to be, they are more about conveying the meaning than the beauty ^^" And I notice it's not only me. For example, in books of many young translators you can usually sense that this text is a translation, not an original.
The best translators whom I met usually don't speak Japanese that brilliantly, they even have a (Russian) accent. But I don't know, do you always have to sacrifice one language to master the other?
I completely get that! Perhaps, as we get better at a language, we think too systematically about it and tend to stick to the original structure more rigidly.
Also, no I don't think you necessarily have to sacrifice one language to master another, but it's interesting to notice that, when you get better at a second language, your second language starts to influence your first language, not just the other way around.
So on Japanese TV I once saw a study about linguistic regions in the brain. Apparently, if you learn two languages before age 7 or so, they end up sharing a brain volume, and if you learn a language after that, a new, spatially distinct volume emerges for the later language(s). This fact might help explain difference in "access time" as well as the tendency to invent new terms. Very interesting. I believe it is possible to make any language as fast in terms of brain access and instinctiveness as one's mother tongue(s) but it likely requires specialized training to "hack" the organization of language regions in the brain. That's pretty much what we've been striving for with Japanese Complete where I work. Language reflexes can be trained and honed, and to get to a super fluid level requires some unintuitive "brain hacking."
How old were you when you started studying Japanese, Bunsuke?
Hi Vaso, thank you for your response. Yes, I've heard this before, although the cut off age-wise differs depending on who you ask. I'm the opposite of a specialist, but I've heard the same goes for behavioral patterns.
I started studying Japanese seriously from the age of 18 (I am now 34) but was exposed to it in limited amounts from the age of 2. What about you, Vaso?
I also have had the experience of forgetting words in my native language. I was born in India, but come to Belgium when I was 2,5 years old. (adopted by the most lovely parents). So I'm from Belgium, but when I was seven (having only just learnt to read and write in my native language) we moved to England, there we lived for 3 and a half years. Where I went to an English primary school. In the beginning I couldn't speak nor understand a word of English and we kept speaking Dutch at home, but very soon, more and more English words and thoughts crept in and gradually we spoke more English than Dutch and I was forgetting easy words like "daffodil" is my own language. In under three months I could hold basic conversations and in under three years I could speak at 'native' level. (pity it's not the same with my Japanese). After three and a half years living in England we move to Holland. And guess what?; in the beginning I really had to think, especially when it came to writing in my native language. It contained all English words, more than Dutch. Gradually it became more and more Dutch, luckily I still hadn't forgotten my native language. I believe it is hard to switch between language perfectly. When I write in English, I think in English and when I write in Dutch I think in Dutch. Having to write a poem in Dutch and than translating it in English is very hard to do. Our brain is amazing, but for me thinking in multiple language is quite hard and I wonder how anyone can manage doing that. I have seen polyglots on YouTube, going back and forth in different language and that is beyond me, how they can process this all. Thinking in one language, is often hard enough. Thank your all for sharing your thoughts and thank you Bunsuke for raising this exciting topic of which the last hasn't been said.
Hi Koppa, thanks for sharing! It seems that you, like many others here, juggle so many different languages at once. It's quite exciting to see that we have such a diverse community and that we can learn so much from each other. Keep up the good work!
Yes! I majored in French in college, but struggle to speak it at all now, searching for even basic words since I spend all my time living and working in English or studying Japanese. Receptive language (listening, reading) doesn't seem to be affected much, as long as someone else is producing the content I can understand it, but I can't come up with it on my own.
My wife attended medical school in Japan, and practiced there as a doctor for 2 years, but then came to the US with me, and has been practicing here for the last 5 years. She recently had to give a medical presentation to a bunch of Japanese doctors, in Japanese, and discovered she could not remember many Japanese medical terms! Fortunately in technical fields, you can often substitute the English term and be understood.
Do you often find when switching between languages it takes a few minutes to settle into the new language, but then it flows more smoothly? For example if I was living in Japan and would switch from Japanese, to French (which only occurred while out with a French speaking friend) Japanese vocabulary will keep unintentionally popping up in the middle of the French sentence, especially nouns, verbs and interjections (tashikani! hai. sou desu ka) which can seemlessly enter the grammar of any language.
Hi Jeff, thanks for sharing this. It's interesting that your wife is experiencing the same thing, and I suppose it's even more the case with specialist language.
Yes! I have a lot of trouble switching between languages. Even though my Japanese level is high, I'm bad at 通訳 for that very reason. I can only think in one language at a time. (I have this in general: when I'm focused, the world around me disappears.) Your example of switching from Japanese to French is very relatable. The other day I had to speak German on the phone. I hadn't used German since high school (and I haven't been in high school for a while now...), and Japanese kept popping up. Not just interjections, but Japanese would take over mid sentence. Such a strange experience.
I was born and raised in Thailand so my native tongue is Thai. However, I've studied and worked in several English-speaking countries such as Canada and Australia and English has become like second nature to me. I'm now living in Flanders, Belgium and I've also learned some French, Dutch, Spanish as well as Japanese. Since I'm here you can probably guess that, out of those languages, Japanese is my absolute favourite to learn 😊 Anyway, to answer your question — no, I don't feel like my brain is full, but I'd like to think of it as a cupboard full of 'language' spices. See, the thing is I primarily use English in my everyday life and my work so that "English spice" is on the first shelf of the cupboard where it's easy for me to reach and use it. For Thai, it's also on the first shelf, although it might be in the back of the cupboard where I have to reach a bit. I don't necessarily forget that it's there, but since I have to reach past my English spice in order to get to the Thai, meaning that the English will come to my brain first before I can think of its Thai equivalent.
As for Japanese, it's probably at the front of the second shelf and Dutch is right behind that. The remaining languages in my repertoire are all on the third shelf where I need a ladder to get to 😆 I hope that as I progress with my Japanese, it will eventually get moved to the first shelf where I can just grab and use it just like I do with Thai and English.
Hi Chanun, I really like this image of the cupboard. I can relate to this to a certain extent...I often feel that my Japanese level has now surpassed my English level in some respects, but it completely depends on the situation what comes to the front of the cupboard - to borrow your analogy - first. I often encounter situations that favor commentary in Japanese over English, because there is a phrase in Japanese that perfectly fits that situation, where no such phrase exists in English, or vice versa. This is especially apparent in humor: some situations are funny in Dutch precisely because there is a phrase to comment on it, interpret it, or contextualize it, whereas there is no such expression in other languages.
So cool that you're learning Dutch! But I agree, Japanese is the most fun ;)
I totally get what you mean! Dutch is cool because it shares so many similarities with English and I can kinda fumble my way through it without much hassle. Can't say the same for Japanese unfortunately (although Japanese does share a lot of features with Thai, things like particles and the way we express ideas etc.)
That's fascinating! For some reason I had always grouped Thai in with Chinese, probably because of the tones. I should really brush up on this!
Where in Belgium do you live? I have been to Phuket on vacation and it was amazing. Where from Thailand are you, if you don't mind me asking?
Hi Koppa, I live in Ghent and I'm from Bangkok :)
Yup, Phuket is pretty awesome. I haven't been there in a long time though.
ขอขอบคุณ, for your answer. Is that correct?, my Thai is zero, I'm afraid. I live near Mechelen. Gent isn't that far, always nice to meet people from different cultures, and even more so if they share our passion for learning Japanese. I like your analogy with spices. Indeed we have many spices on our shelf.
That's very close! If you guys are ever in Holland, please let me know so we can meet up for coffee.
ขอขอบคุณ is correct, although we like to shorten it and say ขอบคุณ instead. And, yeah @Bunsuke, a meetup would be nice! :)
Great, hope we can make it happen some day.
Let's make it happen!
Thank you for your reply. That would be indeed nice to meetup.
That's why I often wonder how translators manage to stay so fluent in their first language. I remember that when I started learning foreign languages and was at N4-N3 level, translating felt really natural to me, but now I can get the meaning (or more like the atmosphere) of the phrase, but my translations are way less beautiful than they used to be, they are more about conveying the meaning than the beauty ^^" And I notice it's not only me. For example, in books of many young translators you can usually sense that this text is a translation, not an original.
The best translators whom I met usually don't speak Japanese that brilliantly, they even have a (Russian) accent. But I don't know, do you always have to sacrifice one language to master the other?
I completely get that! Perhaps, as we get better at a language, we think too systematically about it and tend to stick to the original structure more rigidly.
Also, no I don't think you necessarily have to sacrifice one language to master another, but it's interesting to notice that, when you get better at a second language, your second language starts to influence your first language, not just the other way around.
"Is my brain full" 😂
So on Japanese TV I once saw a study about linguistic regions in the brain. Apparently, if you learn two languages before age 7 or so, they end up sharing a brain volume, and if you learn a language after that, a new, spatially distinct volume emerges for the later language(s). This fact might help explain difference in "access time" as well as the tendency to invent new terms. Very interesting. I believe it is possible to make any language as fast in terms of brain access and instinctiveness as one's mother tongue(s) but it likely requires specialized training to "hack" the organization of language regions in the brain. That's pretty much what we've been striving for with Japanese Complete where I work. Language reflexes can be trained and honed, and to get to a super fluid level requires some unintuitive "brain hacking."
How old were you when you started studying Japanese, Bunsuke?
Love the newsletter. Very inspiring.
どうもありがとうございます。
Hi Vaso, thank you for your response. Yes, I've heard this before, although the cut off age-wise differs depending on who you ask. I'm the opposite of a specialist, but I've heard the same goes for behavioral patterns.
I started studying Japanese seriously from the age of 18 (I am now 34) but was exposed to it in limited amounts from the age of 2. What about you, Vaso?