#the bilingual struggle

[baconcolacan]

D’you ever think about communication errors??

I’m unearthing a cringe memory but, there was a time I ate out with some very beloved friends of mine. In the middle of it, I asked one of my dear friends to ‘pass the meat’ in English, which was not our mother language.

And my dearly beloved friend, looked at me innocently, and said “Uh, sure! I’ll do it cause we’re friends! ^^”

They cut the pieces of meat that was already on my plate…..and tried to spoon feed it to me……

the communication failure was ASTOUNDING

Anyway, I’m giving Tord this cringe memory now. He does the spoon feeding, happily might I add. You can assign who he does it to in your head.

[itsagrimm]

the attraction between migrant parents being happy their children fluently navigate this foreign country VS being grumpy their children don't speak the home country lingo perfectly.

[cider-est]

cooking up a post about an au with min and xander, why the fuck is the noun "injustice" and yet the adjective is "unjust". this language is a scam istg

[demonstars]

espera por q siempre nos hablamos en ingles si ambos hablamos español?? lmaoo - 🌼

BAHHSHSHD honestamente yo estoy acostumbrado a hacer eso incluso con otros amigos irl en espacios online :] no me importaría hablar en español en preguntas o notas en todo caso !! ambos funcionan bien para mi ^_^

[sapphoherselz]

maddy babe thats so funny!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAH

"i think i'm in love with you."

andrew doesn't flinch, but his knuckles go white on the steering wheel, a clear sign he heard neil. he doesn't answer, but neil knows he didn't like hearing him confess on their way to night practice. hell, he was sure andrew wasn't happy when he slammed the car door with a little too much force.

'this is it.' that's all neil can think for the rest of the night, watching andrew ignore him and go all out on kevin at practice.

practice. shower. back to the dorms.

he tries not to think about it too much, he didn't expect to hear it back, tries to ignore the small voice at the back of his head chanting 'it's over'. he really tries. he fails and lets the thoughts torture him.

then the dorm door opens and closes, quietly in the night to not wake up their roommates, and he again tries not to give it much thought. he fails.

it's almost dawn when he decides to try his luck one more time, when he gets up from his bed and goes to the rooftop, when he sits beside andrew, at arms length as always.

they watch the first rays of sun peek from behind the buildings, turning the dark night into a soft morning. it feels like hours go by when andrew finally speaks.

"i won't say it back, stop waiting." it's barely a whisper, there's no emotion behind his voice.

"i don't want you to." neil croaks "i just wanted you to know i do."

"i hate you."

"i know"

they sit in silence for a while, the sky getting lighter by the minute, until andrew sighs and gets up, keeping his hand out for neil to take. neil looks at the hand and then at him, studying the calm expression on his face before taking his hand and getting up. he expects andrew to let go as soon as he's on his feet, but the shorter man just links their fingers together, gives his hand a squeeze and gets them both inside.

they close the dorm door behind them and andrew locks it before pinning neil against it and kissing him senseless, letting go when he's satisfied enough, his hand on neils throat, index tapping on the pulse point going wild.

"good night." it's all he says before he disappears in the bedroom, leaving neil at the door, slightly panting and eyes full of emotions.

(andrew does say it back, a few years in the future, long after they graduate. they're on a roadtrip, the highway never ending and neil's awful playlist playing in the background while he drives and andrew sits in the passenger seat, looking out the window with a bored expression.

"i love you, too"

neil nearly crashes the car. andrew calls him stupid and turns to look out the window again, a small smile adorning his lips.)

[nyancrimew]

literally don't worry, i talk in english to irls half the time and me and my (also swiss german) wife and i like exclusively talk in english unless we're around other swiss people (except we often just accidentally switch them to speak in english rather than the other way around), it's like a whole thing. shaped by the internet frfr.

it's funny whenever me and gf and other friends get asked where we're from by people expecting some interesting story and then we just all switch to swiss german to say like "sorry like we're from here we're just weird"

[lil-gae-disaster]

Silly headcanon time‼️

Fredrick has a few words he, for the love of everything holy, cannot pronounce and has to say syllable by syllable out loud.

So he avoids those words like the plague

And when he accidentally uses one of those, it's like (I'm using the example "mutual" here)

"Mutu- mu- mutua- goddamnit! Mu-tu-al"

(This is entirely based on the fact that I also cannot pronounce certain words and it drives me nuts)

(@unicornsaures @marsfingershurt @hamalicious-soup @imobsessedwiththeatre

@schnitzelsemmerl @kwilooo)

[oh-to-be-a-murderer]

Shit bilingual (in my case quadri) people face

Me: *talking to a friend* yeah and you can't give him that much 'Pradhanno' either?

Her: what?? *visibly confused*

Me: yk like- *trying explain* *sudden vocab loss* yk like 'pradhanno' uhhhh

Her: ?????

Me: IMPORTANCE! yea- uh that's the word.

Her: okay... so what about his behaviour?

Me: as I was saying- yeah his behaviour? It'll get "kharab"

Me:...

Her:... *leaves*

Me:...

Her: *Comes back with Google translate* yeah continue...

An actual conversation I had with my Malaysian friend- she has a hard time coping with me-

@gwen-stacy-earth616 @serenastank-official @duh-nik

[resu-w-ana]

The life of bilingual writer: an illustration.

[notsofriendlyfriendlyreminder]

heated argument Javier: DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW FRUSTRATING IT IS TO HAVE TO TRANSLATE EVERYTHING IN MY HEAD BEFORE I SAY IT?! YOU SHOULD TRY TALKING IN MY SHOES FOR ONE MILE! John: I think you meant- Javier: I know what I meant to mean! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW SMART I AM IN SPANISH?!

[humbly-a-doppelganger]

There's a sizzling kind of anger you develope when you're a bilingual writer writing in only one of your languages. You'll love the sound and uniqueness of a word in language A, but then the translation to language B (the language you're writing in) will simply be *ploff*

[icey--stars]

Okay... serious question. Help!

I want tips/what not to do when writing multilingual characters!!

Because honestly, I have barely a high school's knowledge of Spanish and do not speak the language very often 😭

However I also know that there are quite a lot of multilingual people around here... so... help? (especially if your first language isn't English! I really want to hear your advice most of all! Give me weird stories regarding being bilingual! Give me stupid things you've seen around! All of it!)

From the research I've been doing thus far, people don't "slip" into their other language, but they do sometimes slip in a word or two (ex. swearing? or forgetting a word in that language?) Obviously someone won't go "Let's go to the biblioteca" or something like that, but maybe something like "Mierda, where are my keys!?" Please tell me if this is completely stupid. I want to know the brutal truth.

What about when talking to another multilingual person who speaks the language? Do they switch randomly? Or probably not? (ex. char1 is speaking L1 and then char2 suddenly switches to L2 because its their stronger language but they knew how to say it in L1... is that weird?)

I know obviously there is purposeful shit talking, but are there any other instances someone may just randomly start talking in a language the other characters may not understand? (ex. talking to one's self?)

I'd love some clarification and ANY AND ALL tips/tricks and what-not-to-do's on writing multilingual characters! Give me anything and everything you can think of!

(you can reblog or comment or message me if you want, idc, I just don't want someone who is bilingual opening my story or something and being like "this dumbass" and closing it immediately lol)

EDIT: Thank you EVERYONE who replied/reblogged! The 1st question has been answered thoroughly. I really like hearing about experiences regarding the 2nd question though, so feel free to share! Anyway, all the help with this thus far has been BEAUTIFUL! And anyone who is looking for help regarding writing characters like these, I highly recommend checking out the comments/reblogs!

[godofstupidsentences]

I believe Theo not only can speak french, but is even MORE fluent in reading french than english. The Doctors may have talked to him in both languages but I bet most of their books and notes were in french and Theo got used to only reading in this language

[that-one-raccoon]

I forgot the word “pants” so while in a heated discussion with my sister, I said “I didn’t know! It was there with the whole rack of… legs…”

😭😭

wtf is wrong with me

[elialys]

no but still writing in english when i'm speaking french 24/7 with everyone around me because france is seriously breaking my brain im not even kidding

[evvvangeline44]

me to my very unfinished latin and french schoolwork as i start typing on my 100+ pg doc about dead gay wizards: