LL-L "Language proficiency" 2010.06.25 (01) [AF-EN]

Fri Jun 25 21:45:42 UTC 2010

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*L O W L A N D S - L - 25 June 2010 - Volume 01
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From: Obiter Dictum <obiterdictum at mail.ru>

Subject: Language Proficiency

Hello Lowlanders,

I would like to revisit one old subject, specifically Language Proficiency,
and more specifically, consummate proficiency, sometimes resulting in small
but memorable funny incidents, such as confusing languages, or being unaware
of this or that language one speaks.

We discussed this four years ago.

Roger Thijs wrote on 2006.07.19:
“I don't know whether it is beginning senility, but I often cannot remember
in what language a conversation has been held or what the original language
of a program was.”

Jacqueline Bungenberg de Jong wrote on 2006.07.19:
“[Roger] I do believe you, but I do not think it has anything to do with
senility. When you are comfortable with a language it does not demand your
attention, it does not take any effort to decode it and so it becomes like
background music. That does not happen with a language that you experience
as foreign. I remember driving with a Dutch friend from Philadelphia to
Montreal. We were both going to graduate school at the University of
Pennsylvania and were therefore used to speaking English all the time. The
car radio was on, but we were in deep conversation until all of a sudden the
announcer gave the address of a store in French and we became both aware
that we had been "listening" to a Dutch language program. That was a real
odd awareness. Also, I dream in both Dutch and English, but become only
aware what language it is when a character in the dream uses other than
those two.”

Paul Finlow-Bates on 2006.07.24:
“Someone might say "there's an article about Swaziland granites in...." Then
they'd pause trying to narrow it down by remembering which language [English
or Afrikaans] it was written in. They often had to give up, because they
could visualise it in either, and it seemed "right".
The phenomenon was restricted to the absolutely bilingual, not just fluent
in their second language.”

But most impressive (to me) was Leslie Decker's story posted on 2006.07.20:
“... Fluency-wise, I have had a similar experience. I was once flying on KLM
from Amsterdam to somewhere in the states, and the flight attendant starts
all of her normal announcements in Dutch. I listen to them half-heartedly.
About five minutes later, more announcements come on. I remember thinking,
"Didn't they just say this?" It took me about ten seconds to realize that
this was the English version of what had just been said in Dutch! The delay
added to the confusion.”

Dear friends, I would really appreciate if others Lowlander share their
similar experiences. I am writing a paper on translation and interpretation
and arguing against the conventional wisdom that ‘speaking/“knowing” another
language doesn't make you a translator/interpreter yet.’ I am doing a little
research for the purpose.
I am positive that many of you have had similar experiences as quoted above,
and can help me to make my point. (Ron ... I put my money on you, especially
; ) Mark, jy ook, noudat ons daaroor praat, oukei, jong?)

And I also ask Leslie’s, Jacqueline’s, Paul’s and Roger’s permission to
quote them in my paper.

Thank you all in advance.
Vlad Lee

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From: From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>

Subject: Language proficiency

Hi, Vlad!

First of all:

(Ron ... I put my money on you, especially ; )

How much are we talking about, and will I get a cut?

Knowing more than one language is one thing; being able to switch between
them is an entirely different thing.

These days, my switch is squeaky. If I get woken up by the phone ringing,
and the call is in a language other than my everyday one (English), then I
need a few minutes to find my groove and cancel out English interference.

When I lived in Israel, my language switch was so well oiled that the
appropriate language (usually English, German, Yiddish and Hebrew, and a
little Spanish) came out if I as much as saw a “matching” face. And I worked
in a multilingual team serving people in a kibbutz dining hall where all
sorts of languages were flying about. Also, I noticed that my verbal
interpretation proficiency was much better then than it is now, which leads
me to believe that there’s a link. I remember acting as assistant tour guide
for mixed English- and German-speaking tourist groups. The tour guide/driver
knew a lot about history, historic sites and archeology but had only the
most rudimentary of English proficiency. He would ramble on in Hebrew and I
would translate it into both English and German. I had hardly any problem
doing so.

However, mistakes *do* happen. Once I had to explain to a small group of
rather posh elderly English ladies that eating at a certain hole-in-the-wall
establishment might not be a good idea because several people had come away
from it with ... “gonorrhea”! I remember their shocked faces and their “Oh,
did they? Rrreally?!” No, not really. The correct word was “diarrhea” ...
some sort of -rrhea anyway.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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