mixed languages

Was watching a talent quest show on TV .

The judges were Indian but would give feedback in a mixture of one of the Indian languages and English.

It was quite amazing to see how comfortable and fluent they were in switching to a few words, or a complete sentence of english in the middle of the other language.

I guess the concepts they wanted to communicate were best expressed in english and the other language allowed them to do this quite easily.

Anybody noticed this in other countries too ?

If you want to have a look the show was called Indias Dancing Superstar and just listening to the judges is fascinating.

Multilingualism is a fascinating subject.

My wife is Brazilian so her first language is Portuguese. English has replaced Spanish as her second language and she also gets by in Italian. Ana also has some facility with French.; her mother spoke Portuguese, French and English: one sister speaks the same three languages and all other family members are at least bilingual.

Many of Ana's friends are bilingual and it is fascinating to listen to conversations involving them. Phrases that suit the situation are thrown in from whatever language seems to best do the job.

I have witnessed my wife writing in Portuguese while holding a conversation in English!!

.....and have you noticed that it doesn't matter what language when money is the subject everyone understands!

When we lived in PNG, our next door neighbour and his wife were nationals who came from different areas. He spoke his place talk, English, Pidgin and Motu. His wife spoke her place talk but couldn't understand his, and Motu. The children spoke all five languages fluently, and spoke English with the sort of plummy accent you'd expect to hear in the House of Lords.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by artme

I have witnessed my wife writing in Portuguese while holding a conversation in English!!

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True multitasking. What language does she dream in?