I've written quite some posts in mandarin lately. One of my friends wondered, why did I not write them all in one unified language? Is it because I have a specific audience in mind when I write in English and likewise for Chinese?
The answer is no.
Basically, I think in Chinese and English quite independently. Therefore, when I thought of something in English, or if I attended a class or a forum in English, I will write an account of it in English. It will be very difficult for me to translate it to Mandarin or vice versa.
However, there are draw backs to this. One of the most significant ones is that I learn both languages quite separately, i.e. it'll take more time. Also, I'm neither excellent in Mandarin or English. I'm ok at both. So those English-speaking friends find my English ok, but rather unpolished. And my Mandarin-speaking friends will find my Mandarin ok, but with occasional weird sentence structures.
Unpolished English? SURE?? With all the big words you like to use? =P
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, according to my standard, and according to the average Malaysian standard, your English would be around excellent to exceptional. Your mandarin is not too far behind.
ReplyDeleteI speak english 80-90% of the time now however recently I discivered that when I'm really really really stress I still think in chinese.
ReplyDeleteI think when I do math, I still almost always think in chinese too, unless it's dy/dx.
At that point I think "why the heck do I still store this piece of useless information in my head, I can still remember the formulas!"