Re: Negation?

Christophe Grandsire wrote:
>
>         Oh no! You want me to die! When I read the posts from this list, my brains
> switch to English and I'm nearly unable to speak in French (I must switch
> back to French). And when I speak of French in a post in English, I
> consider it nearly as a foreign language! That's why I sometimes have
> difficulties to find out good words and to explain myself: I don't have the
> vocabulary in English, but I also can't find out the French words that I
> could use, because my brains have switched to English! I have the same
> problem with Spanish and Japanese. That's also why I have so many
> difficulties in trying to translate anything from one language to another.
I've always admired interpretors.  When I lived in Geneva, I was always
astounded at the abilities of my interpretor friends to switch so
quickly
into English when hearing French.  I knew one woman who could do it both
ways, a rare talent, I'm told.  No, I must have brains like you, because
if I was speaking in French, and couldn't think of a word that French
and
English share in common, I couldn't think of the English word either.  I
sometimes wonder if the nervousness I constantly felt in Geneva was due
to
cognitive overload in the speech areas of my brain.  I have what someone
once called "mixed brain dominance."  I don't know what that means, and
I wonder if it's the same as "cross brain dominance," which I understand
can be a serious impairment.  I'm left-eyed and right handed, and I
stutter
a lot when I'm agitated.  I also seem to have one slot in my brain for
"foreign
language."  So that when I was working intensely in Welsh, I couldn't
think
of a word in French or Spanish.  The Welsh came up and blocked it.  When
I moved to Geneva and started speaking French, the Welsh and Spanish
vanished.
Modern Welsh has never really come back in full force, alas.  Language
acquisition is not like riding a bicycle for me.  I can't just pick it
up
again and sail away.

Sally