Is it normal that i transliterate languages without realizing it?

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5 Comments

Sometimes, without even realizing it, if I'm writing in Russian, Greek, or Hebrew, I have a tendency to write the words using the Latin alphabet. Also, when I imagine the spellings of some of the words, I habitually see them in Latin first and then in their own alphabets. Is this normal and, if you speak more than one language and your primary language uses a non-Latin alphabet, do you sometimes have trouble not transliterating other languages into your own alphabet?

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Based on 20 votes (10 yes)
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Comments ( 5 )
  • Shrunk
    10 years ago

    I don't know if its the same, but since I started studying Russian sometimes I get the Latin and Cyrillic mixed up, even though my first is in Latin letters, for example when I was taking an eye test if the letter was H I said 'N' like Cyrillic.. Or 'S' for C, etc.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      10 years ago

      I've done the same. I've also said 'oo' before when I meant to say 'y'.

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  • disthing
    10 years ago

    I'd say that's pretty common for bilingual or multilingual people.

    Humans don't always perfectly divide languages in our heads, and there is typically a bias in favour of our strongest language.

    If you've learnt a language through translation, your brain has learnt a stepping-stone process - to go from your strongest language to the new language. So you think 'car' first, then the translation of 'car' second.

    I'd guess in your case, your strongest language is in the Latin alphabet. So your brain's first stepping stone is to Latin, then from that stepping stone you hop to the translation. So perhaps when you're not concentrating so hard on putting the correct alphabet down, your brain eases back into the dominant Latin position.

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  • [Old Memory]
    10 years ago

    Uuuuhhh...i do this all the time..pssssch...amateur...yep.

    ...I wish! You have my envy.

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  • AvrilLavigne
    10 years ago

    You are amazing.

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