I still have a long way to go before I'm bilingual. At the immersion program I did this summer, my brain was halved from operating so long in Japanese. But since the immersion program, my brain has become scrambled. It makes sense to me because I still understand, even when the languages get mixed together in my thoughts. But, in my gen-ed multiculturalism class today, I almost started asking the teacher a question in Japanese. I started writing my name in Japanese today in my math class. I translate words and phrases that occur to me first in Japanese back to English.
As humans, we are naturally biased to think that others are like us, so there are times when it seems impossible to me that another person won't understand my other language. Those moments were much more common a few months ago, but with something as fundamental as language and communication, it's still a bizarre feeling to be able to say things no one around me will understand!
English communication has become jumbled for me. It's not an easy balance to strike, and I'm wondering what your experience, if you have one, with what the transition to bilingualism (or multilingualism) has been like. Are you multi-lingual? What are your thoughts and tips on balancing your brain traffic? Let me know in the comments!
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