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Do you Code-Switch?

Rail Tracer

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In a more narrow linguistic definition, Code-Switching means the intermixing of at least two languages when speaking or writing. It's most common between people who know two+ languages or is learning another language. Some examples including:

Speaking Spanish in one sentence, and then switching back to English in another sentence (with or without thought)

Speaking French but inserting a few Spanish words (and vice versa) with people who know how to speak both French and Spanish. A crude example would be "Hola! Je m'appelle Rail Tracer", or "Bonjour! Me llamo Rail Tracer." To a person who can speak both Spanish and French, it'll be understandable (people that try not to intermix the two languages will just think it's weird)

Speaking Chinese but inserting an English word by accident without realizing that it was an English word you were using (that has not gone through the process of loan-words, like how Sushi or Dim-Sum has become a common English word.) An example: "我在找一 bowl." The characters used in the majority of the sentence is said in Chinese, but the person decided to use bowl instead of 碗 (which is a bowl in Chinese.) Roughly (I think) translate to "I am looking for a bowl."

Youtube Example:


Yes, it is particularly common with me because I am bilingual (but still trying to get better at my lesser used language.) Sometimes I'd speak in my second language and then I'll end up interjecting English words and sentences here and there without thought. Relatives/friends that cannot speak both languages will start raising eyebrows while relative/friends that can will completely understand what I was saying (because they do it also.)
 

Rail Tracer

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Did I confuse you guys? Or is this uncommon?
 

five sounds

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I code switch like a mamma jamma. It's fun for me. It's also useful as tone and word choice can go a long way in succeeding with others.
 

Redbone

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I do it in Gullah and English. Or even Southern English and Standard English! Mostly at home with my kids. They don't use Gullah but they understand me. Even I don't speak that much...understand more than I speak. It was dying out in my family and community when I was growing up like this woman in the video explains.

Here is the language:


You can hear her doing a reading from the bible at 12:09. I miss hearing this so much (ohhh...listen to the cicadas singing in the background!!! :wubbie:) Her dialect is a little different b/c she is from further north. For example, when she says "yad-chicken", my family would stretch it out and say, "yaahd-chicken". She is right about the embarrassment or shame over speaking Gullah. We'd never speak like this around non-speakers...I never even used this around my ex-husband.

My workmate and I are always laughing at each other overhearing our phone conversations because of code-switching. He is Filipino and uses "Tagalish".
 

miss fortune

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a couple of coworkers and I will speak back and forth in spanglish from time to time for fun

when I was in brazil I was learning portuguese as I went, but could speak decent spanish and am a native english speaker... whenever I encountered a word that I wasn't certain of I would end up speaking spanish and swearing in english :doh:
 

Raffaella

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Only when I'm speaking to Arabs. I move fluidly between Arabic and English without even realising it. It's awful and embarrassing.
 

grey_beard

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In a more narrow linguistic definition, Code-Switching means the intermixing of at least two languages when speaking or writing. It's most common between people who know two+ languages or is learning another language. Some examples including:

Speaking Spanish in one sentence, and then switching back to English in another sentence (with or without thought)

Speaking French but inserting a few Spanish words (and vice versa) with people who know how to speak both French and Spanish. A crude example would be "Hola! Je m'appelle Rail Tracer", or "Bonjour! Me llamo Rail Tracer." To a person who can speak both Spanish and French, it'll be understandable (people that try not to intermix the two languages will just think it's weird)

Speaking Chinese but inserting an English word by accident without realizing that it was an English word you were using (that has not gone through the process of loan-words, like how Sushi or Dim-Sum has become a common English word.) An example: "我在找一 bowl." The characters used in the majority of the sentence is said in Chinese, but the person decided to use bowl instead of 碗 (which is a bowl in Chinese.) Roughly (I think) translate to "I am looking for a bowl."

Youtube Example:


Yes, it is particularly common with me because I am bilingual (but still trying to get better at my lesser used language.) Sometimes I'd speak in my second language and then I'll end up interjecting English words and sentences here and there without thought. Relatives/friends that cannot speak both languages will start raising eyebrows while relative/friends that can will completely understand what I was saying (because they do it also.)

Interesting example of something similar. I believe it was Rev. David Wilkerson (The Cross and the Switchblade) who talked about a Spanish-speaking gang member from New York who had converted to Christianity and was invited to give a talk across the country. The gang member got a LOT of odd looks during her speech/testimony due to this phenomenon, together with "Spanglish" as used by the gangs, e.g. saying los weekenes instead of saying el fin de semana (or similar).
 

Ene

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Hi hanni waste. Hv hv, I code switch a veces because yo hablo tres languages������

Sometimes, I will be speaking Cherokee and stick English or Spanish words in the sentence to fill in gaps. Or if I'm speaking Spanish, I will often accidentally slip in English words. Spanglish.

(The following post has been comprised of Lakota, Cherokee, Spanish and English)
 

prplchknz

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I only know english so nope. but i've heard of this. I remember I knew someone who lived in russia for 2-3 years came back to the states was asked to give a presentation started out in english and without realizing it started talking in russia, then saw everyone's confused look and realize she had not been speaking english. Also two of my room mates will talk and mix english and french in the convo.
 

five sounds

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I only know english so nope. but i've heard of this. I remember I knew someone who lived in russia for 2-3 years came back to the states was asked to give a presentation started out in english and without realizing it started talking in russia, then saw everyone's confused look and realize she had not been speaking english. Also two of my room mates will talk and mix english and french in the convo.

you probably do. code switching is just about dialect, and my guess is you use more than one based on who you're interacting with. with my sisters we have a kinda way of talking that we fall into together, i speak differently with my old friends than people who i'm just meeting, i have a way of speaking when i'm interacting with kids, i have a professional tone that i use at work or when doing other business-y things, etc.
 

prplchknz

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you probably do. code switching is just about dialect, and my guess is you use more than one based on who you're interacting with. with my sisters we have a kinda way of talking that we fall into together, i speak differently with my old friends than people who i'm just meeting, i have a way of speaking when i'm interacting with kids, i have a professional tone that i use at work or when doing other business-y things, etc.

no i pretty much talk the same in all situations except when you make me angry then i get teary and more shouty but my dialect stays the same.
 

Hive

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I hate this so much. I don't know why. It happens often that Swedes use English words or whole sentences when they easily could've expressed the same thing in Swedish, which annoys me greatly. It could be because I value eloquence, and switching simple Swedish words for their English equivalent feels like a debasement. Like repairing the cracks in a gold vase with copper.

So no, I don't code switch, and in fact make it a point not to.
 

robowolf

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I don't know why but where I live it's becoming increasingly common to switch between English and Italian, not so much while speaking as when writing on social media. It must have something to do with the the fact that a lot of people are beginning to watch non dubbed movies/tv shows.

Some find it annoying, mainly because there are many who can't even speak their own language properly, so at times they unintentionally rape two different grammars in one sentence. I, as a grammar nazi, find it entertaining.
 

Freesia

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Yes, but not in the sense of switching between two different languages (because I only speak one language). It's more like switching between two different dialects, in a way. There's a distinction "public" and "private" speech, with public being less accented and more regimented and private being more relaxed, casual, and accented.
 

Senkrad

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Yes, I code-switch between different languages since I am trilingual, although I have to admit that I am awful at speaking my mother tongue but I generally understand it spoken without any difficulties. However, I only code-switch with people that knows two out of the three languages and usually it is only to substitute words I can't come up with in the language I started the sentence with or if the word do not really exist in the "main" language.
I usually do not have any problem with people code-switching, but some people do it just to be cool or hip, like throwing in # YOLO or SWAG all over the place. That bothers me because it does not sound natural at all. I do not want any bling-bling in my perfectly normal conversation.
 
Last edited:

Ghost of the dead horse

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I dont accidently speak in any language, ever.

But I do forget which language I held a conversation in.

Or which language I read a book in.

I do remember which language I wrote in, though.
 

EJCC

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In the more traditional sense, I code-switch big time whenever I'm around people who I took Arabic classes with.

In the less traditional sense -- i.e. maybe this doesn't count as code-switching? -- I often switch in and out of Business Jargon and academia jargon. It can be embarrassing both at work and with friends. (For a small example, see above: using "more traditional sense" and "big time" in the same sentence. I do this sort of thing so often that it's probably a hallmark of my writing style at this point.)

Also, levels of swears.
 

Senkrad

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In the less traditional sense -- i.e. maybe this doesn't count as code-switching? -- I often switch in and out of Business Jargon and academia jargon. It can be embarrassing both at work and with friends. (For a small example, see above: using "more traditional sense" and "big time" in the same sentence. I do this sort of thing so often that it's probably a hallmark of my writing style at this point.)

In sociolinguistics that is refered to as style-switching. Usually the switch in style depends on what, who, where and why the speaker is talking with another person or a group. But of course, sometimes it can be hard not to fall into professional jargon if the topic ends up being something that you are really interested in.
 

Yaru

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Yeah. All the time. Mostly with people that speak the same languages ad I do.
But lately I realized that I keep making the same mistakes. Like I say the Italian ''Vengo'' instead of the Spanish ''Voy''
And I keep using the word ''resist'' in the wrong way since in Italian and Spanish it means both resist and endure.
I feel mostly comfortable with people who talk more than 1 language, there are too many limits in conversation if they only know one.
It also happened that I heard Brazilians talk in Italian, and because of their South American accent I unconsciously began to talk in Spanish.They couldn't understand me, but I just couldn't talk Italian with them.
 

danseen

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In a more narrow linguistic definition, Code-Switching means the intermixing of at least two languages when speaking or writing. It's most common between people who know two+ languages or is learning another language. Some examples including:

Speaking Spanish in one sentence, and then switching back to English in another sentence (with or without thought)

Speaking French but inserting a few Spanish words (and vice versa) with people who know how to speak both French and Spanish. A crude example would be "Hola! Je m'appelle Rail Tracer", or "Bonjour! Me llamo Rail Tracer." To a person who can speak both Spanish and French, it'll be understandable (people that try not to intermix the two languages will just think it's weird)

Speaking Chinese but inserting an English word by accident without realizing that it was an English word you were using (that has not gone through the process of loan-words, like how Sushi or Dim-Sum has become a common English word.) An example: "我在找一 bowl." The characters used in the majority of the sentence is said in Chinese, but the person decided to use bowl instead of 碗 (which is a bowl in Chinese.) Roughly (I think) translate to "I am looking for a bowl."

Youtube Example:


Yes, it is particularly common with me because I am bilingual (but still trying to get better at my lesser used language.) Sometimes I'd speak in my second language and then I'll end up interjecting English words and sentences here and there without thought. Relatives/friends that cannot speak both languages will start raising eyebrows while relative/friends that can will completely understand what I was saying (because they do it also.)

Yes, this is very common.....

A lot of people from Africa or India in the UK do this.

It's funny in a way to hear a part Akan or Yoruba sentence or part Hindi or Bengali sentence mixed with English.
 
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