#writing bilingual characters

[cepheusgalaxy]

Things bilingual people do:

We slow down our speech when we're unsure if we're speaking right

We may mix up things sometimes (not in the way switch languages by no reason but more like phrase structure things. like, in portuguese the adjectives always come after the noun, and in interrogative phrases you guys put the verb before everything while i don't)

We forget words

"Where is the thing?" "What thing?" "You know, the thing, the thing that locks that door" "Oh, you mean the key?"

Sometimes, we forget words in our own language

We mispell things pretty often

We may cannot say consoants separately

We may make up new words by accident, thinking they exist in [language]

We may swear or joke in our first language, so you don't know what we're saying

We may also say dirty things in our first language but you wouldn't know

We may completely forget how to speak [language] sometimes because we we're watching/reading something on our mother tongue and we didn't switch to [Other Language] Mode yet

We may also literaly translate things sometimes

Example: In portuguese, the phrase "she has nothing to do with it" would be something more in the lines of "she has nothing to see with it", if you translate each word separately. And we use the same word for "tongue" and "language" so sometimes i would say something like "yea but the english tongue is [...]" which doesn't make sense at all

"And least but not least" in portuguese would be something more like "And last but not less important"

"Once upon a time" also would be "It was a time" btw

We may mix up languages, when we are speaking two different languages in a single conversation too

Speaking to person A, "...and I lost it completely". Person B arrives: "do que vocês estão falando (what are you guys talking about)?". Turns to person B "About the... quer dizer, sobre a vez que eu perdi o subway, quer dizer, o metrô."

(...i mean, about the time i missed the [], i mean, the subway)

"Missed" and "lost" are the same word in portuguese btw

So i could acidentaly say something in the lines of "i almost lost the subway"

(Edit:) Example: i recently forgot my own language's word for cliffhanger

(Edit:) We may also simply not know a simple and basic word you would assume we'd know, simply because we haven't needed that word before. (Until recently I did not know the word for "bangs")

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Childhood Bilingualism

Bilingual language acquisition, or simultaneous bilingualism refers to the acquisition of two languages simultaneously from infancy

About half the people in the world are bilingual or multilingual

In many parts of the world, bilingualism (or multilingualism) is the norm

The Easier Word

As during monolingual language development, young bilingual children will first acquire what is easy in their languages:

Example: A bilingual child might find a word or structure much easier or more obvious in one language than in the other and use the easier word or the easier structure in both languages.

With time, the child will be able to process more and more language cues and eventually this strategy will be dropped and the correct form will be used in each language.

Short Words

Short words are easier for young children than long words.

Example: Young children shorten words and say nana instead of banana.

If mum's word is shorter than dad's, the bilingual child naturally goes for the shorter option.

Sound Combinations

Some sound combinations are harder to say than others.

Example: Young children change chair to tair.

If the word in one language has complex sound combinations and the equivalent in the other language does not, choosing the word in the other language is much the same as what monolingual children do when they choose a simpler word over a more complex word.

Frequency of Word Use

How often a child has heard a word is important.

Like monolingual children, words which are used all the time are learned first.

Example: Car, or its simplified form tar, is learned before the word van, unless there is more talk about vans in the child's environment than about cars.

Grammatical Structures

Frequency of use and simplicity of grammatical structures.

Examples:

The six verb endings in Italian are acquired very early by monolingual children because there is one ending for each person (I, you, he etc.) and they are used all the time - in present tense, in past tense, for the future and for the conditional.

The German system uses its verb endings all the time as well, but there are only four distinctly different endings for the six grammatical persons, which means that some endings overlap. As a result, German children master the verb system 6 to 12 months later than the Italian children.

There is only one personmarker in English, and it is only used in present tense (he runs). This takes the longest to acquire because it makes verb markings so infrequent in English.

Such differences may be reflected in bilingual children's acquisition. They may show themselves in the child learning a functionally comparable structure first in one language and only a few months later in the other.

In the meantime, the bilingual child might choose to draw on what s/he has already acquired to fill the gap.

There might be aspects of the grammatical development in the Language Other Than English (LOTE) which the bilingual child will never conquer 100%. There isn't much one can do about grammatical structures which are so unsystematic that children need massive amounts of input over many years to fully master them completely. An example of such structures are the article systems in German or French.

Consistency

The parent's consistency in language choice is very important.

Initially, the child will not know what a language is, but only understand that, for example, Mummy and Daddy speak in different ways.

Example: If the mother is consistent with their language choice, it is much easier for the child to realise that everything they say belongs to one system and everything the mother's partner or the grandparents or the staff at the child care centre say belongs to another. In time, the child will learn both systems.

Code-switching

Bilingual children engage in code-switching:

The alternate use of two or more languages within the same utterance or during the same conversation

The alternative used by bilinguals of two or more languages in the same conversation

Situational Code-switching

Also called transactional code-switching

Two different languages are assigned to two or more different situations. An individual may have knowledge of all the languages associated with different situations. Conversational etiquette, however, requires the use of only one language at a time.

Example: Speaking one language at home and switching to another at school.

Examples of Spanish-English Code-Switching

Switching between sentences: “I was going to tell you something. Pero no me acuerdo que, es.”

Switching between sentences—first sentence repeated in the second language: “Ella es bonita. She is pretty.”

Switching in the middle of a sentence: “I just can’t no puedo concentrame con tanto ruido.”

Borrowing & Loanword

Bilingual children also engage in borrowing:

The incorporation of lexical elements from one language in the lexicon of another language

The introduction of single words or short, frozen, idiomatic phrases from one variety into another

A loanword can also be called a borrowing:

Loanwords are words adopted by the speakers of one language from a different language.

Example: of an English loanword into Spanish dealing with organizations, restaurants, or institutions is, “Vamos al la United Nations en el carro” or “nos vamos al Disney World a ver a Mickie Mouse.”

Here we see a mixing from Spanish to English with the name of an organization and a restaurant used.

Examples. Spanish borrowing from English: “parqueadero,” “sandwich,” and “garaje.”

Examples. English borrowing from Spanish: are “armada,” “armadillo,” and “bravado.”

Take Note:

Contrary to popular belief, bilingual children acquire all the language milestones within the range of what's normal for monolingual children.

Rate of language development is more likely to be due to the child's abilities and the quality of interaction than hearing two languages as such.

Children who code-switch are not confused, because they are able to use their two languages appropriately with different people. In fact, the ability to switch back and forth between languages is a sign of mastery of two linguistic systems, not a sign of language confusion.

Children as young as 2 are able to code-switch in socially appropriate ways.

Bilingual children do not develop more slowly than monolingual children just because they are hearing two languages. Differences between monolingual and bilingual learners do exist but have nothing to do with delays or impairments.

THEORIES OF BILINGUAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Unitary system hypothesis - the idea that the child initially constructs only one lexicon and one grammar

Evidence for: language mixing similar to codeswitching; lexical items existing in only one language

Evidence against: there is a lot of overlap in the lexicon for each language, and children may have gaps because each language is used in different contexts and they can only learn so many words each day

2. Separate systems hypothesis - the idea that the child builds a distinct lexicon and grammar for each language

Evidence for:

where the two languages diverge grammatically, the child will acquire two different sets of rules

bilingual children select which language to use based on the context

children bilingual in sign language and a spoken language may say a word in one language and sign it in the other simultaneously

“Just remember, when someone has an accent, it means that he knows one more language than you do.” ―Sidney Sheldon, Windmills of the Gods

Sources: 1 2 3

Writing Notes: On Children Writing Notes: Children's Dialogue

[szecretary]

has anyone writing aftg post tsc fics about my boy jean moreau touched the phenomenon where native romance language speakers can sort of kinda understand each other when we speak our different languages? especially when it comes to texting. it would be so sweet if cat and jean start picking up on the similarities between Spanish and French an are able to hold simple conversations alternating between their languages until they inevitably hit a point where they just laugh and go "that means something completely different to me" and try to explain in English 🥺

[nadiajustbe]

On those nights when Morgan was still a very young baby and lying in his crib (and he was never quiet by nature, he's a combination of Howl and Sophie, you can only expect a walking hurricane of chaos), he would, as is typical of all babies, often scream in the night. It was very rarely a request to be fed or the cause of any pain: both parents quickly discovered that he was just waking up in the middle of the night and wanted to be naughty.

Therefore, it was usually Howl who went up to calm him down. Not because he wanted to, by any means: no one wants to get up in the middle of the night for a screaming baby, and he could have slither out of that, too, if he wanted to, but Sophie started cursing at him and forcing him out from under (their shared, mind you!) blanket. And maybe, just a little bit, he really wants to be a good father - unusual, stupid and cowardly, but still a good father.

Normally, Howl would just lean over the crib and start singing the one and only lullaby in Welsh that he remembers from his childhood: people love to sing lullabies in their own language, no matter how widespread it is. I love to remember how many Ukrainian lullabies have survived precisely because of how often they were sung at night from the heart of a parent's love.

Sophie didn't understand a word of it, but it worked surprisingly well: Morgan was falling asleep in seconds, and she found herself beginning to drift off to sleep as well. Howl would come back to bed looking like a winner, and Sophie wondered how he managed to do it every time with the same song. Especially in a language that was rarely spoken in Morgan's household: it was easier to speak English when both the child's father and mother knew it.

There were also days when Sophie was given the "honour" of calming her son. Usually, it was when Howl came home drunk from a rugby meeting or had some late-night work commitments. There were, of course, times when Sophie simply decided that she loved him enough to let Howl keep his precious sleep for one or two days.

Then she would sing a lullaby that she had inherited from her mother, which she remembered through her father, but now they were both dead, so, well, the song was rightfully hers. It certainly wasn't the mysterious Welsh notes, and it took Morgan a little longer to fall asleep, but Sophie must have been a good singer because it worked in the end. She returned to the sleeping Howl, thinking that, after all, she had two children. One is not even a year old, the other is a couple of years away from turning thirty.

One day, she decided to ask him what the lullaby he was singing was all about, and when Howl shared the translation, they were both surprised to find that the two texts had quite similar motifs: they both featured a shooting star, ancient fields, and stormy winds. Howl joked that shooting stars would never let him go, not as a child, not now.

The most interesting twist to this lullaby story came when, at around 1+ years old, Morgan started adding Welsh words to his vocabulary as he learned to speak, mixing languages. Howl thought this was a great addition: after all, not all people in Wales speak Welsh, let alone boys from parallel worlds. Sophie was not so optimistic: she was certainly happy that their child was learning new words and picking up his second native language quickly, but she did not want to ask for a translation of what her own son was saying, not even from Howl, and certainly not from Ben.

Howl assured her that with age he would learn to distinguish between them and that English would come to the fore, willy-nilly: again, there were barely two people in his environment who knew Welsh, even if he visited Megan often. Sophie would like to understand him right now, but for now she just has to accept the moments when her son points to an object and makes an incoherent set of sounds, and Sophie has to guess whether it is just childish chatter or just another Welsh word.

[smolmakerel]

"You can't leave me! I won't let you!"

"Christina, lo juro por Dios [I swear to God], get the fuck out of my way or -"

"Or what? You'll hit me? Hit me then! Give me a reason to call the cops!"

"Mamá?!"

"You're fucking crazy! Just like that bastard's father!"

"Don't talk about him like that!"

Tara curled up under the kitchen table, one of her favorite hide-and-seek spots because of the table cloth. She couldn't understand what her parents were screaming about, Sammy piping in every once in a while, but she knew she didn't like it.

It sounded scary.

With caution, Tara lifted the cream table cloth and peaked up.

Mamá was beating her fists against Papi's chest, face creased in rage. Sammy was fighting to place herself between the two, but neither of the two noticed.

Tara flinched when Sammy was shoved out of the way by their papá. She scrambled out from beneath the table and stood, unsure, behind her mamá.

"¿Mamá? ¿Papá?" Tara uttered. Both of her padres² stopped arguing and turned to her, and she shifted awkwardly. "¿Esta todo bien?" [Mom? Dad? Is everything ok?]

Papi's eyes softened while his shoulders sagged. "Sí, no te preocupes. Me quedaré con mis padres por el momento si quieres venir conmigo." [Yes, don't worry. I'm going to stay with my parents for the time being if you want to come with me.]

Tara blinked in confusion. Why was her papi leaving? Why did it sound like he didn't want to take Mamá or Sammy with them?

Before Tara could ask, Mamá was screaming again. She slammed her palms over her ears with a whimper. She never did like whenever they fought.

"Stop fighting!" Sammy cried out. "Can't you see that Tara's scared?!"

Papi narrowed his eyes. "Shut your bastard mouth!"

Sammy took a wounded step backwards.

Papi's eyes then went wide. He looked between Mamá and Sammy, then he turned his eyes to Tara.

"Is she even mine?"

"Listen -"

"Tell me the fucking truth for once in your miserable fucking life, ¡puta!" Papi roared out, and it shook the house into silence.

Mamá looked away. "Of course she is."

"... I don't believe you."

Tara stumbled out of the way when Papi shoved her out of the way. She followed behind the small group and gasped when she saw Papi's business suitcase full of clothes sitting on his leather recliner.

"¡Papi!" Tara began to cry, finally realizing what was happening. "¡Por favor no te vayas!" [Please don't go!]

Papi continued to pack up despite Mamás furious threats of calling the police, Sam's panic at the escalating situation, and Tara's full-blown meltdown.

Tara was close to hyperventilating as she threw her body at her papá and clung to his leg. He tried to shake her off, but she held tightly to his gray slacks.

She was the last person he was with when they both heard yelling coming from the master bedroom. Papi had begged her to clean her room and get ready for bed, going as far as to bribe her with a homemade caramel flan. But then he abruptly left.

The yelling only increased in volume, and, after an hour, Tara crept downstairs to hide out.

Was this her fault somehow?

"P-Papi, por favor -" she wheezed, chest constricting. She could barely breathe, let alone get her words out properly.

Hands roughly shoved her away, and Tara stared up at her Papi in horror. He stared back with an equally distraught expression.

"Tara," he gasped. "Lo lamento -" [I'm sorry -]

Mamá burst into a fit of rage.

Tara sat on the floor for the rest of the night. She blocked out the rest of her parents' argument and sat there. She sat there while her Papi left them.

He slammed the door. He never slammed the door.

Sammy tried to help her. Tara took the inhaler but remained on the floor by the stairs, watching the door for when Papi would come back.

He never did.

[aredlemon]

Hewwo!

Bilingual (+) characters and when they use their second language and not their mother tongue despite being in a place where their mother tongue is the main language!

Cussing! Often people cuss in a different language because it can be a bit ‘fun’ or they are used to hearing swear words in their second language.

Not remembering words in their mother tongue is a classic

Using an expression that only exists in their second language

Jokes! So many jokes sound better in one language than another!

Admitting deep feelings!!! This is so common and so underrepresented! Most people use their second language to talk about their feeling because it liberates them in a sense

This list is probably applicable to people who speak English as a second language but I think it goes for all! Would recommend with made up languages.

Feel free to add more!

[thebisexualwreckoning]

Bilingual (technically i speak enough languages to be considered a polyglot but eh) problems are that I speak Bangla at home but we have guests over who do not speak Bangla and I was taught it’s rude to speak in a language when other people in the room don’t understand it as well but I’m still in Bangla headspace because I didn’t know guest was at home so I just asked my mother the weirdest Hindi/bangla mash up of where we’re going, realised and just awkwardly walked away because just no

All of this is to say that there is some merit to it when authors write about how their characters forgot how to switch languages when speaking with someone else, they just don’t make it awkward enough

[elbiotipo]

I know I made this post a dozen times already, but I have no idea when and how I learned to speak English. My cousin borrowed me some basic English books and I just read them as a kid because I read literally everything I could get my hands on, a couple years later I was already playing videogames in English, and by when I graduated high-school I watched movies with no subtitles and already was thinking (internal monologue) and writing in English. I think I must have whole books written in English if we add all the stuff I write. The few times I talked to native English speakers in person or virtually they all asked me where I learned it so well and I just don't know. I got a little paper that says "you can speak English lol" just this year (and I had to pay for it) and everybody asked me "how did you learn" and I really don't know.

I'm the world's first non-native native English speaker. Me siento sucio.

[cathalbravecog]

Tony Trapezoid Dama first digital design concept + reference !! They've been in the works for a while, it feels good to finally put that onto a digital drawing... Sorry about all the empty space on the canvas, RIP

This may be their ref for a while, but their design may still be a subject to change!! But for now, this is their design. (They still need to be drawn from their side and back view as it has some details you can't see from this angle.) (They also still need a suit name, but that doesn't worry me currently as they aren't even a C.O.G.S. INC. employee.)

Anyways, as you can gather from the image, they're the child of Belle! If someone has a grandchild, that means they have kids of their own, and Tony here is the OC for that! They're based on touch-tone telephones and radios... And also Touch Tone Telephone and other Neil Cicierega things. One thing you should know about me is that I love Lemon Demon references in my OCs,, (Has an OC universe based mainly on Lemon Demon)

They once were like every ordinary Suit, just with an interest for the unknown and telling stories - and letting others have their own stories be heard, giving others a voice. Their rather charming personality made them a great radio host! However, after the Toon invasion, they began hearing various conspiracies about them. Already having an interest in the supernatural, they began tying the Toons onto these various supernatural dangers and giving into their growing paranoia. Believing everything they've heard, (Which was a characteristic they've always had - believing almost any story told on their show), they only grew more isolated and their show devolved more into conspiracies of many kinds which turned off many listeners.

Seeing how much harm the Toons were causing to fellow Suits did not help either, in fact, it only strengthened their downfall. They grew more anxious over-all, and seemed more invested in their show and theories than going out. Despite all this, they still care about their family deeply and seem to do everything out of genuine concern and care. Though, they have seemed to stray away for the most part... Oh what would they do for the good ol' days...

Seeing that their mother and at least one of their children have joined C.O.G.S. INC. after, well... The whole Atticus incident - It shook them a little bit. Being so close to those Toons is DANGEROUS! However, as time went on... They took note of how well the two were doing. Even Collin seemed slightly more enthusiastic. Perhaps it's not as bad of an environment as they thought? Regardless, they keep an close eye in case of any tragedy they oh so dread.

[aweisz]

monolingual people really don't know how to write multilingual people do they

[cepheusgalaxy]

Notes on my bilingual oc, Lucy:

She uses she/it pronouns in English but she/her (ela/dela) solely in Portuguese (because pt doesn't have an it pronoun)

Often swears in the language the ones she's around don't speak

Gets confused when she is reading stuff sometimes, specially when she's tired, and has to take a sec to figure out in what language the thing in front of her is in order to read the rest of it

Translates stuff for her friends

[vibin-in-the-void]

the stupid "bilingual forgets to switch languages before talking" trope but forgetting to switch keyboards when there's tea in the groupchat:

Alex: GUYS YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT

Bella: What?

Alex: Cassie got back with her ex

Bella: WHAT

Cassie: OL JERE 'E OUT

Cassie: sorry french keyboard lemme try again

Cassie: OK HERE ME OUT

[vilevampire]

Hey, you like Raimundo along with Jack, right? And you're Brazilian. Feel free not to answer this if you don't wanna okay. I just thought you'd be best suited. Like when you commented on the "Rai" nickname.

I'm wondering if you perhaps have any thoughts or headcanons on him, family, hobbies, his inner thoughts, cause I wanna flesh him out for my fic and stuff. I'll give you credit for the ideas of course

even though I'm not that active in the xs fandom currently you've surprisingly come to the right person bc I've rambled a bit about raimundo hcs before to my friends. I had to dig up some discord messages to find all my hcs

I hc raimundo to be white-passing and mixed race, which is like the majority of brazilian ppl tbh. side note: in brazil "race" is defined almost solely by skin color, so like if I left my country it's possible I'd be considered a person of color because of my features, but in brazil I'm considered white. raimundo would be in a similar situation

so in these discord messages past!lucas has said "the only mentions of his background is that he has 8 siblings with a lots of aunts and uncles" and "he mentions that the 'rough' part of rio is his 'element'". now, I, lucas of the present, barely rmr this bc it's been forever ago since I watched xs, but I'm trusting past!lucas on this I think he would never lie to me. based on that I'm a fan of the theory raimundo is an orphan and grew up as part of the lower class. I don't think I ever theorized what the fuck happened to his parents, but I like the idea of him acquiring abandonment issues because of it. since he grew up poor I think he'd also have a lot of survival skills, knowing how to make due with very little, etc.

I actually just thought abt this but it's very uncommon for latino people to only have two names. I myself have four, bc the family names just keep adding on top of each other when u marry instead of being absorbed into the husband's name. so realistically raimundo would probably has at least one other family name

not exactly a hc but something interesting to note about mundo is that he is a good example of something we call a "malandro" in brazil. a malandro is a brazilian concept of a cunning anti-hero who outsmarts, deceives and takes advantage of others, usually for personal gain. describing it like this makes it sound like a bad word, but it has a positive connotation. like culturally being malandro is considered a good thing. we even have a saying that goes like "every day a malandro (in this case a scammer) and a sucker (in this case the one who gets scammed) leave their houses.", implying that if you're not the one taking advantage of others, you're the one being taken advantage of. I don't think this was intentional on the xs writers' part to make raimundo embody these traits so perfectly that r culturally significant to brazil but and I find it interesting.

similar thing to above we also have something called "gambiarra", which is like achieving something through improvised means instead of the "correct" (and usually more expensive) way. also very important to brazilian culture and I think raimundo would be adept in it

[striving4mikey]

I’ve seen a lot of posts going around about accurately writing bilingual characters so I thought I’d share a little something. I’m near fluent in German and have lived in German speaking countries for a good portion of my life. I also have an undergraduate degree in German. While attending grad school in Austria, these are some of the notes I took in an art history class. I think they’re hilarious as they’re an unholy mix of German and English. Maybe it will help illustrate how some words are easier in one language than another and how the brain works!

[cereal-abyss-mage]

i'm learning russian and french at the same time and I swear to god if I accidentally find a random cyrillic letter in the middle of a word writen in latin alphabet one more time or accidentally mix languages mid sentence, I will yell

or sometimes I find that when I'm writing a translation of a word in russian that sounds similar in polish I just write the russian word again but in latin alphabet for some reason

or I can somehow remember all of my miniscule spanish when I'm trying to learn french even though I literally don't remember a word in spanish otherwise

my language module is broken at this point, if you ever find my notes and there is something like boнjour, just ignore it, I literally don't pick up on it when I'm making and rereading my notes

[syltaxerror]

Ok so like, if you’re trying to write characters who are speaking in a different language then what you are writing-

I BEG I even PLEAD that you don’t make them constantly switch between the two languages.

Because it’s so jarring to be watching/reading something THAT OBVIOUSLY takes place in France WHERE IT CAN BE EASILY ASSUMED everyone is speaking French, and then just being punched in the face with “oui”

LIKE WHY WOULD YOU SWITCH RANDOMLY LIKE THAT. We know the characters are speaking French, THEYRE IN FRANCE!!

Doing a random switch just makes it seem like someone with really bad French trying to sneak as many phrases in as possible to seem impressive

Which if that’s what you’re going for, it’s a good way of communicating a character who is trying desperately to be impressive