Every language has its own charm. The expressions are so unique to a language. So a translation can never live up to the original because there is always something that is “Lost in Translation”. The beauty of a poem, the meaning of a phrase or even the impact of abuses is lost in translation.
I believe that we Indians always think in our mother tongue and then translate the same into English. And by translation I mean literal translation. I am no exception to it. So many times it happens that I say yesterday evening and then realize my stupid mistake to correct it to last evening because in Hindi we say “kaal shyam” which translates to yesterday evening
So when a colleague of mine asked me “Which language do you think in?” I didn’t have an answer because I think in multiple languages.
I believe that we Indians always think in our mother tongue and then translate the same into English. And by translation I mean literal translation. I am no exception to it. So many times it happens that I say yesterday evening and then realize my stupid mistake to correct it to last evening because in Hindi we say “kaal shyam” which translates to yesterday evening
So when a colleague of mine asked me “Which language do you think in?” I didn’t have an answer because I think in multiple languages.
I think in Hindi, in Marathi, in Gujarathi and sometimes even in English.
Which language do you think in ?
Which language do you think in ?
4 comments:
hmm - honestly I have a different take on this. The 'stupid mistake' that you talk about is not so much a translation but a grammatical error.
I for one can tell you I dont do so. And for the numerous times that I have been asked this question, I have always had one reply - I think in the language the question was asked in
Keep bloggin
:)
I couldn't agree more...and for a multilingual it is easier to adapt but for a person not good with languages he literally has to think and translate in the language of conversation...
though my mother tongue is gujarati, I still have to translate in my mind from either english or Hindi to Gujarati sometimes...
It is not the mother tongue but in most cases is the language you speak in most often is the language that you think in ....
@anon: I agree with you that one thinks in the language that the question is posed in but otherwise generally i think in multiple language depending upon what am i thinking about
@Zankhana:Mostly in india people prefer to think in their mother tongue as that the most spoken language by them unlike a few townies
Good for people to know.
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