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Poll: Does your translation experience affect the way you speak your native language(s)? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Does your translation experience affect the way you speak your native language(s)?".
This poll was originally submitted by Mariam Osmane. View the poll results »
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 18, 2010 |
Yes. I have a wider vocabulary, actually in both languages - positive aspect.
negative aspect: when I stop working in the evening, I speak with a "technical text structure" for a while
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 18, 2010 |
I often find myself trying to find the best way to express what I want to say, even while I'm saying it. Sometimes I think of a better way in the middle of a sentence and I'll switch to the other way of saying it. Often the result is a mangled sentence - the opposite of what I was trying to achieve...
I am very aware that this is a side effect of my job!
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Oleg Osipov 
Russian Federation
Local time: 07:45
English to Russian
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 18, 2010 |
An ambiguous question, indeed. What I think of initially is the cross-linguistic interference and the negative effect it produces on one's ability to speak a native language or the adverse effect on the target language.
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 18, 2010 |
The upside: bigger vocabulary. The downside: I"ll use the first word that comes to mind in conversation, whether it's Anglo-Saxon or Latinate. I can't think of a good example right now (because it's 5 a.m.), but suffice to say my husband and close friends just roll with it.
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patyjs
Mexico
Local time: 22:45
Spanish to English
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 18, 2010 |
I said "no" because most of my day I spend speaking my target language and that's where I feel there's a real difference, especially in vocabulary.
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bookwormkt
Local time: 05:45
French to English
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 18, 2010 |
I use my native language, English, more precisely than some people. I'm not entirely sure if that's because of my experience of working in another language or the result of reading so many novels by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens when I was a teenager! I also studied the development of the English Language as part of my English and French joint degree at University, so I am aware of the way words came in to English and enjoy that extra layer of awareness. Like Gianluca, I think I have a wider v... See more I use my native language, English, more precisely than some people. I'm not entirely sure if that's because of my experience of working in another language or the result of reading so many novels by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens when I was a teenager! I also studied the development of the English Language as part of my English and French joint degree at University, so I am aware of the way words came in to English and enjoy that extra layer of awareness. Like Gianluca, I think I have a wider vocabulary. ▲ Collapse
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Mariam Osmann
Egypt
Local time: 07:45
Member (2007)
English to Arabic
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 18, 2010 |
More Arabic and less English.
In my country, English is readily used and very popular in daily language, especially to refer to anything related to new tech.
After beginning to work as technical translator, Arabic technical terms started to dominate over English in my conversations and it sounds weird to those who do not know what I do for a living.
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DianeGM
Local time: 07:45
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 18, 2010 |
I work mostly on technical texts (into English) so it doesn't have much impact on my conversation. I do notice anglification of my Greek though!
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 18, 2010 |
I think I talk a lot like a lawyer now 
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 18, 2010 |
I'm afraid corporate speak sometimes sneaks into my every day vocabulary. It sounds odd, especially when I talk to my children. But I can't help myself asking them to tidy up their room 'zeitnah'.
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Amy Duncan (X)
Brazil
Local time: 01:45
Portuguese to English
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 18, 2010 |
Sometimes I can't remember the right word in my native language! I'm sure that's because I speak Portuguese most of the time...
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 18, 2010 |
Yes, my translating from Romance languages (French and Spanish) makes me more aware of the few instances in English where the subjenctive is still used (e.g. "If I were" instead of "If I was")...
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John Cutler
Spain
Local time: 06:45
Spanish to English
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| www.proz.com/polls/5974 comments | Feb 19, 2010 |
I did notice this happening to me the other day.
I do so many scientific translations that I find myself using words like "protocol" and "methodology" in everyday conversations or breaking home situations down into percentages, "Forty percent of us liked what we had for lunch today".
And, yes, I find myself using way more Latin based verbs than I used to.
I guess it's an occupational hazard.
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| Yes, in several ways | Feb 21, 2010 |
Els Hoefman wrote:
I often find myself trying to find the best way to express what I want to say, even while I'm saying it.
Me too. I also find that I can express myself more clearly to speakers of foreign languages because I'm aware of, and know to avoid, what's highly idiomatic in my native language.
Also, of course, my vocabulary grows as I become more familiar with different fields of knowledge.
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