[ SECRET POST #2843 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2843 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 018 secrets from Secret Submission Post #406.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

When a character speaks perfect English - or at least good enough English that the code switching is never a result of them not knowing how to express what they mean in English - but for no discernable reason they still constantly throw things like "mi amigo" or "Fräulein" or other little first-language "touches" into their speech. Which I assume is supposed to remind the viewer/reader that this character is A Foreigner, but to me ends up sounding incredibly unnatural and obnoxiously try-hard.

For example, if a French character invites non-French speaking characters to dinner, and they cook their guests a typically French meal, they might invite them to dig in with a deliberate "bon appetit". And if they're trying to be cute or (wryly) charming or think it'll get them laid or whatever because foreigners dig the French "shtick", they might deliberately address someone as "monsieur/mademoiselle" instead of "sir/madam", once or twice.

But I can't conceive of anyone who would do those kinds of things all the time, the way many characters on TV do. Once you know how to speak a language without constantly stumbling over the foreign grammar or having to search for words, it actually becomes a conscious effort to switch tracks mid-sentence. Meaning there has to be a POINT to doing so, or some kind of distraction like strong emotion that has you blurting out the absolute first thing on your mind without thinking about it. But the only reason TV characters ever seem to have is "remember, American, we are foreigners to each other".

...French speakers were possibly the worst possible example for this I could've chosen, but you get the idea. I hope.

[silverr]

Fantastic explanation -- Thank you!

(Do you mind if I bookmark the link to this comment? I can think of a few writing comms whose members might find this explanation useful.)

[(Anonymous)]

Sure, go ahead.

[(Anonymous)]

DA--I'm basically monolingual and the thing that always bugs me about randomly inserted foreign words in fiction, whether pro or fanfic, is that the word is always something like "please" or "hello," and never something like, oh, "crocodile" or "silo" or "selvedge" that they might understandably be a bit unsure of unless they live near a river, farm grain, or sew a lot. Even people who aren't totally fluent can usually say stuff like "thank you" and "where's the restroom."

[kallanda_lee]

But I can't conceive of anyone who would do those kinds of things all the time

Actually, yes we do.

Some of us multilingual speakers do code switch naturally. I literally do it every day. And it's not so much just a word for emphasis, it's I sometimes just switch languages mid-sentence, or I deliberately use a specific word in X language because it conveys a certain thing better in that language.

I mean, not with everyone, but with people that I know will understand me? Hell yeah.

Obviously this differs from person to person.

And I agree it's often used to establish "foreign" status in fiction - and you can argue the usefulness of it in fiction, but people do speak that way.

[(Anonymous)]

NAYRT

But I think what you're talking about is different than what AYRT is. Multilingual speakers regularly code switch for sure, for a lot of different reasons. But, at least in my experience, if around native monolingual speakers of one language, they're unlikely to code switch with "base vocabulary" like "Thank you."

I may throw in some Russian here and there, but unless I'm around other Russian speakers, I'm about 100% unlikely to say "Пока!" instead of "Bye!"

[kallanda_lee]

No, I wouldn't say "goodbye" in another language when surrounded by a bunch of native English speakers!

However, things that HAVE happened: me talking in my sleep in another language, me swearing in another language - I can sort of conceive switching in the heat of passion in a sex scene in some cases, though I do not do it myself.

It just...depends on context. Like I said, I do agree it's often "sinned" against and just used to designate foreign native status...and that is annoying. But then there are some fics I read in MCU where it WOULD make sense thematically.

tl;dr: I mostly agree with you.