My brain thinks in Russian: a Russian slightly marred with impurities, rough, rugged and a total scoundrel, but plenty apt for the post: a Russian I’d gradually readapted as the de facto lingua vulgaris some 18 years back, long after immigrating and assimilating within the US.
This wasn’t supposed to be the case. So I gave Expectation a slap in the face. He/she - it was an amorphous bugger - never called me on it.
The dynamic obviously shifts to circumstance. Writing as I do here, it would be ridiculous not to think in English all the while. Engaged in dialogue in this or other secondary language, it behooves me to think in it all the like.
But devoid of context, the Russian radio blasts the soliloquies at full volume, occupying rapturous hours of radio head space and lost sleep.
How did I manage this?
Think of languages you possess as a political arena. The strongest contenders (the primary candidates) obviously see far greater odds over the outcome. But those of the third parties, should there be any, exercise far from fruitless ideologies, contrary to what I once may have held.
One means for a primary candidate to triumph involves slander to the opposition. If you only speak two languages, this probably makes for your sole recourse.
That is, to succeed at thinking in one language it helps to not want to think in that other: to hold the prospect in near contempt - a kind of cognitive reprogramming.
But not everyone wishes to play dirty. And frankly, you might not desire to sacrifice healthy rapport with this other language merely intended for the secondary ranks.
I prefer the other option and the far healthier as far as I’m concerned: to nurture third-party contenders - that is, to adapt other languages. The more, the better.
While these won’t win the election, they steal votes from one or both the main parties, and usually in notable disproportion. By continuing to invest in your preferred candidate, fostering these third-party contenders all the while, the political space for the main opposition will gradually decline.
Makes sense? The fact that over the years I found worlds easier to quell (or tame) English, once plentifully engaged in other languages (I speak six to various extent), all the while investing modest support into Russian as the leading candidate, entirely corroborates the analogy.
Corollary: Pursue more languages, provided you hold the least ambition in the prospect. Don’t settle with bilingualism or even tri. Expand and open frontiers.
And bear influence over which language thinks!
Questions, comments? Connect.