I'm learning two dead languages and I used to study German. Sometimes I'm trying to study or translate and my brain just stops taking in or putting out anything. Anybody else had that? If so, are there any work arounds?
:dril: I’m learning two dead languages and my brain keeps dying, can someone who is good at the brain help me figure this out, my neurons are starving
I'm somewhat fluent in two languages and something like what you are describing happens to me very often when I'm expecting to use one of them but suddenly have to use the other. Translating between languages is also way harder than just speaking both, even though it doesn't always feel like it should be, and it can feel like your brain isn't working.
I'm basically just translating, so this actually makes a ton of sense. Thanks.
Personally I find that the better I get at a second language, the worse my native language gets. Say what you will about the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis but having too many languages at once is definitely taxing, especially if you are at the level where you start internalizing unconscious grammar. I assume dead languages are a lot harder to find good materials for so there's probably a lot more processing required. I would keep letting German rest and try to focus on one language at a time.
I have straight up forgotten english pronunciation rules mid-sentence once or twice and just said a word completely wrong. soft g's are just...not thing for me anymore.
there are some, and people do notice when I make a sentence with the stress on every penultimate syllable.
I never realized how bad it was until I started getting linguistics videos in my YT feed.
I’ve seen the blonde woman in these YChina videos do this. She’ll code switch into Chinese cause she forget the English words even though she’s a native speaker. I’ve never thought about it but I could see myself doing this off I ever got that far.
Sometimes I forget the english names for foreign countries and just call them by the german one. Österreich for Austria or Deutschland for Germany makes enough sense, but I looked weird when I called the Netherlands der Nederlands.
I hardly know any German but Nederlands is easier for me to remember too
when i get stupid my sentences are all nouns in native language and all verbs in nonnative. i try to slow down to counteract the stupid.
also apparently i dream in the nonnative language
Those are problems I aspire to have, I'm not quite at your level of familiarity with the languages yet.
I can give you german stuff , that might be better , then whatever you consume that lets your brain seize up (Hegel ?)
I'm no longer studying german, I just sometimes still get the words floating up into my head when I'm trying to focus. It is not the difficulty of the sentences that's giving me trouble, it's "the sheep were lead from the hill by him" level stuff, or "how can one both be miserable and not be at all?" at the most extreme. I'm just building vocabulary and sometimes just seize up and can't.
did not understand a word you said .."Die scharfe wurden von ihm vom hügel geführt ?"
not sure if it would solve this exact problem but would generally recommend something like LLPSI ( check out this google doc ) for learning latin to actually understand it rather than just translating. Unfortunately theres not much great resources out there for Greek. I generally think the picking out words out of order and trying to rephrase it in english and explicitly parsing all the grammar is counterproductive and a waste of time but thats what most teachers want you to do so. idk
t. classics major at university
This definitely happens to me, but I did something that kinda fucked my brain up a few years ago. There are times I just can not keep from going into thought loops or zoning out via depersonalization/derealization. And when that happens, the information flow in either direction becomes seriously limited for a time. I'm not around people much anymore, but when I am and it happens, it really sucks because it can even become hard to get words out. Wish I had some work-arounds, but I have none beyond the usual brain health stuff, like healthy diet with right nutrients, good sleep, exercise, and just using it, which you clearly are... damn!
Not to trivialize yours, but it sounds like what you're describing isn't as bad, hopefully that's the case. Regardless, that's awesome and super impressive you're learning languages. I would expect that right there is among the best possible things to do to improve cognition. While not as impressive, for me, getting back into playing guitar and really learning music theory has definitely helped with mental fog stuff. But those 'episodes' still happen.
Yeah, I'm definitely not quite at your level of difficulty. Thanks for the compliment, learning different languages has been changing how I view the world, and helping me untangle english words and byzantine rules.
broke : your dead languages are latin and koine
bespoke : your dead langs are Khitan and Pahlavi
Thanks. Greek is hard and I sometimes still screw up the alphabet, but it is still very interesting to learn. I prefer Latin, it just makes intuitive sense to me somehow.
i mean latin is the proper 2.0 to greek's alpha development phase :owl-wink:, not wrong to recognise the advanced release as superior
