Do I Think in Italian or in Sicilian?

Sicilian (Sicilian: sicilianu, pronounced [sɪ(t)ʃɪˈljaːnʊ]; Italian: siciliano) is a Romance language that is spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands.[3] It belongs to the broader Extreme Southern Italian language group (in Italian italiano meridionale estremo).[4]
Ethnologue (see below for more detail) describes Sicilian as being "distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a separate language",[3] and it is recognized as a minority language by UNESCO.[5][6][7][8] It has been referred to as a language by the Sicilian Region.[2] It has the oldest literary tradition of the Italo-Romance languages.[9][10] A version of the UNESCO Courier is also available in Sicilian.
Status
A sign in Sicilian at Santo Stefano di Camastra, Messina.
Sicilian is spoken by most inhabitants of Sicily and by emigrant populations around the world.[11] The latter are found in the countries that attracted large numbers of Sicilian immigrants during the course of the past century or so, especially the United States (specifically in the Gravesend and Bensonhurst neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York City), Canada (especially in Montreal, Toronto and Hamilton), Australia, Venezuela and Argentina. During the last four or five decades, large numbers of Sicilians were also attracted to the industrial zones of Northern Italy and areas of the European Union.[12]
Although the Sicilian language does not have official status (including in Sicily),[citation needed] in addition to the standard Sicilian of the medieval Sicilian school, academics have developed a standardized form. Such efforts began in the mid-19th century when Vincenzo Mortillaro published a comprehensive Sicilian language dictionary intended to capture the language universally spoken across Sicily in a common orthography. Later in the century, Giuseppe Pitrè established a common grammar in his Grammatica Siciliana (1875). Although it presents a common grammar, it also provides detailed notes on how the sounds of Sicilian differ across dialects.[citation needed]
In the 20th century, researchers at the Centro di studi filologici e linguistici siciliani developed an extensive descriptivist orthography which aims to represent every sound in the natural range of Sicilian accurately.[13] This system is also used extensively in the Vocabolario siciliano and by Gaetano Cipolla in his Learn Sicilian series of textbooks[14] and by Arba Sicula in its journal.
In 2017, the nonprofit organisation Cademia Siciliana created an orthographic proposal to help to normalise the language's written form.[15][16][17]
The autonomous regional parliament of Sicily has legislated Regional Law No. 9/2011 to encourage the teaching of Sicilian at all schools, but inroads into the education system have been slow.[18][19] The CSFLS created a textbook "Dialektos" to comply with the law but does not provide an orthography to write the language.[20] In Sicily, it is taught only as part of dialectology courses, but outside Italy, Sicilian has been taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Brooklyn College and Manouba University. Since 2009, it has been taught at the Italian Charities of America, in New York City (home to the largest Sicilian speaking community outside of Sicily and Italy)[21][22] and it is also preserved and taught by family association, church organisations and societies, social and ethnic historical clubs and even Internet social groups, mainly in Gravesend and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.[23][24][25] On 15 May 2018, the Sicilian Region once again mandated the teaching of Sicilian in schools and referred to it as a language, not a dialect, in official communication.[2]
A Sicilian American man speaking Sicilian.
The language is officially recognized in the municipal statutes of some Sicilian towns, such as Caltagirone[26] and Grammichele,[27] in which the "inalienable historical and cultural value of the Sicilian language" is proclaimed. Furthermore, the Sicilian language would be protected and promoted under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML). Although Italy has signed the treaty, the Italian Parliament has not ratified it.[28] It is not included in Italian Law No. 482/1999 although some other minority languages of Sicily are.[29]
#italian #sicilian #bilingual

[@brawndothethirstmutilator9848]

The fact that people want to debate whether or not Sicilian is a separate language is a symptom of how successful the nationalization process in Italy was with respect to minority languages. I hope Italians will move away from even calling the minority languages “dialetti” even in a colloquial sense and foster recognition of the beauty of *all* the different languages of Italy.

[@pawel198812]

Dialetto in Italian doesn't mean regional variety of a larger language, however. It basically means local form of speech that varies from a national standard, disregarding how closely related they may be. The surviving forms of Greek in Southern Italy, Albanian, the German of Südtirol/ Alto Adige, Sardinian and Catalan are as equally dialetto as are Venetian, Southern Italian dialects, Sicilian, Romagnol or Tuscan. They may or may not have government support, enjoy less societal prestige and their use is local rather than national. 150 years ago they were the 'lingue madre' of Italians while Italian was the learned common language employed in government, education and later TV and radio. Modernity, migration and mass media is what allowed Standard Italian to replace local languages

[@Blox117]

but will metatron address how the migrants are taking over italy and southern italian isles

[@brawndothethirstmutilator9848]

@Blox117, This channel is about language learning and linguistics. Why would he? If you want to see discussions about that try a channel that deals with politics or current news events.

[@IIARROWS]

Various regional dialects are not really the same they were 150 years ago. Most people don't speak an evolution of that language, they speak an Italian dialect using words from those languages. The term dialect is right under that part. If anyone speaking a regional dialect were transported back in time to the unification war, they wouldn't be able to communicate easily.

[@Blox117]

@@brawndothethirstmutilator9848 because i want to see an italian's perspective. not an american one

[@NunoPlague]

I was brought up with Portuguese, which I spoke with 99% of the people, and Mirandese, which is an asturo-leonese language native to a region in the north of Portugal, in my family and certain friends. Before I started to learn English (around age 10) I also learned Galician, so I consider myself a quadraglot.

[@bakerzermatt]

As a Swiss I can relate, but the separation is stricter. All spoken communication is in Swiss German, and High German would only be spoken with a foreigner, and in very specific situations like in the classroom or a courthouse. Otherwise, a Swiss German can go his entire adult life without speaking High German. On the other hand, almost all written media is in High German, except maybe SMS between friends. Television is mostly in High German, but some things (like the weather forecast) is in dialect. For sports commentary, usually one person will speak High German, and the other will speak dialect. It's a funny situation.

[@frida507]

Is there some trend, like do you think one of them will eventually take over? What about drama - movie/TV-series/theater? I guess if they play Swiss characters they would speak dialect? Do you consume a lot of German media?

[@Ahmed-pf3lg]

As an Arab, we also have a similar situation but less strict I would argue. Spoken communication is in a dialect, it would sound very weird/official/unnatural to speak in MSA (Modern standard Arabic/Classical Arabjc) TV news and children cartoons are in MSA. Everything else on TV is in a dialect. Music 99% in dialect although we do appreciate Classical Arabic singing as it is considered beautiful and historical. Written Media is mostly in MSA, however in chats between friends and Social Media in general it is still more common to see dialects, especially in “unofficial” settings.

[@TheRavenir]

@@frida507 As another Swiss German, I think that the spheres in which those two languages (or communication systems -- or what have you) are used are so clearly defined that I don't see either Standard German or Swiss German going away anytime soon. However, I do think Swiss German is being used more and more in the media. There are entire Swiss German movies and series where everyone speaks in the dialect. As for your final question: Yes, we do consume a lot of German media. I grew up watching all my favorite cartoons in Standard German. Even adults usually watch movies and TV series dubbed into Standard German (unless they're German series/movies to begin with). Standard German is all around us from the moment we are born, so we are naturally very familiar with it, even if we usually prefer not to speak Standard German in most situations.

[@EVPaddy]

@@frida507 I think Swiss German will at a certain point be accepted as a seperate language. The missing part, literature in that 'language' is getting stronger in the last few decades.

[@EVPaddy]

@@TheRavenir Also it's worth noting we learn our special variety of High German und especially the pronunciation we learn is quite distinctive.

[@chrissermoon4156]

This thing about whether Sicilian is a different language is also because - in part at least - people have a very rigid understanding of when one language is different from another. Often simply because that is how it has been catagorized. I'm danish, and it is no secret that Swedish and Norwegian are quite close to danish. Or rather, some dialects are. I sometimes have an easier time understanding Oslo-Norwegian than some dialects of southern Jutland. And some of these dialects from southern Jutland even has grammatical differences from standard danish. In short, what I am saying is that people often think "I haven't heard that Sicilian has been categorized as a different language, ergo it is not a different language".

[@bilbohob7179]

It's a dialect, but it is a dialect of the... latin... not of the italian/tuscan

[@FlagAnthem]

​@@bilbohob7179italian and tuscan are two different languages

[@FlagAnthem]

People have maturated double or even triple standards towards languages. If you don't believe me try to switch places

[@theredknight9314]

Honestly i love this question. Cause it brings up what “thinking in your head” means and how weird it is to think about someone else thinking in a different language. And whats even stranger is that some people cant think or talk in their heads and some cant even envision anything in their head.

[@FlagAnthem]

I think with memes 😅

[@theredknight9314]

@@ConontheBinarian yeah. Honestly i feel bad for you. I can construct whole worlds visually in my mind

[@theredknight9314]

@@FlagAnthem thats new

[@theredknight9314]

@@ConontheBinarian eh maybe. Mine are so strong that i can semi lucid dream while awake. I can even over lay it onto my vision. Like hallucinations that i can control. Its very fun

[@theredknight9314]

@@ConontheBinarian no cause to be honest im to scared to try. Plus if some stories are true they wont work. People who have more wild imagination or stronger mental state supposedly have little effects. This based off of an alleged story where a monk took mushrooms and was unaffected due to his meditations.

[@SteeGrav]

I'm a native French speaker. I'm totally fluent in English. I think in a language or the other, depending on the contexts. Watching your video, I think in English. In my family life, I think in French.

[@thebusinessfirm9862]

Grew up in Australia of Calabrese parents and grandparents. To this day, I still think in Calabrese, English and Italian! The one I use changes on the type of situation. Technical in English. Home life in Calabrese. Philosophy in Italian.

[@tonytomato100]

Grew up in Canada and my italian is "mixed, with sicilian and calabrese" honestly it's kinda hard to split but going to sicily I was lost linguistically when my fam went full sicilian

[@FlagAnthem]

Which "Calabrese"?

[@C_Poumpouris]

I can relate to this video, I am from Cyprus and I speak in the Cypriot dialect which most Greeks don't understand fully, but I grew up playing games and watching things in English so now most of the time I think in english. 😊

[@jvmt8719]

Interesting! Also, how does Standard Modern Greek fit into your personal language system? Do most Greek Cypriots know SMG along with their national dialect?

[@vtriand3077]

​@@jvmt8719the usage of greek cypriot dialect is only verbal. It's not some other foreign language with foreign writing system, grammar etc. Greeks from Cyprus learn same language as Greeks in Greece.

[@coolbrotherf127]

I didn't grow up bilingual here in the US as my parents know very little even about other languages, much less speak any. But, I did learn quite a bit of Japanese over the last few years. After a few years of study, I found myself thinking most in whatever language that I had most recently used, or the one that had the words best used to express an emotion or idea. For example, if it starting to get cold and windy outside I might first think with the English side of my brain to express surprise with a "Wow!" then to quickly express the idea of the cold wind I would then think " 木枯らし。" A word that doesn't exist in English used to describe the cold winds of the coming winter. It's not always easy to translate between the two languages though as the languages and the cultures themselves are very different.

[@margueritelouw5790]

I can honestly not remember a time that I wasn't bilingual. I grew up Afrikaans, but have been using English from so young. I use both language daily. It's also just good to note my country has 11 official languages. It's compulsory to know at least 2.

[@aris1956]

It would be interesting to know the name of your country, with 11 official languages. :) PS: Luckily, you don't have to learn all 11 ! 😉

[@margueritelouw5790]

@@aris1956 I live in South Africa, our official language are Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu. We might be adding sign language as an official language, as its in the pipe line.

[@StergiosMekras]

Dreaming in a language is a good sign that you're pretty fluent in it, I'd say...

[@lugo_9969]

Irish-polyglot here...... a taxi driver once marvelled at my ability to switch between many languages...... i explained that its as simple as owning a petrol car, a motorbike, a deisel van and a golf buggy...... you do not need to be a genius. But every vehicle has a different control for the lights, gears, wipers, & stereo . Once you learn a new vehicle....its easy. And the first 5 minutes in a new vehicle are always comical. Afrikaans is like learning to drive a Ford Focus around a big empty car park. MANDARIN is like learning to fly a Chinook helicopter to supply an Oil-rig in windy weather. All are easy after you did the learning.

[@angelourso4250]

Ciao Metatron, I just want to underline that nowaday Sicilian is mostly a spoken language. It's quite rare to find something written, specially in public context. I was born in Sicily but I grow up in Florence (Firenze) since I was 3 years old. I used to go in Sicily many times for vacation and I can understand Sicilian quite well but I can barely speak.

[@pczYT]

I'm Brazilian, but worked in english /spanish from 2002 to 2015. Since 2015 I work in a francophone office here in Quebec. I caught myself thinking in english and french all the time. And if I meet a spanish speaker, the french goes away from my brain and I can only think in spanish for the next 2 days

[@yannsalmon2988]

Like many other people in those comments, I think directly in my native language (French) or my second language (English) when I interact or do something in this language. One of the advantages of being fluent in another language is that it gives you access to a lot more learning material for learning another language or skill. For example, when I try to watch Japanese lessons I can find a lot more of videos or articles in English than in my native French, especially from Japanese native speakers. So in this case, I am learning Japanese as if I was an English person. The funny thing is that as I learn new things from the English language’s perspective, I often acquire new vocabulary that I don’t even know what’s the French word for. For example, I got interested into guitar making and got all my knowledge from US, Canadian or UK guitar makers, but when I try to convey what I’ve been learning to my French friends I always struggle to translate the technical terms into my native language.

[@placeholder8252]

Sono un americano e sto imparando l'italiano e i tuoi video sono motivazionali perche' la tua conoscenza dell'inglese e' incredibilmente impressionante. vorrei essere in A2 entro l'estate perche' vivro' a Napoli verso marzo e voglio cogliere l'opportunita' per immergermi. Ho visto molti italiani del nord dire cose del genere sul napoletano anche online ed e' triste. Anche le lingue regionali sono culturalmente importanti; devono vivere, non essere sopraffatte. trovo vero anche quello che dici sull'importanza e la facilita' di apprendere cio' che ci interessa per primo. Riesco a leggere cose relative alla filosofia e alla politica piu' facilmente rispetto ad altri argomenti, semplicemente perche' il vocabolario e gli argomenti sono cose con cui ho gia' familiarita'. Mi dispiace se il mio italiano e' difficile da leggere, sto ancora imparando. Grazie per i tuoi video, sono di grande aiuto.

[@CheriezSHsleephead]

I am glad the Mandarin vs Cantonese analogy was used. This is exactly like how I grew up speaking Shanghainese at home, Mandarin at school and picked up English and French as second languages at different stage through kindergarten to middle school. Then I have been living in the States most of my adulthood, which forced French out of my narrative system. But luckily, my work later often brings me back to France and it reactivated my 4th system petit à petit.

[@learnsicilianwithnick]

Thanks for sharing this perspective! I would agree that you were raised bilingually. Like you said in the beginning, Sicilian is a language, calling Sicilian a "dialect" is purely political, and the people of Italy should be proud of the fact that they are bilingual or even trilingual in some regions (like in Piana degli Albanesi with Italian, Sicilian, and Arbereshe!) I'm raising my kid in Italian and Sicilian in the US and I've seen how using the language "bilingually" is VERY different from just studying these languages - I've had to learn the names of all the local birds and plants in both languages, something I never thought to look up before! The local languages are a treasure that needs to be carried forward into the future.

[@nazarnovitsky9868]

Very interesting video ! Thank You very much ! 😊

[@PandaHernandez23]

Interesting video, my second language is Spanish and I have had dreams in Spanish occasionally. Love to know if any other people out there dream in non-native languages also!

[@theredknight9314]

When i studied japanese i sometimes dreamed in japanese. I ironically was counting sheep in japanese in my sleep in a lucid dream 🤣🤣

[@mimisor66]

My dreams are mostly visual, I do not remember words being spoken, but I remember that after one year living in Italy, coming back by train, I was woken up at the border and was confused enough to start speaking Italian to the Romanian train official.

[@fisicogamer1902]

I remember one time giving a class on my dreams about japanese pitch-accent in english(I am an autodidact ESL). The funny part is that I didn`t understood well the concept. Maybe My brain was trying to understand it and after that I understood pitch accent? who knows.

[@miastupid7911]

This is so beautiful. Thank you. I still think in English (even though I've lived in Greece for 30 years). Especially when memorizing numbers, like cell phone numbers. That or sometimes in my family's Greek Island dialect when someone really disappoints me (but the answers are repeated only in my head, and when I'm really disappointed it's mixed in with 'Brooklynese'). Sophia Loren: "I'm not Italian. I am Napolitan, another thing."

[@gabrielt.3181]

We don't have anything like this in my country, Brazil. We have different dialects, but all the difference between them relies on accent and some region words that mostly work just as a finesse. I've never really figured out how all this dialect stuff works in Italy. I guess it's not so intuitive to imagine people just changing between languages on an every-day basis to someone from a country like mine, where Portuguese is so massive

[@joseluisnietoenriquez6122]

I'm a native spanish speaker, and I LOVE all the romance languages (maybe romanian not so much), and I also speak english since I was a child and I like it almost as much as a romance language. For me a good way to always be in touch with these languages is by singing songs in these languages with my guitar. And some songs are already available in different languages, like italian and spanish, portuguese and spanish, or english and spanish are very common occurrences. Disney songs are helpful in this approach.

[@FlagAnthem]

Ai voi sentì ia Baloo canté e' "Bare necessities" te Rumagnól 😅

[@ChrisHolman]

I took two years of Spanish in high school, I can only say a few phrases sadly. Being bilingual is a superpower in the US though is quite common in Europe. My hats off to you.

[@CinCee-]

The US does not want us to be bilingual. They want us to be ignorant & jingoistic

[@giulianopisciottano8302]

All Italians are bilingual, some are trilingual (all Italians know Italian and one of the 31 regional languages, some also know English)

[@rraddena]

I'm glad you stated the fact that Sicilian is a different language. I battle with Italians from the mainland and even my cousins in Sicily who say that Sicilian is a dialect.

[@gustavoolivieri6568]

It's interesting that what defines and differentiates language and dialect is merely politics. Theoretically we all speak dialects of Latin. But as Italy is a nation, Spain, Portugal, France, Romania, we came up with the fictional concept of language. As a Portuguese native speaker, I can tell you: Portuguese is a dialect of Spanish. A dialect that became politically independent, but yes, pretty much one of the many variations of Iberian/Hispanic Latin. Catalunya weren't lucky enough to become a country, so they are officially a dialect, although that's another language. As happens with many Italian dialects. That's fascinating! Thanks for the tips, mate! I'm not bilingual by bringing up myself, but I've learned English from an early age, so now I have a comfortable level, as you said. I'm beginning to try to learn Czech, and it's a real challenge! 😅 I appreciate your tips, at the second half of the video. And I'm also learning Italian, but that's the easy one to me! 😉 If you use Tandem (the app, do you know it?) we should meet there, you could help me with Italian! 🙂 Cheers from Rio, Br. o/ Gus--

[@frankpriolo7735]

I am a second generation Sicilian. My grandmother brought my father to Philadelphia when he was nine years old. The section of Philadelphia that we lived was a combination of Italian and Sicilian. My older sisters could speak Italian, I could not. My grandmother spoke nothing but Sicilian, but somehow I could understand her her! Even though I spoke neither! She has been gone over sixty years now, but I wish I had learned more from her.

[@CinCee-]

Go look up some sicilian videos see if you can still understand

[@dominicbriganti5710]

Iḍḍa muríu ... quandu?

[@FlagAnthem]

The problem is that there is a cristalline and monolithical approach to languages, someone in the end has its own melt language in his head and builds his own slang. The right answet would be the one of William of Baskerville: both and neither at the same time #penitenziagite!

[@yktrixta07]

I have seen a few documentaries about a Greko dialect being spoken in some areas in the south, particularly in Napoli if I remember, by people that generally consider themselves more Greek I guess than Italian. Have you ever heard anyone speak this dialect? Would love your opinion on this. Awesome videos.

[@federicobrescia123]

Le prime immagini dell'isola dei conigli e subito dopo la cupola della cattedrale di Palermo, Segesta... quanto mi manca. Ottimo video 😊

[@keithkannenberg7414]

I've heard it said (including I think on this channel or the main) that learning a second foreign language is easier than the first because one already is familiar with how to learn. It seems to me that the bilingual switching that he's talking about here is just another aspect of this. It's a necessary skill that someone who learned multiple languages as a child develops early.

[@ScarabaeusSacer435]

A fascinating glimpse into multilingualism. On a side note. please feel free to use visuals like the ones shown in this video in all of your future conversation-style videos.

[@madcowtears1910]

Family from Sardo (Sardinian) enters the chat room. 😅

[@ChadKakashi]

The dream bit was really relatable because I have a lot of dreams where I speak or even think in English.

[@rasmusn.e.m1064]

This was a great reminder for me. I've learned various Indo-European languages at different points in my life and often watch movies in each of them. Currently, I'm trying to learn Turkish for my university degree, where it would be really helpful in my studies. I'm a linguistics major, so the grammar aspects are actually incredibly intuitive, but holy moly is vocabulary an uphill battle. The comparison I like to make is that learning a language inside the language family of your native language(s) is like climbing a wall in your local climbing gym. It's not a choose-your-own-adventure type of experience, but there are plenty of things to grab onto and find a path towards the top. Learning a language outside of your native language's family is like climbing a sheer wall. I find I have to invent folk etymologies to remember words and actively seek out opposites and false friends to learn them together, but trying to incorporate the language into the games that I play and maybe also the languages of the websites I use is a good tip.

[@lucchese20]

Tutto vero. Great explanation. 👍🏻

[@joshuagrenald2046]

I personally grew up bilingual as well, switching between Spanish and English, and I understand somehow what you were talking about. Still my English hasn't reach a native level, but I can comunicate, and understand pretty well the spoken language. I'm trying to learn italian and using it in a regular basis is really helping I'm starting to pick up words otherwise I wouldn't remember. Maybe one day I will be fluent in italian. Fingers crussed. Thanks for your personal experience it really helps!

[@tzor]

One good example (but a milder level than Sicilian / Italian) was the story of my mother. I went to college where there were a lot of graduate students being teaching assistants from India. I returned home to find the associate pastor who had just come from India where no one really understood him (except me). Fast forward a number of decades and my mother in her 80's had to learn a dialect that she at first had no ability to understand, Cockney (the reason was the show known as the "East Enders"). There is a point where, at least in the mind, an accent can be so vastly different that it appears to be a different word. In the case of crossing the "pond" there are actually different words that are used (truck/lorry, elevator/lift, trunk/boot). Growing up I learned how not to learn a language (thanks, otherwise nice education system). If you don't immerse yourself in the language your brain won't make the natural connections. I wound up learning Spanish in the same way that I learned trigonometry (limited and somewhat disconnected from everything else).

[@donyknox]

Maybe not directly related, but I find interesting that you have clear European accents on both Spanish and English, as i noticed. Like the 'ceceo' and 'vale' from Castillan Spanish and the 'dropped' R's from british English.

[@JohnnyLodge2]

Learning italian. In sicily at the moment. Realizing how much i dont know but also how much I do some conversations strictly in italian.

[@ABCantonese]

Here's my question about Italian and Sicilian (or any other Italian language): Is it OK to start a sentence in one language and end in another, or just switch out a word for something in another language? Is that OK or will everything lose their grammar and/or meaning? I speak Cantonese and Mandarin to an extent. What makes these two totally different are the pronunciations. On paper, depending on how you're choosing the connective tissue, they can be practically identical. Because it's not a diction issue, you can't really switch/mix the two.

[@thebenis3157]

The best way I can put it is that it depends. Normally, if you start a sentence in one language you don't mix it with the other, but there are a few caveats to this, for example one may occasionally use italianised versions of words from their regional language while speaking Italian, or italianisms while speaking their regional languages, not necessarily as a conscious decision, but just because of influence of one language over the other. I would say that the latter case is more common in northern Italy, where regional languages are in general less prevalent (with a few notable exceptions), while the former is probably more common in the south, where regional languages are far more used. With that said, actual conscious mixing usually happens either for comedy or from people who can't speak one of the 2 languages very well

[@KRT912]

7:58 were i'm from, deep south of sicily, to yell (gridare) is "diettare vuci". it literally translates to "throwing voices"

[@arjay9745]

There's a bit of a conflation in this question, though, because there are different ways of 'thinking in a language'. I speak English and Hungarian equally fluently, though Hungarian is technically a second language learned later. I also speak German and Italian to lesser degrees and have studied Neapolitan and Spanish. Now the languages I've studied I 'think in' only while studying them. The ones I speak to a lesser degree I 'think in' rather more often, when I've recently used or engaged with them. Afterwards they fade out again. The ones I speak in the manner of a mother tongue I actually 'think in without thinking about it'. I think it's this last one that people are curious about with regard to your Italian and Sicilian.

[@Mackeriv]

My native language is Brazilian Portuguese, and then I learned English. I think in both Portuguese and English, and they switch in very chaotic ways.

[@aris1956]

As an Italian who has lived here in Germany for many years, for example when I have to count in my head, I have to do it in my native language, Italian. Otherwise if I do it in German, I get confused. Also because in German, compared to other languages, the numbers starting from 20, are backwards.

[@99Gara99]

I'm a Brazilian too and I wouldn't believe this guy if I were you, I've known people like him before. Btw I'm bilingual too (English-Porruguese). But to say there is a caothic mess in my head because of that is just lunacy. He just wants to let people know that he finally knows a second language (which happens to be... English! Wow!). Congratulations bro.

[@Mackeriv]

@@99Gara99 Why don't you believe? Every time I pay attention to what I'm speaking, it's either Portuguese or English, so they keep switching. That's all. If you read anything different, then yes. You need to improve your own knowledge because you interpretation is off. Also keep in mind everyone's learning and reality is different. To think everyone is like you, you're not only disingenuous, you might also be narcissistic. @aris1956 That is true. It can be done, but it takes more effort. I didn't know that's how German worked, interesting. But yes, it also happens with stuff like programming, depending on how you learned it.

[@Mackeriv]

​@@99Gara99Also, you don't believe me yet you've known other people like me? If you think I'm lying, you've met other liers just like me? Get your story together. 😉

[@FlagAnthem]

True story bro

[@flmbprt]

I am fluent in Italian. Sicilian, as well as Napoletan, are whole other languages. I can anderstand only if the speaker wants me to.

[@c0mpu73rguy]

This question is fascinating. I never noticed it but indeed, when I write in english, I think in english as well which I used to do with german as well but can’t anymore (out of practice). I never dreamed in english but I used to dream in german and french as a kid.

[@BozheTsaryaKhrani]

now im learning russian and dabbling in romanian its an interesting combo lingq has been very helpful in my learning and has all the languages that i will and want to learn except 1 great content

[@Vonhia181]

The series Capo dei capi is on KZbin, could you do a video where you translate some of the Sicilian in there?

[@brunoactis1104]

As a paraguayan; a bilingual country, that also know english, same thing here. I usually think in spanish and english since most media i consume is in english, but curiously enough, i never think in guarani, and if i do, it's in "jopara", a combination of both spanish and guarani.

[@FlagAnthem]

How many of those "creols" exists down there? Do they interact with ewch other. I mean, it is a corner of the world with a HUGE linguistic diversity after all...

[@alexanderboulton2123]

I guess it's like AAVE or Southern English and Standard English, where technically they're the same language but there are a LOT of differences between how the two speech forms are different.

[@TheDrumstickEmpire]

I mean, I speak Standard Southern English with an East Anglian influence; I can understand AAVE almost perfectly. It’s the same sort of level of difference as English and English Pidgin Languages. You won’t understand much of the latter unless you speak them; they are different languages. Just like how Sicilian and Italian are different.

[@alexanderboulton2123]

@@TheDrumstickEmpire That makes a lot of sense, since most of AAVE is in some way directly related to Southern English, whether given or received, and language isn't so much a set of defined, separated boundaries between each individual languages so much as it is just people talking how everyone around them talks, and as time progresses or distance increases, it changes in various different ways, depending on who--or what--various people interact with, or don't interact with. And that's how the official languages that we have today came into being, is just people finding new and creative ways to say things to each other, and then those solidifying themselves as nations and empires rose and borders were drawn. The thing that really makes a language a language, so to speak, is standardization and institutional backing. Besides that, a language and a dialect are really not that different.

[@MrRabiddogg]

I wonder how close to Norman French Sicilian would be. Is their influence back during the Norman Kingdom of Sicily days still felt within the language

[@Douli218]

yeah I have the same experience. I grew up in the Southwestern US, & my language of education was English, while the practical language of my hometown was often Spanish, & my household switched between both.

[@paulocosta4744]

Regarding your comment that "it's weird to know how to say spear but I don't know how to order a coffee", I had a colleague at my newspaper, he learned Italian by reading car magazines. Then he went on assignment to Italy and didn't know how to order butter at a restaurant, because there's no reason for car magazines to mention butter. 😆

[@DelijeSerbia]

Its funny when you say Sicilian is a dialect of Italian while I in the Balkans can speak like six "languages" that are according to some completely different even if 99.9% is same.

[@ellenripley4837]

I switch back and forth between thinking in English and Spanish but lately the language my head uses is mostly English unless I'm thinking of my past which was not in the US but in my native country. Also I do math in Spanish and I curse in Spanish.

[@AFVEH]

I was brought up bilingual in Spanish and English, and my thoughts are always in Spanglish because depending on the word, the English or the Spanish one will pop up first in my mind. So whenever I speak either language, I'm constantly slightly translating because I have to change my thoughts in Spanglish to either pure English or pure Spanish. It's quite interesting but f**ked up at the same time. My dreams, however, depend on the day, I speak French as my "second" language and sometimes dream in it, depending on that day's interactions, but I never think in it.

[@frida507]

According to some research I read about people tend to act more emotional when using their first language and more rational/calculated when the brain was employing a second language. The experiment was set up like game, gambling type situations and they compared the behavior when people were interacting in their first vs second language. I was thinking... if a bilingual person like Metatron would act the same in both languages... And, if you for example dropped something heavy on your foot - which language would you curse in?

[@jvmt8719]

Speaking of the broader Extreme Southern Italian language group, would you say that Sicilian and Salentino (i.e., the language of Southern Puglia) are mutually intelligible?

[@ASMRDoodlez]

Do you think you use more Latin-rooted English words than the average English speaker? I'm terrible at picking those out, so I can't really tell, but I would think they'd come to mind faster since they're closer to Italian.

[@Thais-tw6tx]

I am bilingual and I can think in both languages. I don't really know what makes me "choose" one over the other, I simply do it. But I never mix the two

[@Twisted_Logic]

Out of curiosity, what do you do differently when learning an ancient language? Like, not many games and movies are available in Classical Latin, Old English, and Ancient Greek

[@IosuamacaMhadaidh]

American English speaker learning Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) 😅😢🙃

[@user-vr1mp2ef7d]

Thanks Metatron. Re SICILIAN vs Italian, like all Italian regional Romance languages, it is, as you say, a sister language of Italian, but the regional languages do not have the same prestige as the national language and, unlike Catalan, for example, they lack many "TOOLS" such as reference grammars for a standard form, dictionaries, 24 hour TV and radio, and, above all, they are not taught as the first language at school (on a par with the national language). In fact most Italian regional languages are not taught at school at all. Personally, I think in 4 four languages, depending on the situation: British English. my "mother tongue", Italian, which I learned from birth, together with the "dialect" of Piacenza, Emilia, and also Spanish and French, which I learned as a child, as I have mentioned elsewhere in other comments. I live in Italy, so ITALIAN is the language I normally use for interactions with people outside my home. At home, with my wife and children, we use SPANISH. For my work with Switzerland (as a translator into ENGLISH from all the languages I know), I communicate with my co-workers mainly in FRENCH, but also in Italian with Ticino. With Zurich, I use English, because my knowledge of German is very limited. I can also communicate effectively in (Brazilian) PORTUGUESE, but I am probably thinking in Spanish, which is not good for the quality of my PT. ;-)

[@thiagoracca]

I’m have the exact same between portuguese language and english… But was a monolingual portuguese before and understand where the question came from People knows only one language cannot understand how is to think in other language I’m not thinking in portuguese and I don’t need to translate to write this text in english.. Also I’m studying italian but I’m still far from fluency. By the way also consider italian dialects as separate language, my great grand father and grand father did not spoke standard italian when they moved to brazil They spoke a italian dialect, the Piedmontese language/dialect…

[@latakicsi2183]

I have visited sicily recently and I had the same feeling like in rumania: is it part of eu and how

[@barnard-baca]

Yo crecí hablando español e inglés, y he estudiado francés, portugués e italiano. Considero que la fluidez se logra con la constancia. Pero los idiomas son cambiantes…

[@Parmesana]

I have a handful of Italian movies...and When I watch them a lot..My brain kind of shifts. My late boyfriend spoke English well, but when he worked on finances..would count in Italian. It was interesting to watch.

[@gabe82]

Do you have videos where you speak only Italian or Japanese?

[@sanzannoryuki]

Great video, I think that's why many non-native people think English is easy-ish while they struggle with 3rd language. Thanks to internet English becomed part their life. But the tertiary language is not.

[@oleksandrbyelyenko435]

As a language lerner I've heard this question so many times. And it is so stupid.... When I speak English I think English, when I speak Spanish I think Spanish. Because the languages have different expirations meanings and ideas, you can't translate it 1to1. Brain is not google and that's great. Moreover, we learn languages to communicate, not to translate. So yeah.... P.S. I write it spontaneously after reading the title, maybe the topic is different. Sorry in advance

[@karliikaiser3800]

Dialects are Languages. It´s just a political differenciation, not a scientific one. If Sicilian has it´s own Grammar written down, if there is some instituition, that has it´s own dictionaries for schools. If it´s a seperate subject in School than it´s a language. I met some Spanish people I spoke German with them and they called Catalan and Gelician Dialects. I think, because they worked in Switzerland and knew how far German Dialects can go off the standard.

[@animeXcaso]

Wrong. Dialects are Variants of a Language

[@karliikaiser3800]

@@animeXcaso So all romance languages are dialects? Variants of Latin...

[@rickb6398]

Metatron, curious but are there some Sicilians would don't speak standard Italian? If so, what % would you think?

[@dominicbriganti5710]

very low ... just old people ... less than 4%

[@alexmashkin863]

My native language is Russian, I learned English throughout my life to the point that I think in English quite often. I find it fascinating that almost anytime I need to convey the information I prefer English, because it's most suited to that, but Russian is enormously more poweful (to the point of no real comparison) in conveying emotion and nuance. I'm not actually bilingual, but it's really interesting nonetheless :-)

[@bilbohob7179]

A lot of lenguages are more powerful than English in human relationships... English is quite simplistic..

[@Inari1987]

Dabbling in brazilian portuguese. I'm self-taught in Spanish and I'm still trying to sharpen that

[@bojchmar]

It dipends.... I speak 5 languages. Altough from childhood Italian and Slovenian ....I think only in italian or in slovene. But it's a greater difference than between Italian and Sicilian, both romance languages. Fai frasi completamente differenti sia nella sintasi che nel senso compiuto. In praktično spreminjaš mišljenje kar tako iz enega stavka v drugega. I have to say. :)

[@TheAlison1456]

4:15 what makes it a communication system, and not a way of communicating, or a kind of communication?

[@azsamurai7]

Some good tips on learning a language, I did some of what you mentioned with Japanese. I'm learning Italian so I can learn about that side of the family, which I know basically nothing. My Dad claims his Italian father never talked about it or spoke the language even though his side of the family was around often. Such bull crap.

[@ultimateblaze23]

i don't want to commit to my entire day to learning lanaguage i have other interests and things to do, if 1-2 hours a day is not enough then so be it, language is ridiculously hard and long for little actual returns

[@MCRice-el7os]

watched the polish dude with subtitles speak- switch of lagnuage is hard

[@pyotrbagration2438]

Native:Georgian Second: Russian Third : English Learning : Spanish

[@BozheTsaryaKhrani]

i dont think bilingual yet but i have been using my foreign keyboard so much that now i type the wrong keys in my native language its quite annoying

[@TheRavenir]

I actually almost always think in English, no matter what language I'm currently speaking, and despite me not being an English native speaker. I often hear about polyglots thinking in whatever language they're currently speaking, but as someone who can speak six languages, that hasn't been my experience. Sure, I can force myself to think in languages other than English, but it's not something that really comes naturally to me. For some reason, I've adapted English as my primary "thinking language", which I suppose mostly comes from a deep-rooted desire to become completely indistinguishable from an English native speaker. And judging from what I hear from English natives who listen to me speak, I seem to have basically attained this goal by this point.

[@edspace.]

I remember once someone said I was a polyglot and I denied it, trouble was I forgot to deny it in English and instead responded "Nyet, Ic Mehre Shibboleth Nymanya. Ic hab uns zeimlich Deutscher und schmol verbis Espanardu." Instead of saying "No, I don't speak many languages/dialects [both translate to Shibboleth] I speak some but not too extensive German and a few words in Spanish" and granted I've added "schmol verbis Rusny" (a few words in Russian) since then but still perhaps its best to use English (or the language of the conversation) when trying to deny being a polyglot as opposed to switching to "Individual Vocalization".

[@tedluna624]

as i get older its like my brain missfires and mix up my laguages when talking lol...

[@SoiledWig]

It seems one of the most important marks of fluency in a foreign language is the ability to think in the language. Then you've reached a plateau of comfort where you don't have to take the step to translate anything.

[@MrShadowThief]

One of my biggest personal frustrations about the development of history is how Khitan has been (at least partially) lost so I can't learn it. Their writing system sounds insanely cool.

[@tohaason]

I personally don't "think" in any language (though I may be dreaming in more than one) unless I'm constructing sentences (to write, or as input to something). I don't think in language for anything else, that would be way too slow and cumbersome.

[@EVPaddy]

Strange, I live in Spain for more than 15 years, have a gf that only speaks Spanish... But I think in Swiss German and I don't think I ever dream in Spanish.

[@loperet100]

Absolutely agree, it's switching. In the case of the Catalans, we find a lot of Spanish that they can't understand that the first choice of language is Catalan, and then we translate to Spanish. It's a language question, but their prejudices prevent them from understand reality.

[@bilbohob7179]

if you lived one century ago, then I believe you that you need translate... now... you're bilingual and you don't need traslate to do the code switching... Don't be a liar..

[@Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96]

Catalans, Valencians and Balearics*

[@user-nj7wl4sy9f]

I’m trying to learn the most basic and easy Filion dialect available, No, whether that the Palermo- Caztella Mare del Gulf

[@CaramelSwatches]

Sto imparando l'italiano.

[@MonographicSingleheaded]

I think in three langauges but MAINLY in English. to the point where I switch to English when under anesthesia. Happened a few times. even tough my first language is Polish. I am C2. My third is japanese but I ONLY understand spoken word to a QUITE LIMITED DEGREE, I never truly learned the language.

[@MonographicSingleheaded]

BUT HONESTLY, SAYING i THINK IN WORDS IS VERY MISLEADING. i THINK IN MEANING AND i CHOOSE WHICHEVER LANGUAGE FITS BEST IN MY HEAD hahahahah XDDDDDD

[@cahallo5964]

Learning a different language makes you develop the skill of thinking in a different language, I can think in languages that I have very little domain and I am very stupid, I have a preschool level of reasoning in German, for example.

[@Phasma_Tacitus]

It seems Sicilian shares a lot more vocabulary with Portuguese than Italian does.

[@Mr.ZooYYa]

Good ,i am not the only one then!

[@unarealtaragionevole]

Here's an interesting question, is dreaming in a foreign language a good thing? According to my dream interpretation theorists, hearing a foreign language is not a good thing. It's a symbolic representation of a current state of confusion, anxiety, and uncertainness. And yet, to a language learner, we see it as a good thing because if we dream in our target language we take it as a sign we are improving? ;o) So who is it a good thing or a bad thing?

[@walkir2662]

The weirdest thing I remember was having French in German school. I sucked at it, and soon gave it up because of it. But my best French exam was while thinking in English. WTF.

[@bare_bear_hands]

It's all mixed up, really. I have Brazilian Portuguese (and I do make the case we should just call it Brazilian), Castilian Spanish used all throughout South America (which is not Catalan Spanish), and American English. My brother is in the same situation, so we change the thought-language according to the context of the topic. We'll even switch mid-sentence if another language has a better way to formulate what we want to say. Indeed, why would one think in one language and attempt to translate that? That's so cumbersome!

[@exploatores]

when it comes to English, I never use subtittles and I think what i write in english. when it comes to German. I know a lot of word when it comes to weapons and military things. but I can´t present myself or order a something to eat.

[@trakkadda]

I think in sardinian, it's my native language then translate that in italian. Ain't easy because sardinian and italian have a different grammar.

[@kamilgregurek9314]

I have to ask why would anyone even think in a language in the first place. For instance, I think and dream in highly complex multidimensional structures, mostly visual, and I have to reduce the complexity of what I actually think heavily to articulate some of that in any of the languages that I speak, regardless of the fact whether it's my L1, L2, L3 or any other. Why on earth would you think in a language? Many things and concepts around you experience every day don't even have a word in most languages or the grammar of existing spoken languages is quite primitive to actually describe what you think. Please enlighten me, I've never got this...

[@bilbohob7179]

You're right. But you can believe or not... there are people too much verbal and they think in a language... of course... they lost a lot of creativity. They don't understand that language is a simple communication tool... They mix thoughts with comunication... Perhaps they need "communicate" themselves their thoughts...

[@michaelriberdy475]

This question assumes you think in a language. I don't think in a language. I don't have an internal monolog. What do you mean by "thinking" in a language?

[@keithkannenberg7414]

Internally I apply labels to the things that I am thinking about, usually in English. If I'm hungry and want a snack I'll picture what I'd like to eat but I'll probably also think of it as "an apple" or "ice cream". So languages how I think, even aside from an inner monologue (which I very much have). Maybe you work differently.

[@coolbrotherf127]

The process of subvocalizing shows your brain to retrieve the same neutral patterns that audible speech does so you can "hear" a voice that isn't actually making any sounds. Personally, I subvocalize all the time so I constantly have a silent monologue in my head.

[@cahallo5964]

That means you have a low iq