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Thu 8 Apr, 2004 09:59 pm
I'm currently learning my fifth and sixth (Armenian and Arabic respectively) alphabets.
When any of you are thinking to yourself in a language that is not your native one and has a foreign alphabet to go with it, which alphabet do you picture (for lack of a better term) the words in? With or without effort?
When I think of words in English or Russian, I picture them in Latin and Cyrillic respectively.
But when it comes to, say, Armenian...and I think of the word... "gabeeg," for example, I just can't get used to "seeing" it in the Armenian script in my head.
I just wonder if you naturally get used to seeing a different script whilst thinking of a word from frequent use, or whether it takes intensive and studying of the alphabet to really iron it into your head.
If you know what I mean, I'd like to hear your responses!
I don't really think about alphabets when I think about languages. But when I think about specific sounds, I guess I still think in English letters. Like, I used to concentrate on the ch sound in Hebrew to make sure I got it right, and still think of the two letters ch and not a chet or a chaf as with Hebrew. But I never really learned Hebrew all the way, and the other language I'm learning that's in a different alphabet (Quenya) I am learning in transliteration, so I don't know if that counts.
I learnt Biblical Greek at University and found that alphabet quiet natural to learn. But if I ever come across a Greek word in a text book that has been transliterated into the English (Latin) alphabet I have trouble recognising it, and sometimes have to transliterate it back in my head to figure out what it says! I suppose this is the opposite way round than people might expect. I didn't find the same with Hebrew, which was a much more difficult alphabet to learn.
I suppose if I am thinking of a Hebrew or Greek word, especially one I know well, I would picture it in its respective alphabet. I suppose that is because I picture the word as I have seen it written. I think it depends on how you have learnt it.
I don't often picture Hebrew in its own alphabet, but then again I'm not the best or most diligent student of Hebrew. There are some words, though, like Yod, which I picture in Hebrew and hence can read more quickly than most everything else, which I still have to sit and sound out.
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