In a recent post, https://journaly.com/post/37870 , @JGComm posed a series of questions of me, and I’m posting this by way of a response.

By the way, for those of you who don't know, my real name is Uly [u:li], short for Ulises, and I'm a Cuban-American male, living in South Florida.

Nice to meet you all!

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On Being a Native Bilingual...

1. Is either language more difficult for you than the other in general? In certain situations or contexts?

I’m equally conversant in both Spanish and English in the sense that there's nothing I can say in English that I can't say in Spanish and vice versa. Growing up, we weren’t allowed to speak English at home. My parents figured that we’d eventually learn and perfect our English in school and on the street with our friends, but if we were to speak Spanish fluently and correctly, that would have to be fostered in the home, where they could correct us and instruct us. Consequently, they never tolerated us using a mishmash of English and Spanish like so many of our young peers did; if we didn’t know a word in Spanish, we had to ask. My father always referenced the kids next door. Our neighbors had three sons with the most kick-ass Spanish names imaginable: Sixto, Cristóbal and Román Céspedes... and not a one of them spoke a lick of Spanish. Mind you, their parents did, but they never passed that on to their sons. And when their grandparents came from Cuba, the boys were in their teens and they couldn't even communicate with them. So I credit my parents infinitely for having the foresight to place such a premium on our bilingualism!

2. Do both languages exist separately in your mind? How long of a "bridge" do you have to cross to stop thinking in one language and start thinking in another?

Yes, they're separate, and yes, it’s instant. Especially in my case because I worked as a simultaneous interpreter in Washington D.C. until 9-11, so I actively developed that quick switch. The bilingual mind is an amazing thing! Even now, when I occasionally interpret in legal proceedings on Zoom, I’ll be hearing the English in my headphones and typing the Spanish as they speak without missing a beat.

3. Are you able to distinguish between bilingual English-Spanish speakers since birth and bilingual English-Spanish speakers who learned English in school? What are the signs?

Usually, yes. Native bilingual speakers, regardless of how well they speak Spanish, at least have a native accent, pitch and mouth configuration. Yes, different languages have different mouth positions and configurations, and I find that many times, even English speakers who have achieved an astonishing pronunciation in Spanish, don’t always completely shift out of the mouth configuration of their native English, for which the mouth is extremely lax compared to Spanish, which is more tense and stable. Consequently, their spoken Spanish doesn’t have the same tension and resonance that a native speaker would naturally apply. They speak excellent Spanish, but it just hits different. It's hard to explain.

4. Is there a shift in how people treat you once they realize that you speak x language?

Yes! It varies. I speak five languages fluently, and the responses from natives are all different. For instance, my French accent is practically native, so when French people hear me, they become quite chatty and ask questions, tell stories, etc. and seem happy to engage with me in French. But I’ve seen English speakers with subpar accents try to engage with French speakers, who'll humor them for a few minutes but then switch to English.

German speakers are much more open in that respect. I have a very good German accent, but I've noticed that they don’t really care how you sound for the most part — they just love that you speak German and will happily and eagerly chat with you. Also, despite their reputation for being serious, I find that once you break the ice, Germans have an excellent sense of humor.

Spanish speakers, as you can imagine, instantly consider me tribe and it's on! Last week, I went to the local outdoor market and saw a young Hispanic couple with a bulldog puppy. Now, I'm nothing if not a dog lover, so I immediately made a beeline for the puppy (Hugo! 🥰) and they gladly handed him over for me to cuddle and kiss to my heart's content. After 20 minutes, I had their names, phone number, address and a standing invitation to go to their pool anytime and visit with Hugo. There's nothing like being part of a community!

Russian speakers… this one's been tough. My experience has been that their first reaction if I say something in Russian is to giggle; not laughing at me, mind you, but kind of quizzically if not uncomfortably, as if wondering why anyone in their right mind would want to learn their language. The exchange almost invariably makes short work of finding its way back to English, for whatever reason, so this is the language in which I’m least proficient orally, although I’m at a very advanced level as far as reading and writing goes. Don't get me wrong — I have nothing against Russians. In fact, I've made hundreds of Russian friends over the almost eleven years that I've been studying it, but they all text me in English. In January, my New Year's resolution was to drop Russian, but my father told me not to be rash and throw away ten years of study. "Read Russian books and watch Russian movies!" he said. So, I’ve taken it upon myself of late to talk to myself in Russian. I started shadowing this guy with a great voice on YouTube, and it’s been surprisingly fulfilling. It's really exciting to start to bridge the gap between speaking and writing, and I firmly believe that through a combination of shadowing and comprehensible input, I will eventually become equally proficient in both.

5. Do you have to work to keep up with trends in the casual speech/slang of Spanish (since I assume you don't live in a Spanish-speaking country)?

No at all. For starters, I live in South Florida, which is, for all intents and purposes, a Spanish-speaking country. We have tv, radio, businesses, newspapers, restaurants, etc. all in Spanish, and, by extension, a large part of the gringo population knows enough Spanish to interact with us on some level or other, enjoy our food, our music, and appreciate our culture in general. Aside from all that, I really enjoy movies and shows from Spanish-speaking countries — especially Spain, so I’m pretty much up on all the lingo. Add to that the fact that my maternal grandparents were from Barcelona and spoke to us in Catalan as well.

6. Did growing up bilingual give you an advantage over people who grew up monolingual when learning new languages? Or was it not an advantage but just different?

I definitely feel it's an advantage. When you have the language instinct for two languages, you have a lot to draw from when you approach a new one. For instance, most of the world languages that English speakers take up involve conjugation, which we Spanish speakers are no strangers to. I can only imagine how formidable it must be, coming from a language with no actual extensive conjugation for person, number, and tense, to have to factor these in when formulating sentences in their target language.

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I hope this answers your questions. I'll address the next set of questions in my next post!