Anyone else have English as their second language?

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CambridgeSuperman
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18 Apr 2009, 9:08 am

Anyhoo.

I was diagnosed this week and I mentioned to my psychologist that the reason I never picked up on my language difficulties, especially with emotional expression and picking up on sarcasm etc was because I didn't grow speaking English as my first language. So all this time when my words never came out the way I rehearsed them in my mind was not because of a underlying disorder but simply I hadn't learnt to speak English properly yet!

I was just wandering if there's anyone else here like me who had a perfectly adequate excuse for their traits such as expressive language and also not fitting in generally. I sometimes think that having the excuses I had probably made it less frustrating since at least I had an explanation for everything, albeit a false one.



2ukenkerl
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18 Apr 2009, 11:24 am

Well, I moved around a LOT and that may have contributed to my shyness, lack of social ability, etc... THAT may have contributed to my lack of ability to catch. I ALSO wasn't into sports, which may have contributed to it all. THAT was my theory.

I have SINCE learned that I developed VERY early, and was in the same school for FIVE years once(from 3 to 7) and THEY were concerned about my socializing. That is the end of my BIGGEST excuse!



Lyriel
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18 Apr 2009, 1:39 pm

Wow, that's a pretty crappy excuse your psych came up with, in my opinion.

English is my "first" language, I'm fully fluent in it, and in written word, I can articulate myself very well (I excelled at grammar and creative writing in school), but spoken English is my bane. I'm verbal, almost always have been, but unless I'm reading off a script or have pre-planned what I need to say, I speak in a rather botched manner, not unlike someone who native language is not English, as I'm trying to translate my thoughts into the correct words. I rarely use a phone because of it, for example (yay for txting!), and back when I was working at a rather social job, heaven forbid if something went wrong, and I have to go off my "script" in order to help the customer.

Do you have similar issues when speaking your native language that you can tell your psych about, Cambridge?



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18 Apr 2009, 3:04 pm

I am a native english speaker but most of the time, english is like a second language compared to what I am feeling + thought patterns as my first language and trying to communicate what is on the inside and bring it to the outside...


I suppose it varies, depending on the frame of reference.... I can script extremely well... like I am running a logic diagram or a complex mathematical logrithmetric system as a backbone that carries, instead of an [if/then, nor, or...ext] statements to choose different functions, the functions themselves are replaced by stocked and scripted phrases... social cues I usually do not get... I am getting better at body language for NT's but with those on the spectrum... it is not accurate... it is all good though..

my mind thinks in patterns, numbers and colors, other times it thinks in words.... thoughts are a combination of colors, irrational mathematical numbers, smells of certain things, paterns like a system of colors and sounds blended together in different arrangements.... Much more than I am saying her e,but I suprised myself a bit to be able to say as much as I did...

I am like my own interpreter... translating the language I communicate with within myself into another language to communicate outside of myself which is english... I sound a bit crazy, if I am using what 'normal' should be by somoeone elses standards but for me, it is normal because I been like this my whole life, adapting to be more self suffecient but also maintainng my unique identity... Becomming more NT in some ways to better adapt yet maintaining myself as an Autie without changing who I am.... Learning enough social skills nad such... as if I am roleplaying like actors to function and when I do not need it, I hang out and be me.....



CambridgeSuperman
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18 Apr 2009, 3:15 pm

Lyriel wrote:
Wow, that's a pretty crappy excuse your psych came up with, in my opinion.

English is my "first" language, I'm fully fluent in it, and in written word, I can articulate myself very well (I excelled at grammar and creative writing in school), but spoken English is my bane. I'm verbal, almost always have been, but unless I'm reading off a script or have pre-planned what I need to say, I speak in a rather botched manner, not unlike someone who native language is not English, as I'm trying to translate my thoughts into the correct words. I rarely use a phone because of it, for example (yay for txting!), and back when I was working at a rather social job, heaven forbid if something went wrong, and I have to go off my "script" in order to help the customer.

Do you have similar issues when speaking your native language that you can tell your psych about, Cambridge?


Lol. You may have slightly misinterpreted my original post. What I meant was that before I realised I was autistic, it was me who assumed it was because of having two languages in my head. Its only recently that I realised that when I use my parent's language that I'm equally emotionless.

Also, I would actually say that English is my native tongue, even if it wasn't the first one I learned. Its just that I had put my verbal communication and expression difficulties down to being blilingual. Like I say, up until I realised that i was autisitc, it was the the obvious and convenient explanation



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18 Apr 2009, 6:58 pm

English is my second language, and while I write it fluently, when I speak it I just can't do it very well. Not sure why.


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18 Apr 2009, 8:47 pm

CambridgeSuperman wrote:
Anyhoo.

I was diagnosed this week and I mentioned to my psychologist that the reason I never picked up on my language difficulties, especially with emotional expression and picking up on sarcasm etc was because I didn't grow speaking English as my first language. ...


I think this in one-way-or-the-other way common with foreign languages. My native language is German and the most I speak with in mother tongue realize a "strange" pronunciation and high degree of formal language. When I speak English the same same pattern is present, but does not appear so much in the native listeners' mind, because they realize that I am a foreigner (I still maintain a very strong German accent) and so they are assume an unusual use of words or a uncommon modulation.



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18 Apr 2009, 9:11 pm

CambridgeSuperman wrote:
Also, I would actually say that English is my native tongue, even if it wasn't the first one I learned.

Out of curiosity, what is your first language?

Henriksson wrote:
English is my second language, and while I write it fluently, when I speak it I just can't do it very well. Not sure why.

I find it much easier to write foreign languages than speak them. Much, much easier.

I can even "speak" them inside my head but seem to have some trouble speaking them out loud - maybe a form of anxiety that I will mess up or something. I am not sure.



CambridgeSuperman
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18 Apr 2009, 10:20 pm

dougn wrote:
CambridgeSuperman wrote:
Also, I would actually say that English is my native tongue, even if it wasn't the first one I learned.

Out of curiosity, what is your first language?

My parents are Chinese and thats what they talked to me in at home. But I was born and educated in Britain so English is my native tongue.



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18 Apr 2009, 11:05 pm

Henriksson wrote:
English is my second language, and while I write it fluently, when I speak it I just can't do it very well. Not sure why.


have you tried to speak TO english-speaking people?

to me it tends to vary a lot. if i am nervous or angry, both english and spanish (my dad's language, and so, mine too) completely falls apart. (when im stoned too, my spanish turns to s**t.)

i think that if i speak out of emotion, out of anger for example, my english goes really bad, because my impulses are in norwegian. i have to translate to english first.

on the other hand, we had an american student at a school i went for a year, and my english just got better and better talking to her, to the point where it was completely fluid.


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dougn
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19 Apr 2009, 3:04 am

CambridgeSuperman wrote:
My parents are Chinese and thats what they talked to me in at home. But I was born and educated in Britain so English is my native tongue.

Ah.

I have to admit, I really wish I grew up with more than one language, but both my parents are really monolingual so I guess there was not much chance of that.



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19 Apr 2009, 3:39 am

I am english but live in France ( 10+ years now ) since meeting and having a son with a french guy.

For ages we thought that my son's language problems were because he was bilingual, ( I spoke english to him, his father french ), but as time passed it became clear there was more to it, and two years ago understood that he is definitely Autist/PDD of some kind.

And in my own case being in France has actually exposed my AS. To begin with I think people treated my social slowness and difficulty as a language thing, and I did too, but I have now realised, ( two years after finding out about AS ), that the reason I have so much trouble making even the slightest connections here in France, ( that is to say only one french sort-of-friend in all these years, and one growing friendship with another english woman who lives close by, and the father of my son, with whom my "connection" was almost exclusively sexual ), is because I am so dependent on good verbal language to communicate/connect.

I managed in the UK, ( up to a point ), whereas here I not only miss, and can not use, all the subtle refs and nuances etc of verbal, but am as clueless about the body-language element as I had always been without realising it.

.



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19 Apr 2009, 5:11 am

English's like my second native.

I learnt it much later than German, but I suppose that my ASD is responsible for that I didn't process it like others my age would but in the same way as German once and that I learnt it almost entirely by echolalia in mere weeks.

I suppose my brain development must have been/must be asynchronous and language development might as well be developing abnormally. It would fit the fact that I have all these language difficulties despite that I leant to speak German fast and also picked up on English so fast though I already was old.

Well, I'm not going to complain about it.

I think that bit is rather handy.

That bilingualism doesn't make my autism any worse or causes ASD-like symptoms that aren't really due to autism but due to speaking two languages. Speaking two languages actually helps a lot with my ASD.


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19 Apr 2009, 5:14 am

ZEGH8578 wrote:
have you tried to speak TO english-speaking people?

Yeah, I spoke to them on a daily basis when I was in the International English School.


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19 Apr 2009, 5:36 am

Henriksson wrote:
ZEGH8578 wrote:
have you tried to speak TO english-speaking people?

Yeah, I spoke to them on a daily basis when I was in the International English School.

It might be the movement of the mouth, they are quite different between swedish and english.


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UndercoverAlien
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19 Apr 2009, 10:02 am

My second language is English. Btw, you said your parents are chinese, does that means your first language is chinese? If so: 你好我的名字是undercoveralien. ^^