Which Language Am I Speaking?

This past weekend Jason and I were discussing something and I said, "I don't see no one doing that." He looked at me and in his best southern drawl repeated with extra emphasis, "I DON'T see NO ONE doing that?"

I am SO glad he was the one I said that to, because boy, would that have been embarrassing if it was with someone else! Saying something like that is totally out of character for me and we both knew it. At least we got a good laugh out of it!

So why did I make this strange mistake? Well, I used Slovak grammar. In the Slovak language double, triple, and even more negatives can be used in a sentence together. It is actually expected. Last week I wrote this sentence, "Skontrolovala som a nevidela som vôbec nič." It means, "I checked and I didn't see at all nothing." In correct English grammar it would be, "I checked and I didn't see anything." In their minds, you can't not see anything; rather, you can't see nothing. This grammar problem is something we've noticed with one of our boys, such as when he replies, "Neither me." rather than, "Neither do I." He's using Slovak grammar, but English words.

It's just one of the side-effects of learning a second language. Your brain seems to be suspended somewhere in the air (at least it feels like it!, between both of them. I recently read a fb status that said something to the effect of, "I'm now half fluent in English and Spanish." As Slovaks would say, "Presne tak!" (Exactly so.)