Lost in translation

So I'm on the bus, sitting next to a guy who was using his laptop. After a while, I noticed that he'd begun to browse websites in Hebrew, which I though was pretty interesting. Later, he began to type an email - also in Hebrew, but using a standard English QWERTY keyboard, which I found utterly fascinating.

Whenever I think about learning a new language, I think about that point you get to when something becomes more native than foreign. For me, Spanish is still a foreign language, and speaking or writing it is a two step process: figure out what I want to say in English, then translate that into Spanish. Some days that process goes quickly, so I don't lose much time in saying what I want to say; but I am definitely not at the point where I truly think in Spanish.

By comparison, people who are truly fluent in a language are able to do their pre-speech processing in that language, without the extra step. And I figure it must be like that with this guy next to me; I don't know which of the languages is first for him (I suspect it's the Hebrew), but both are essentially native speech modes at this point. What's more interesting to me in this case is that they've also both become native typing modes, to the point where he doesn't need the visual aid of the proper symbols on the keyboard to know where to go for what he wants to type. Heck, I still need that on an English keyboard and it's my primary language; so I'm truly impressed.

One of the great things about mass transit: you never know what you're going to discover on the ride!