Before I throw in anything personal, I thought I might mention that language switching - to English in particular - is extremely commonplace in some Asian societies (and probably others, but I have little exposure to those). No, the people may not really understand much of English at all, and the way they use it may be rudimentary at best, but they toss words and phrases around quite frequently. And now that I actually think about it, not all of the usage is superfluous (or perhaps 'inserted to sound cool'). There are definitely concepts that are better (or only able to be) expressed in some languages than others, and the choice of switching can be something of a statement in itself. Which means the ultimate purpose of communicating oneself can generally be more easily fulfilled, or something.
I find English to be a more comfortable language to express emotions in (compared to other Asian languages), partly because the culture/s it evolved in tends to be more open in that respect. To go with the cliche of 'I love you', the Chinese equivalent would never pass through my lips. It would feel too odd; I'd skirt around it and fiddle with implications, as is the tradition. Most of the changes I do find when I switch between languages are culture-influenced.
Oddly enough, in moments of sudden blankness or shock, my first reactions would be in Chinese, and although I think primarily in English nowadays, I still stutter less in Chinese when I am nervous. Most of the time, however, I switch between languages frequently and without noticing it; that's probably one of the advantages of having several up my sleeve, because the total combination leaves me less restricted when I have things to say.
In relation to LotR, I have a tendency to switch... hmm. Out of 'common speech' when I have something more personal to say. With Cantonese being my mother tongue and English being the one I spent the last decade using in society, I have a feeling I'd end up switching to Japanese or something if I had a few more years of it under my belt. Otherwise, it would probably be to Cantonese or Mandarin. Depending on which feels more intimate with the person, I guess.
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I find English to be a more comfortable language to express emotions in (compared to other Asian languages), partly because the culture/s it evolved in tends to be more open in that respect. To go with the cliche of 'I love you', the Chinese equivalent would never pass through my lips. It would feel too odd; I'd skirt around it and fiddle with implications, as is the tradition. Most of the changes I do find when I switch between languages are culture-influenced.
Oddly enough, in moments of sudden blankness or shock, my first reactions would be in Chinese, and although I think primarily in English nowadays, I still stutter less in Chinese when I am nervous. Most of the time, however, I switch between languages frequently and without noticing it; that's probably one of the advantages of having several up my sleeve, because the total combination leaves me less restricted when I have things to say.
In relation to LotR, I have a tendency to switch... hmm. Out of 'common speech' when I have something more personal to say. With Cantonese being my mother tongue and English being the one I spent the last decade using in society, I have a feeling I'd end up switching to Japanese or something if I had a few more years of it under my belt. Otherwise, it would probably be to Cantonese or Mandarin. Depending on which feels more intimate with the person, I guess.