Wow--that was a great monster post covering all sorts of language-switching things. I love that I now have this picture of your family switching languages when kids are present.:-)
But I especially understand almost needing to swtich languages to get into the mindset of what you're saying, or describe things from that country. I think that's why I always prefer in movies when people actually speak the language and with subtitles when they go to other countries. Something like Sophie's Choice, I think, works better because the characters speak the language they would be speaking, even if as an English-speaker you feel just slightly left out knowing that the subtitles aren't giving you the exact flavor of things.
I'm sure languages do tend to have tendencies like prettifying or not, like you said about French...especially since it stands to reason that some cultures find some things more taboo than others. It's always surprising, for instance, when a word somebody uses a lot in one language translates into a word you would never say in our own, for instance. Or like the above posters said, where what people say in their own language in a certain situation translates to something that would be silly to say in English ("I like you a lot" instead of "I love you"). It's a direct translation, maybe, but with totally different associations.
And now I'm all interested in Ukranian vs. Russian and jealous of your background.:-)
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But I especially understand almost needing to swtich languages to get into the mindset of what you're saying, or describe things from that country. I think that's why I always prefer in movies when people actually speak the language and with subtitles when they go to other countries. Something like Sophie's Choice, I think, works better because the characters speak the language they would be speaking, even if as an English-speaker you feel just slightly left out knowing that the subtitles aren't giving you the exact flavor of things.
I'm sure languages do tend to have tendencies like prettifying or not, like you said about French...especially since it stands to reason that some cultures find some things more taboo than others. It's always surprising, for instance, when a word somebody uses a lot in one language translates into a word you would never say in our own, for instance. Or like the above posters said, where what people say in their own language in a certain situation translates to something that would be silly to say in English ("I like you a lot" instead of "I love you"). It's a direct translation, maybe, but with totally different associations.
And now I'm all interested in Ukranian vs. Russian and jealous of your background.:-)