Language skills and telephone conversations

What is the key? When I speak in english on the telephone I mentioned that I'm really in english. I think in english, I speak in english. But if between the conversation I heard some words in my own language i just revert my conversation. What is the key in mind?

My girlfriend does that. It must be female thing.

I do not thing that this is female thing. It depends on your concentrate in conversation. But may be not only.

Maybe this will go with time. People normally find numbers in a foreign language really difficult.

If I was to say "turn to page three hundred and sixty five, paragraph forty two, line thirty one" this might be hard.

But if I write "turn to page 365, paragraph 42, line 31" it should be easier because you'll see the numbers as Bulgarian.

When I read numbers, I do my best to read them in English in my daily routine. I'll never loose my skill to read them in French (my native language) because I've been doing so for too many years. That's why I think it's a good idea to get used to ALWAYS read them in English so as to be as good in counting in English as in one's mother tongue.

As for loosing the habit to answer in one's native language when earing it, I've my own solution.
I get used not only to think in English but also to translate for myself any sentence I ear in my mother language into English. It helps me to keep thinking in English which means also keep speaking in this language.

Maybe it can help you Nora.

I've heard about a theory that you are in laguage when you start to count the numbers in language, and when you count money in language.

2 Kabam:
I've not practice to translate from my own language to english. They are completely different.

I am glad to see I am not the only one with number problems. When I am thinking to myself in French, I will think somethng like "Je dois acheter five livres et twelve stylos" (I need to buy five books and twelve pens). However, I have problem with double-digit numbers and not the single-digit numbers.

What are double-digit and single-digit numbers, Clark ?

Double-digit are numbers that have two single-digits.

For example:

Single-Digit = 7
Double-digit = 37
Triple-digit = 743

Numbers are difficult in Japanese because there are different words depending on what you're counting.

I count numbers in Chinese. It's just quicker. Most Chinese characters have only one syllable (I don't even know any characters with more than one syllable), say
One thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine is
yat zin kau bak bak zup kau.
Seven is zug.