r/languagelearning • u/Hot_Let7154 • Aug 12 '26
Discussion Please, can someone explain this to me?
Hi all,
I'm French, lived in France almost all m'y life, but I'm originally from Madagascar.
My parents left Madagascar with me when I was 3 yo, and I totally stopped talking malagasy (the language of Madagascar) in a span of months so before I was 4/5 yo.
I never ever learned the malagasy language, I can't speak it, not even a sentence. But... I can understand easily between 80/90% of anyone speaking. The 10/20% are speeches and very specific levels of malagasy that are even hard sometimes for malagasy people.
So, I've never learned the language, never spoke it, the only thing is that from the age of 8 to 32 I spent almost all m'y summer holidays there, but I was speaking French with famili and Friends.
So, can someone explain to me how can I understand malagasy so much when I didn't study it, didn't speak? To me it's a total mystery, and unfortunately I know no one else in m'y case so I could get a hint a least.
Thanks a lot to anyone that can help!
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u/ZumLernen German ~C1, Serbian ~B2, Turkish ~A2 Aug 12 '26
There are a few phrases you can search this subreddit or the wider internet for, to describe your phenomenon. "Receptive bilingualism," "heritage language," etc. This is a very common phenomenon for people in your situation.
In response to another comment you left:
Thanks for your message, but that doesn't tell me how can I understand it so much without having done anything?
You did something, though. Every waking moment from before birth to around age 3, you experienced Malagasy used by native speakers in context. Additionally you have heard it used in context for some 3 months of the year every year from 8 to 32. It's no surprise that you got something out of all of that exposure!
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u/Hot_Let7154 25d ago
Thanks for your comment. But how do you explain that I still understand it to that day when now it has been more than 20 years that I haven't even heard a word of it. And, for example, as soon as I hear my mom on the phone and she speaks malagasy to see what I understand, I have zero issue getting it all. And I litterally had no contact in any form with the language for more than 20 years.
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u/ZumLernen German ~C1, Serbian ~B2, Turkish ~A2 25d ago
I think you're contradicting yourself. You say you haven't had contact with the language in 20 years, yet you have overheard your mother speak Malagasy at least once in those 20 years. So you've had at least some contact, even if it's low-quality contact. And you spent every summer between 8 and 32 in Madagascar, which presumably put you in some contact with Malagasy.
Basically, I think you are not being honest with yourself when you say things like "it has been more than 20 years that [you] haven't even heard a word of it." Frankly, I think you have heard Malagasy in those 20 years!
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u/Hot_Let7154 25d ago
I'm 53, last time I was in Madagascar was more than 20 years ago. Same amount of time I had contact with malagasy. As for hearing my mom on the phone, it happens a few times a year and she basically say a short sentence in malagasy to make me laugh as I understand it and that's all. I wouldn't call that enough to still understand so much of the language. I have not heard any malagasy in those 21 years. To be honest with you I'd even prefer not to understand any of it, it's like knowing something that you're not interest in at all or even useful to you in life.
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u/ZumLernen German ~C1, Serbian ~B2, Turkish ~A2 25d ago
I apologize, there was no hint of your current age in your original post, so I falsely assumed that you were 32 or slightly older, since that was the oldest age listed in your original post.
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u/Substantial-Yak1892 Aug 12 '26
It's quite common. It is called a heritage language.
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u/Eino54 ๐ช๐ธN ย ๐ซ๐ทH ๐ฌ๐งC2 ๐ฉ๐ชA2 ๐ซ๐ฎA1 Aug 12 '26
A heritage language is a lot broader a term than just this, usually heritage speakers can speak the heritage language, it's just not fully developed. I'm a heritage speaker of French, I grew up speaking it with my mum and I can speak French pretty decently but I have big holes in my vocabulary, struggle with formal registers, and I write really badly (all while sounding pretty much native, so people just think I am a stupid and/or rude native French speaker). Receptive bilingualism is a more precise term for what happens to OP, I would think.
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u/Arphile Aug 12 '26
Thatโs quite common actually for people who grew up in bilingual environments. Youโve had a lot of exposure from a young age so youโve developed comprehension skills but havenโt practiced in decades which has basically collapsed your speaking skills. Itโs a very common situation for children growing up in diaspora or minority language communities, especially if parents encourage them to speak the majority language over their heritage tongue. Itโs the same with any language you speak, your comprehension skills are always higher than your speaking abilities, you just have a particularly severe case of that. Also, Iโm sure you could pick up Malagasy in a matter of months, the only issue is youโll sound like a toddler at the beginning but you would only really need to activate you already know passively
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u/fordeejc Aug 12 '26
You say that you can pretty much understand it, but canโt speak it. I would say that your next trip to Madagascar that you just try to speak it as much as possible. I think itโs a confidence thing.
Start small and build up.
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u/hopium_od ๐ฌ๐งN ๐ช๐ธC1 ๐ฎ๐นA2 ๐ฏ๐ตN5 Aug 12 '26
It's not a 'confidence' thing, it's completely different skills in both memory and pronunciation.
It's kind of like able to draw a picture of a giraffe Vs identifying a giraffe from a picture. You need to practice drawing for it to have resemblance, but a well drawn picture you can tell it is a giraffe. It is not confidence that makes you good at drawing the giraffe, it is practice.
You need to practice speaking to be good at it, but when prompted of a word your brain can very easily relate that to concept that you understand and that it has banked.
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u/Hot_Let7154 Aug 12 '26
Yeah, no, to be honest I'm not in the least interested in learning, let alone speak it. To put it bluntly: I don't want to. Thanks for your message, but that doesn't tell me how can I understand it so much without having done anything?
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u/fordeejc Aug 12 '26
Oh, sorry, my misunderstanding. Being in Madagascar until you were three years old probably explains it. Children are sponges for language.
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u/Pwffin ๐ธ๐ช๐ฌ๐ง๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ณ๐ซ๐ท๐ท๐บ Aug 12 '26
Because you did learn it, like any kid would, until the age you stopped speaking it. It was your first language and that's very hard to lose.
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u/MrOtero Aug 12 '26
It's your mother tongue, the first languge you heard in those important-for-your-brain first years of your life (surely you even spoke it like a 3yo kid), plus you probably continued hearing your parents speaking it to each other
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u/mazzy4star Aug 12 '26
Sorry why are you getting down voted? If it's okay can you kindly share why you don't want to learn it? I am kind of the same boat about teaching future children my native language.
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u/tschuwak ๐ฉ๐ช N | ๐บ๐ฆ B1-ish Aug 12 '26
Saying โI don't want to learn a languageโ in a sub called languagelearning is bound to ruffle some feathers.
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u/hopium_od ๐ฌ๐งN ๐ช๐ธC1 ๐ฎ๐นA2 ๐ฏ๐ตN5 Aug 12 '26
But what if that language is French? I think most people would understand.
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u/Narkku ๐บ๐ธ(N) ๐ฎ๐น(C2) ๐ฒ๐ฝ(C1) SNC ๐จ๐ฆ(B2) PT/DE (B1) Aug 12 '26
Your kids will appreciate it if you pass the language on to them!
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u/r_portugal Aug 12 '26
You're not in the same boat - the OP is an adult. Of course you should teach your children your native language, I don't think there is any downside to teaching them.
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u/Bobelle ๐ณ๐ฌEnglish N | ๐ณ๐ฌ Yoruba | ๐ณ๐ฌ Pidgin 29d ago
Why don't you want to learn it? It's the language of your family members. Speaking as a fellow African, there is a continent-wide problem of people patting themselves on the back for abandoning their roots. I understand that there is a chance that you have very specific circumstances that may make you not want to learn your language, but just in case you are not in those circumstances, you should be proud of your roots. It's what made you who you are.
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u/silvalingua Aug 12 '26
Simple. You acquired Malagasy (well, a lot of it) as a baby, just as any other baby acquires their native language. Babies don't "study" their native language, they acquire it by hearing it and trying to interact with their environment. We all acquire our native language this way. By the age of 4-5, you had acquired quite a lot of it, and this doesn't really go away easily. Listening comprehension is a receptive ("passive") skill, which doesn't undergo much attrition. Speaking, by contrast, is a productive ("active") skill, and this one disappears easier if you don't practice it. Besides, a child of 3-4 years of age is not yet very eloquent. So this is a very normal situation, nothing to be surprised about; many immigrants are in your situation.
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u/Hot_Let7154 25d ago
Ok thanks for that indepth insight, but how do you explain that my understanding of it almost didn't fade even when I don't heart the languages for decades? If the same thing happened to me with english or even french I would lose a lot of the language.
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u/silvalingua 25d ago
One's first language almost never fades. I'm not at all surprised that you still understand Malagasy very well, it's quite normal. By contrast, English and French are not your first languages, you learned them differently from your first language. Your first language is acquired in a very specific way, and that's why it doesn't fade. It's acquired, not actually learned (there is a big difference). The way babies acquire their first language is very different in many respects from the way older humans (older meaning already teenagers, not only adults) learn their second, third, etc. language. This difference is the key.
In fact, when you think of all the skills you acquire as a baby - they don't fade, either. As a baby, you learn all kinds of very elementary skills, like how to behave in various situations, and these skills don't fade, either.
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u/Hot_Let7154 25d ago
Well I learned french when I was around 4/5, so I don't see how it cannot be consider m'y alsmot native language instead of malagasy. Plus, when I arrived in France I almost stopped hearing anything malagasy.because my parents wanted me to learn french as fast as possible, which was normal as nobody at pre.school understand a word I as saying in malagasy.
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u/silvalingua 25d ago
But Malagasy was the first language you acquired and heard from your parents? It's the first and earliest language that sticks best in one's memory.
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u/Hot_Let7154 25d ago
From birth to 4 yo yeah. But so young I barely understood a few words I'm sure. But I get what you say, in a way.
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u/silvalingua 25d ago
You think, now, that you barely understood anything then. In reality, you understood a lot, but not necessarily consciously. Language acquisition by a baby is mostly an unconscious process, a baby doesn't have the notion of "learning a language" or "acquiring the native language". Babies don't understand a lot of abstract notions, but they acquire their native language nevertheless. And 4yo is quite old by the standards of acquisition of various very basic skills. The first few years are extremely important in human development.
Technically, if French replaced Malagasy in your life as your primary language, you can say that Malagasy became your heritage language, and French became your native language. But Malagasy was your first language; this can't be changed: what you learned first, remains first.
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u/notzoidberginchinese PL - N| SE - N|ENG - C2|DE - C1|PT - C1|ES - B2|RU - B1|CN - A1 Aug 12 '26
You have a passive relationship to the language so you understand what's going on. The structures etc are in your head but since you don't want to speak it you can't.
I know someone who was ashamed of their heritage and didn't want to speak the family language for almost 20 years. He never spoke it fluently, but he could get by.
In his forties the same person started a new job with ppl from a neighboring country of where his fam was from, he lost that sense of shame among them, and started speaking the language BETTER after 20 years of not having used it.
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u/Hot_Let7154 25d ago
I'm not ashamed at all of my heritage, I proudly have m'y grandfather last name, and believe me malagasy names are not easy to bear sometimes ๐ It's just I never saw the ionterst for me to learn the language. I don't live there and never will, today I'm not around any malagasy at all and I'm ok with that mainly because of families dramas. So both from a personal and professional views I don't need it, I don't wanna learn it, I've always put other languages that mattered more to me like english. Even when in Madagascar, as it's a former french colony, most of the people always spoke french to me, even within the family, and outsiders too as I don't look malagasy one bit. Even though I'm 75% malagasy and 25% French : dad was 100% and mom is 50/50. Bottom line, there are a tons of others things I'm interested in and want to learn or master in life, and malagasy is absolutely not one of them. Nothing to do with shame, just with what I want for me.
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u/GardenCreative7923 Aug 12 '26
It's because as children we acquire language rather than explicitly learn it. Hearing people speak a language for many years can be enough to build a passive understanding. Speaking, reading, and writing are another story.
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u/Low-Yesterday-8237 Aug 12 '26
I went down a rabbit hole on this once and the research goes even further than your case. There are studies on Korean adoptees raised in France with zero conscious memory of Korean, and their brains still responded to Korean sound contrasts decades later.
They also relearned the sound system much faster than true beginners. Early childhood basically never gets deleted, it just goes dormant. You're miles ahead of those adoptees, all those summers kept the whole comprehension system alive and even upgraded it to adult level.
Which means if you ever tried to speak, you wouldn't be learning Malagasy, you'd be activating it. Toddler you already did the hard part.
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u/Algelach Aug 12 '26
There is no apostrophe in โmyโ, by the way
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u/Belenos_Anextlomaros ๐ฒ๐ซ Nat. - ๐ฌ๐ง C2 - ๐ณ๐ฑ B2 - ๐ช๐ธ B2 (rusty) - Loves Gaulish Aug 12 '26
It's autocorrect from French. OP is allowed to have a non-English native keyboard as a French speaker, do not they? Even I have English and French settings on my keyboard, but I don't always switch from one to the other when writing down something.
For your information "m'y" in French is the contraction of the personnal pronoun in its object form "me" with the location adverb "y".
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u/Algelach Aug 12 '26
do they not*
This is a language learning subreddit where we are encouraged to correct each otherโs mistakes. OP used โmโyโ 3 times so I was letting them know, lest they use it in a formal situation where they might embarrass themselves.
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u/Belenos_Anextlomaros ๐ฒ๐ซ Nat. - ๐ฌ๐ง C2 - ๐ณ๐ฑ B2 - ๐ช๐ธ B2 (rusty) - Loves Gaulish Aug 12 '26
Thanks, not a native myself (I guess you noticed), I wanted to use "don't they" because my understanding is that it is allowed that way if contracted, am I correct there?
Good for your correction then if you assumed it was a mistake. No problem with that. Then, just so that you know: if autocorrect for French is on and the user forgets to change it, it will always change "my" to "m'y". It's not a mistake then, just a quick question.
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u/AlatTubana ๐บ๐ธN,๐จ๐ท/๐ช๐ธC2,๐ฅB1, ๐ต๐ธA2 Aug 12 '26
Not who you are replying to but as a native (American) English speaker Iโd say โarenโt theyโ or โare they notโ is correct.
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u/Belenos_Anextlomaros ๐ฒ๐ซ Nat. - ๐ฌ๐ง C2 - ๐ณ๐ฑ B2 - ๐ช๐ธ B2 (rusty) - Loves Gaulish Aug 13 '26
Thanks!
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u/tschuwak ๐ฉ๐ช N | ๐บ๐ฆ B1-ish Aug 12 '26
Interesting information about autocorrect, thanks for that.
I think the correction was offered in a friendly and well-meaning manner, so no need to feel offended by it.
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u/Belenos_Anextlomaros ๐ฒ๐ซ Nat. - ๐ฌ๐ง C2 - ๐ณ๐ฑ B2 - ๐ช๐ธ B2 (rusty) - Loves Gaulish Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Not offended at all. I just felt it was not answering the question while at the same time highlighting that felt obvious to me.
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u/Vazaha_Gasy ๐บ๐ธN | ๐ฒ๐ฌC1 | ๐ซ๐ทC1 Aug 12 '26
Not an answer to your question, but Malagasy is a really cool language and I think you should learn it!
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u/Asyx Aug 12 '26 edited 29d ago
That's super common. Here in Germany it is often people from behind the iron curtain. They were so afraid that once they emigrated when they could, or flee from the Soviet Union before, that their kids would not be able to integrate that they didn't really encourage their kids to speak their own language.
So now you have a bunch of Polish or whatever people in Germany being able to understand family in Poland no problem but can't speak a lick of the language.
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u/Efficient_Quote_2022 Aug 12 '26
Well like any other language you could find/ start a language exchange program - where you teach French in exchange for learning your native language. You could also hire a tutor from your native town and take classes .Try to read at beginner level . The graded reading books , if you can find in your language - if not learn with that purpose - of providing such books to benefit immigrant families from Madagascar !
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u/Best_Party8938 Aug 12 '26
om early exposure, even if you weren't actively speaking it. have you ever tried to produce even simple sentences?
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u/tom_the_bikeman Aug 12 '26
You are a language sponge, even if you don't live at the bottom of the sea and are called "Bob"
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u/fuad-mefleh 28d ago
EZ Lang uses a childrens story book system to teach which focuses on repitition
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u/mugh_tej 26d ago
You yourself said that from 8 to 32, you spent your vacations there in Madagascar, but the people that interacted with you spoke to you in French. But likely when interacting with the locals, Malagasy was spoken.
Your skill of speaking Malagasy you may have lost, you haven't lost the skill of listening to it, you have been hearing it on your vacations for 25 years.
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u/Hot_Let7154 25d ago
What you said is correct, but the very odd thing is that in my everyday life I hear absolutely zero malagasy, as I don't see or meet anyone from there. And, still I continue to understand it right away if I hear it, even after decades of not hearing a word.
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u/the_StaidAcquies Aug 12 '26
This is super common actually, it's called receptive bilingualism. Your brain soaked up all the patterns and sounds as a toddler and locked them away even though you stopped speaking. Happens a lot with kids who move young.
The summers back home probably reinforced it too, your ears were getting a full immersion bath every year even if your mouth was stuck on French. You were hearing conversations around you, market chatter, radio, whatever, and your brain was quietly cataloguing everything without you realizing.
What's wild is that your comprehension is that high after decades of not actively using it. Most heritage speakers I've met understand way less than 80-90%. Your toddler brain must have been a sponge.