Is it technically possible, knowing only a language A, and thinking in this language, to learn a language B, where the language B is a lot more expressive than the language A?

Are you talking about similar languages, like Spanish and Portuguese?

I think it's possible. I had learned a lot of Spanish in school, and my main exposure to Portuguese was movies, and later talking with a penpal on MSN. Despite not having formal lessons, I still managed to get to the point where I could hold decent coversations whenever I met someone who spoke Portuguese.

What languages are you talking about in particular?

Oh actually you will probably know.

For example, when you were learning Russian.. did you really get the difference between similar words with different suffixes (e.g. таракан, тараканчик, тараканище)?

Oh actually you will probably know.

For example, when you were learning Russian.. did you really get the difference between similar words with different suffixes (e.g. таракан, тараканчик, тараканище)?

Cockroach, small cockroach, and I don't think I've seen the last suffix before, but I'd guess "tiny cockroach"?

Oh, I see what you're asking. Russian is in some ways more expressive than English, so can an English speaker fully learn and understand it? Yeah, I think so. At some point you have to change your way of thinking though, because you can't always translate things. Like "зря"...I understand how it's used, but I can't really think of any way to translate it into English.

Cockroach, small cockroach, and I don't think I've seen the last suffix before, but I'd guess "tiny cockroach"?

Oh, I see what you're asking. Russian is in some ways more expressive than English, so can an English speaker fully learn and understand it? Yeah, I think so. At some point you have to change your way of thinking though, because you can't always translate things. Like "зря"...I understand how it's used, but I can't really think of any way to translate it into English.

Well yeah, you see those suffixes also mean "a cockroach", "a cockroach in an affectionate/positive way", "a cockroach in a negative way".. hard to explain, really. (The last suffix also means "big")

Now, for example, English is not my first language, - and the curse words in English don't really do anything to me, they're just words. Although I can see that changing with time as I spend the time among English-speakers..

Actually, yeah - in English you guys have a lot more tenses than in the Russian language (like present perfect, past perfect, future perfect), and I "got" them after using them for a while.. so I guess you are right.

words are a dominant object of our logic perception. if some are missing, the perception will be incomplete. the brain will use substitutes and workarounds, but already made emotive connections with similar words might suppress new connections.

I´ll try to explain in a tautologic way. say you know that A is B. later you learn that B is C. now you also know that A is C. but your brain has created a logic path from A to B to C. it will take your brain a long time now to create a direct path from A to C without thinking of B, but only if B is not used as much as the other 2.
it´s like the ant algorithm to find the shortest path. the more ants leave a trace with their pheromones, the sooner the shortest path of a group of alternatives will be chosen.

to answer your question, knowing a richer language is easy, thinking in it and feeling the wohle complexity is not, only if you give up your own language, your fundament, your identity ..

I'd say definately, depending on where i am, i think in French more than i do in English and express myself in it as well.

Cockroach, small cockroach, and I don't think I've seen the last suffix before, but I'd guess "tiny cockroach"?

Oh, I see what you're asking. Russian is in some ways more expressive than English, so can an English speaker fully learn and understand it? Yeah, I think so. At some point you have to change your way of thinking though, because you can't always translate things. Like "зря"...I understand how it's used, but I can't really think of any way to translate it into English.
Le Francais:
Il y a autre problem avec aprendre sans francophones. Regarde, je peux penser en frances. Depuis deux ans, sans etudier materiel nouveux, je me repete quelques mots et phrases quand je conduis, quand je me bain, etc. Le majorite de temps je ne traduis, mais quand je traduis c'est du l'espagnol.
C'est ca le problem: ce francais que je sais, c'est un frances personnel. Cest pas le frances du francophones. Je sais beaucoup de phrases et mots, et je peux lire beaucoup. Mais, quand je regarde films francaises et ecoute radio, je peux pas comprendre tout. Mon cerveau est pas bien entraine.

I basically learned french very sloppily(fuck high school) and am currently at a stalemate with a language I can read and write decently but have little practice speaking and listening. The phrases, questions, commands, etc. I can make are mainly english/spanish equivalents and while I can " think" many thoughts in french, it is not yet the french of well... french people. I could refine it, but I have more interest in 2 other languages at the moment to go through the trouble of downloading tv/movies and getting a penpal to talk to regularly and all that.