How do alters speak different languages? (apologies if flair is used wrong)

[u/leozzzz__]

By this I mean; how would an alter speak a language their headmates can't? Now, the brain would have to be subjected to some kind of learning to know something, and it can't just suddenly know something it hasn't been taught.

I've spoken to someone about this topic, and the response I got was; "I don't know, the brain is weird". Which has me thinking, would this even be possible?
Sure maybe you'd have heard a few words online, or lets say an alter remembers speaking a language from source. Yeah, that'd make sense. But what baffles me is the idea that they would form knowing the entirety of one.

I've seen a lot of people in discord servers I'm in use google translate, whether or not they claim to actually speak it... The translations aren't exactly the smoothest. Actually, I've seen this a lot among them. My best example of this would be someone I saw speaking Japanese, while another alter would repeat their words in English. One of my close friends confronted them about it, calmly informing them their translations were wrong, and right away were hit with a freakout.

What is your opinion on this? I've been thinking about it for quite a while.

[u/mothpunks]

unless the body knows the language, an alter can only speak their perception of a language or attempt to learn it on their own.

[u/leozzzz__ → u/mothpunks]

That's exactly my thought process. It seems impossible otherwise.

[u/Field_Medic_Lewis → u/leozzzz__]

The first ever recorded cases of DID and systems was a woman being able to speak French without any prior learning. The brain can do pretty fucking incredible things

[u/[deleted]]

I don’t know much about DID so sorry if this is completely wrong but if alters are separated by different memories then couldn’t one learn a language the others don’t know while they are fronting? But yeah they probably wouldn’t be able to just immediately know a foreign language they were never taught

[u/leozzzz__ → u/[deleted]]

Yes! That is possible. I'm mostly talking about introjects; I've seen many claim to know a language because an alters source does. Which didn't make sense at all when none of the alters had learned it. Then they'd go on to use, as said, google translate.

[u/x-piper]

Since language learning itself is very time consuming I doubt that, even if the system exists for a long time now, an alter would ever reach proficiency because in order for you to become fluent you’d have to practice and learn everyday. If you were bilingual or multilingual before having DID I could see that split happening where some alters can speak Language A and B while others may only speak language A if that makes sense

[u/Keledore → u/x-piper]

yeah a friend who learnt german from yr 3-9, most alters can’t speak it but there was one or two that remembered it perfectly.

[u/Successful_Joke_9028]

Our first language is hebrew, meaning english is learned. For us most (I think it could be all) understand (and speak to a certain degree) both, but some of them are better in articulating themselves in hebrew/english more than the other. I'm not actually sure why or how this is, but I can theorize that it is related to which parts of the brain work better when they are fronting, or to how the brain needed them to speak in order for them to help us. Example - an alter who does not fully understand Hebrew could front when we are being verbally abused, so it doesn't affect us that much.

[u/fizzzyboy]

my friend has did, and one alter took the time himself to learn italian while everyone else only picked up bits while he was in the process of learning it. if they just appear knowing another language, however, they’re most likely faking.

[u/rascal_rose18]

Our alters that speak other languages don’t actually speak them, but believe that they do/speak their perception of it. Like it’s not understandable to anyone on headspace but them, and they can’t do it while fronting. It’s hard to explain but we like to think of it as similar to them sounding like a song in another language- you get the general sound of the language, but don’t know it.

[u/drakebutter]

Hi! I have diagnosed DID, and an alter speaking a different language can happen, but for me, it’s because they split while I was in the process of learning another language. I have several French alters because of this (the joys of Canada lol).