What Language do you swear in?

[Hel-Be-Praised]

This question is mostly intended for bi/multilingual people but anyone with experience/opinions are welcome to respond.

I’m writing a story where my main character grew up bilingual, with English technically being their mother tongue, but they also acquired Hindi in their home environment.

My issue is with habits surrounding swearing and other uses of language. I myself am bilingual, I speak Mandarin and English fluently. I have found that, no matter what language I’m speaking, when I swear unconsciously (something happens, I’m upset, etc.) I swear in English. But, conversely, when I’m just muttering to myself or taking notes I often do so in Mandarin.

I was wondering for people who are bi or multilingual what language do you swear or mutter in? I want my character’s use of language to be fluid and natural and reflect how language is used.

I wanted to get more opinions because I didn’t organically learn Mandarin, I was taught it. So I’m curious about other people’s experience with language.

[Azifri]

I speak 3 languages regularly (Swiss German, Spanish, English), 2 of which I learned from my parents at the same time when growing up (the first 2 of the list; my mom would speak in one, my dad in the other). In my case, I swear in the languages where I used to swear the most in a given context.

For example, when I'm driving and I'm surprised abour something or a situation requires insulting I use English (I drove the most when I lived in the US). But when I hit my hand against something, slip and fall, or want to insult someone, I use Spanish (not sure why, maybe because I used Spanish the most in a casual/street context). When I'm in an unfriendly discussion I tend to use Swiss German words (maybe because my mom and I used to discuss a lot :S).

[Kelheor]

All of them Well, usually in my native great and mighty Russian language lol (I am not bilingual or anything). Sometimes I casually use "fcking fck" from English, but not when something crucial or unexpectedly bad happened, more like in surprise. Sometimes 草泥马 is better than the thousand words, especially when I don't want people around to understand I am swearing? I guess I use it when I am annoyed by something.
So when I hit my toe against the leg of the stool, I will definitely shout in Russian, when the computer is frozen I'll say "fcking fck" and in the crowded bus I'll maybe say "Ai, wo cao" (sorry, no pinyin on my computer).

[vothnthorvaldson]

My first language is French, but I'm living in an English-speaking area.

The language I swear in is generally the language of the closest social context at any given moment.
Eg: while I most commonly swear in French when I'm in a location where people speak French, because I hear the people speak this language, I may swear in English if I just read this forum post. The last language used is generally what comes spontaneously (like for swearing, dreaming, pain exclamations etc).

[Mane]

I've actually been thinking about this recently, and yes, I swear in English and not at all in my native language. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I hear it so often in the media I consume that it kinda took the edge of. F-bombs for me are funny rather than offensive. Even then I don't think I can even call it swearing in the purest sense of the word as I used it mostly as a joke. On the flip side, I can never to that in my native language. It feels a lot more visceral and crude to my ears. Double standards, I know.

[Azifri]

dreaming

For me the language I dream in seems to be random, but you mentioning dreams reminded me on the time I lived in a student house in Chile. My roommate didn't know I spoke German, and one night she got back late, tipsy, and making a lot of noise. I was asleep, but she told me the next day that with all the noise I sat in the bed, looked at her and spoke in a different language. It scared the drunkness out of her Sleepy Swiss German must sound kinda creepy for someone who's not used to it. It was so weird when the next morning she awkwardly asked me if by any chance I knew another language xD

[amberberry]

I speak Finnish (as my mother tongue) and fluent English and I swear in both languages, although in English I usually use the 'f-bomb' (I've been thinking this a lot and it's so weird to me that English people seem to be so uncomfortable with this word, like it's not really a "bomb" and people use it like a punctuation mark, but that's probably a topic for another talk).
I mostly swear in Finnish because there I'll have a much bigger arsenal of words at my disposal. All the serious and pissed off swearing happens in Finnish while the occasional swear is often in English

[Jophiel]

I speak Filipino (words are often derived f/transliterated from other languages) and English. I know very little Arabic.

I swear with both Eng and Fil but I find myself swearing in my native language (Filipino) since idk it feels more expressive? I use only f-words to describe the intensity of what I'm feeling, be it sad or happy or tired but with the "PI" word or other non-english curses, I feel like I can express shock and anger more expressively.

[mappypaint]

I speak Filipino (words are often derived f/transliterated from other languages) and English. I know very little Arabic.

I swear with both Eng and Fil but I find myself swearing in my native language (Filipino) since idk it feels more expressive? I use only f-words to describe the intensity of what I'm feeling, be it sad or happy or tired but with the "PI" word or other non-english curses, I feel like I can express shock and anger more expressively.

This! You saved me from all the typing. XD

[abcde]

If I'm really, really angry -- like livid, super furious mode -- I swear in my mother tongue.

English swears feel either meh or funny to me, I don't see them as very crude. I mean they are, but the effect isn't much to me.

[LovelyOtter]

I have a friend who's freakin' hilarious when she swears in Creole. I don't need to understand the language to know what she means.

[jcmraz]

I'm not bilingual but I speak some vietnamese and sometimes swear in vietnamese but mostly english. as it's my native language

[Kann]

There's a higher possibility of me swearing in English than Polish. I just kinda stuck with "no swearing" policy when I'm speaking my first language. I might swear if I'm furious or something, but usually I'll avoid it. I drop f-boms in English sometimes mostly as a joke.

Also for some reason English swears seem "mild" to me compared to most languages. xD

[amortelito]

I swearing in my mother tongue, Spanish, is more natural to me. Here in my country is socially acceptable to curse (a lot🤣). When I am speaking English I swear in English but to me the words sound "softer" than Spanish bad words: "f***k" is not as offensive as "ch*** a tu m***" . So if I am very angry I am more likely to curse in Spanish.

[Iris-Grimoire]

Mostly in english. There's just something relatively clean about saying fuck compared to my mother tongue's equivalents - maybe because I hear so few of them in non-vulgar/aggressive contexts. I still swear a little bit in portuguese but like, a mild word or two, never anything harsh.

[DiegoPalacios]

When i swear, i do in the language i am speaking at the moment.

But when i stub my toe or something like that, i will swear in spanish.

When I am speaking English I swear in English but to me the words sound "softer" than Spanish bad words: "f***k" is not as offensive as "ch*** a tu m***" . So if I am very angry I am more likely to curse in Spanish.

Yeah, the Spanish language has a poetic way of swearing that hits further on people`s souls XD

[WriterLinXiaolong]

My native language is Bruneian Malay and English is my second language, and few other basic east asian language. But I tend to pick up swear words from other languages... so the language I use when swearing is quite colourful? But I mostly use Chinese and Korean so that my parents don't understand it

[AbelDraws]

I swear almost always in Spanish. I have way more room for creativity there hahaha. From time to time I'll mutter to myself f*** or something like that when something isn't working, but nothing else. Oh wait, yes, I also use wtf irl hahaha I've gotten that habit and people around me use it as well so... It works.

Also I still have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that swearing isn't perceived the same way in Spanish (at least in Spain) than in English. Gotta get used to using hell instead or f*** for now svdkgk

[silverraven0]

I can speak 3 language (sort of...?), and I mostly swear with the Chinese dialect one, although in online and me swearing out loud (it's interchangeably with the Chinese dialect tho), it's usually in English. Very very rarely searing in Indonesian although it's my most proficient language I have.

[MiniSheepPencil]

I swear in both Danish, English, and Korean
Mostly use Korean because no one else understands it around here.