But a Java developer won't become a better Java developer if they learn C#, which is basically Java with different capitalization conventions.
I guess something like that happens for natural languages. You get those benefits if you actively learn new concepts. The difference of course is that you are unlikely to have done that purely by being bilingual. Many bilingual people just picked up 2+ languages as they were growing up.
knowing english and german is not knowing two full languages imho. you’ll get more exposure to german culture but it’s not the same as knowing English and a slavic or asian language.
Some concept exist in one and not the other. Addressing someone in a formal way. Addressing a group a once ( “y’all” )
But I know bits and pieces of German, Latin and Polish… those have lots of grammatical differences that force you to think about the structure of your sentence. Recognize a datif from a ablatif. That type of things. It actually help with writing correct French.
But I’m not sure it would make me “better” like learning a functional language or ASM made me a “better” developer.
When you speak a language fluently you're able to speak and understand without thinking about it. Children can be fluent with no formal training in grammar. Meanwhile, for me at least, programming is the opposite: I have to learn all the rules on a formal level and my mind can't wander while I'm programming at all.
I think the benefits of knowing more natural languages are pretty clear: the ability to speak to and understand more people. Plus the art, entertainment, and other cultural productions you get access to.
IMO, your programming language comparison is somewhat similar in that even knowing multiple, similar languages allows you to differentiate between the syntax and the concepts expressed by the syntax. E.g. different ways of constructing classes and objects in different languages will make you understand the core of OOP better, similarly to different ways to loop, etc.
But sometime I will use English turn of sentences in French and it sounds weird ( just did it a l’envers here, pretty sure “turn of sentence” does not exists in English )
I’m ok at Spanish too. My main motivation is to be able to talk to random peoples when traveling. English came de facto because of the internet and US soft power.
Not sure it makes me better at writing or speaking.
I grew to like English this way: massive corpus made of anglo-saxon plus French.
Just to give an example of why “Anglo-Saxon” might be too broad a term—surviving Old English texts like Beowulf are in what you might call Late West Saxon, and the differences between Saxon and Anglian dialects help explain why Chaucer, who spoke something you might call Anglo-Norman, is much more accessible to modern readers.
If you want more of that Saxon influence, listen to West Country English, where it survives today.
Presence of English in France and Germany might be more due to Americans.
It’s interesting to see French word in English from the William the conqueror period, too. ( like “phrase” from above or the tired example “sheep” vs “mutton” )
We do say "turn of phrase" in English, which means something similar. I wonder if both have the same origin.
It actually goes to show that my command of English is limited. I know both words but “phrase” did not occurs to me even so it’s the same damn word :)
Yeah, that jarred for me. We do say "turn of phrase".