[sundarurfriend]

> To this day, for me, the primary meaning words like "loop" and "string" is that of programming

In my case (another non-native English speaker), I had come across 'a piece of string' and such before encountering programming, and so that's the immediate association string brings to mind. 'Loop', however, I hadn't come across before I learnt programming, so it's very strongly associated with that sense in my mind, even though now I know the "other" meaning.

> This is not the case when I'm reading a program that uses keywords in my native language [...] - those just look weird as hell, and very awkward/funny. I have often asked myself if that's what C and Python look like to native English speakers; and if so, then what difference does it make in how we code.

Yep, I too wondered the same thing after finding a programming language in my native language (https://github.com/Ezhil-Language-Foundation/Ezhil-Lang), and seeing how even keywords that are meant to sound natural for their usage get bent awkwardly out of shape by the thousand different contexts we use them in.