Mixing up languages

[WhimBerry]

(Speaking French)

"Salut! Je m'appelle Berry. Mon animaux prefere est le neko... Wait, no, that's not it... Gato... Chat! Le chat!"

"Watashi wa... Well that started off well."

 

(Forgetting words in... English, my first language.)

"You know, the word, something that's far fetched and amusing... I remember it in Japanese..."

"Um... No?"

"It's... What was it again? Kimagurena... That song by... WHIMSICAL! That's what it is!"

 

(To someone who speaks Japanese)

"Annyeong! Wait, no..."

[Biblioromantic]

I've done this before. I'm American and grew up speaking English, but I started learning Spanish in junior high and even minored in it in college. I was pretty fluent. Several years ago I worked as a missionary for my church and spoke/read/wrote almost entirely in Spanish for those 18 months, even though I was still living within the US. When I came home, I found a bilingual job where I was able to speak both languages regularly, and I additionally worked for a while as a translator and interpreter. There were some days when I had to stop, take a breath, and think to myself, "No, s/he's speaking to me in English. I must respond in English, even if the best word for what I'm trying to say is in Spanish." It happened in reverse as well.

[hellogorgeous7]

This is happening to me now with ASL. I have lexical and syntax level interference.  I just graduated from Gallaudet after a MA program where the language was ASL. Me, signing at my computer, trying to find the English word I know is right on the tip of my brain but won't come out. Bilingualism at its finest.

[Piotrek]

I made a mistake trying to learn both Spanish (started earlier) and Italian (started later, mostly self-educated). They are quite similar (lexically even very similar) so keeping them apart is a struggle... i haven't used either for years now.

[Homer]

All the time

[Zsareph]

A couple of years ago, I tried learning Spanish, German, and Japanese at the same time. This kind of thing happened a lot. I once greeted the new German teaching assistant in Spanish, *that* was her first impression of me *facepalm*.

[Falcon7]

French and Persian. Both super beginners level but always mixing up and find myself trying to speak French to Persian speakers or/and throw random persian words into Fench conversations. 

[SpaceDustbin]

The more Danish I speak, the more German I forget, and somehow my mind wants to substitute the lost German words with French ones, while applying Danish grammar. Argh. (And let's not talk about my gradually deteriorating Dutch )

[Yatagarasu]

I use Polish (native) and English on a daily basis and I tend to forget words in Polish whereas I remember them in English. I also often talk in a mix of these two languages.

Add Japanese I speak as well, albeit not as good.

[WhimBerry]

My first language is English, I am decently fluent in French, and I am learning Japanese. I picked up some Spanish and Korean as well. Not much, just enough to confuse it for other languages.

 

[Yatogami]

Language attrition is fun.

[RoseGoesToYale]

I've mixed up Spanish with French and French with Finnish. Most often using French pronunciation on Spanish words. There are certain phrases in French that I used so often I no longer think them in English first, e.g. "quel temps fait-il?" and "pas probleme!"

 

Often I'll start to say "c'est" in French and wind up saying "se on" in Finnish (both mean "it is"). Also mixing up French "ma", "ta", "se", and "me" pronouns with Finnish "mä", "sä", "se", and "me".

[dxrse]

My first language is Norwegian but I go to an international school (IB Diploma) and most of my friends speak English. I know both of the languages equally well, but I always forget Norwegian words for things when I finally have the opportunity to use Norwegian in school 😂. 

[Nidwin]

Mon animal stp et pas mon animaux.

[Mezzo Forte]

On 5/10/2018 at 2:55 AM, Piotrek said:

I made a mistake trying to learn both Spanish (started earlier) and Italian (started later, mostly self-educated). They are quite similar (lexically even very similar) so keeping them apart is a struggle... i haven't used either for years now.

I’m concerned about this, as I need to learn Spanish and Portuguese for my research, and there’s no learning them simultaneously because of their resemblance. I’m prioritizing Spanish because I have fieldwork plans in Cuba next year and I already have some background in that language, but Portuguese is definitely going to be difficult once I start learning that language in earnest.

[Yatogami]

I don't usually mix up languages, but I have suddenly said things with an accent. I talk to many people from around the world, and it leaves an impression on my verbal skills. That, on top of having a rare American accent myself.

 

Most people think I am either Australian, or Mexican. Which I find interesting.

[Larkaloke]

It doesn't happen to me with English, but whenever I can't think of what to say or write in French I tend to wind up substituting German. Not particularly coherent, that.

[iff]

I did English, German and Irish in school.

 

When it came to exams, it seemed what I wanted to say in a German exam, I could in Irish but not in German and what I wanted to say in an Irish exam, I could in German but not in Irish.

[Spring.Gan]

Ugh, this happened to me my whole life. I'm born in America, but I spent 10 years studying in China. Sometimes I can't think of the Chinese word for an English word, sometimes I can't think of the English word for a Chinese word, sometimes I give up on thinking! 

[Guest]

I always mix English and French. I think posters here, can see it with how I sometimes mistakenly put commas in the wrong places thinking in French.

 

In speech, its more forgetting a word or two, and sitting there trying to remember it, until the person I am talking to (mercifully) lets me know: "Oh, I speak English/Francais, too!" to where I can tell them the word am thinking of.

[Leilamy]

Since I've become better at English (I'm french) and read a lot more english, I often find myself saying things like "I remember how to say it in English but not in French" in everyday life. Or when I read fictions and my sisters asks me if it was english or french to see if she could read it too, I honestly can't remember in which of the 2 languages it was written

 

 

I also study German and Italian, and when I have to talk I struggle when I'm missing for a word because I want to put the english ones I remember. Also, when I need time to think I want to say "So..." because I don't know any blank-fillers in Italian or German

[Palovana]

That's actually very common for people who are multilingual. It's just the way the language acquisition part of the brain puts together information. 

 

Like other people here, for example, when I was learning French, as soon as I would want to say something in French but couldn't remember the word, my brain would automatically recall the German one. I'm a native English speaker and I studied German in high school. My French is mostly self-taught and it's much better than my German now because it's been a few years since I studied German, and because of that it doesn't really happen anymore, but it's an example of how the brain is going to recall the first "non-native" word it remembers when working with a language it didn't acquire naturally during its development. I'm sure if (when) I pick up German again, whenever I want to say something in German I don't know, the first thing I'll think is the French equivalent.

 

I love languages to the point of probably being a neurological oddball, and in general they have always come very easily and naturally for me. I want to start learning Italian next, but I don't think my French is quite to the point I want it before I start seriously introducing another language to my neurons. 😛 

[Karoushi]

Yo as someone who is studying both Japanese and American sign language, it's so weird mixing up a verbal and visual language. I was in a Japanese interview a few months ago and my hands started doing the signing alongside with the Japanese. Like I was processing the Japanese in my head but the ASL kinda came along with it?? It was pretty interesting though. I just hope the interviewer didn't notice lmao

[Madao]

This happens to me a lot of times. My native language and national language are too similar so I end up mixing both thr languages, so in the end, I suck at both of them. Then comes English which I again mix in those two languages. I started to learn Japanese and a few years later, simultaneously started to learn German. It was the worst decision. I am slowly forgetting my Japanese thanks to it. I also started to write my native language in Japanese. In short, it's a language smoothie now. Horrible one at that. 

[Aroace_bookworm]

My native language is English, i'm in a french immersion school, and I'm learning dutch on the side. Can't say i've ever really mixed them up, but the three languages are very different. Sprinkles vs Hagelslag vs ...well there isn't really a french word for it.....

[Guest Deus Ex Infinity]

I'd sometimes start mixing up German and English phrases in conversation or mails ^///^ It's no big deal but embarassing.