Alyx
Hi! Do you have some piece of advice to help with languages mix up? I'm currently learning Italian, but as I already know some Spanish, I cannot help my mind to reach up for Spanish words and accent instead of Italian ones 😅 Is there any polyglot person around here who has experienced this too, and has some tips to limit this? Thanks in advance! Grazie mille! Muchas gracias!
Apr 23, 2021 6:24 PM
Answers · 8
2
This is more common than you think. You know 3 languages with a lot of common vocabulary, so it is inevitable you might mix things up. I don’t think it would happen if you were learning Thai or Swahili, or happen as much. The brain has only one centre for languages, so this also explains the confusion. I think the way around this is reading in your target language but writing it out as well. In effect you write out in advance what you want to say. I think there is a big leap in learning when you write, as this makes things clearer, and then you can speak without as much confusion.
April 24, 2021
1
Hello again 🙂 For now I'm trying two techniques, I'll let you know if this works after some trial time 😊 1. Trying to let an English word come to my mind, instead of the Spanish one. I guess it's normal to reach for alternatives when you don't know the Italian word yet. Maybe it will help my brain to define the Italian as one distinct language, not to be mixed up with Spanish. 2. Allowing my brain to think in Spanish, but here again by separating the two languages: I'll say the entire sentence in Spanish, and then I'll try again in Italian. Let's hope it will work 💪 Let me know if you have other ideas/tips 😉 Bello giorno a tutti! ☀️
April 24, 2021
1
Sometimes, I do this with Korean and Spanish or Chinese and French, especially if I am suddenly switching languages. It’s normal. All of the other previous tips are helpful. However, one thing that I do is, I try to embody the attitude and nuisances of the language that I’m speaking. Doing so, helps my brain become more aware of the language that I need to recall at that moment.
May 23, 2021
Hello! I'm in a very similar situation right now. I'm a Russian Native speaker and I've just started learning Serbian, which is also a Slavic language. I always want to read and write like I'm used to in Russian. The only thing that helps me right now is practice. I write the new or confusing words for about ten times each and then I try to write some sentence with them. If I still can't write it correctly at once, I do all the same practice over again the next day.
April 30, 2021
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