Multiple languages confusion

[Tim207]

Before coming to Thailand I spoke functional Spanish. When learning Thai I would accidentally mix Spanish words in when speaking Thai. I have since progressed in Thai and rarely use Spanish but now I find when trying to speak Spanish I often mix in Thai words. I still understand other people speaking Spanish but I can't speak it without adding Thai.

Does this happen to anyone else and are there any strategies to overcome this?

[Donnie Brasco]

You always remember your last or more recent language set off the top.

If you don't use your Spanish, a linguistic interference of Thai into Spanish, your second last language will be the norm.

Add to this the complete lack of cognates between Thai and English or Spanish and English and you will be triggering Thai responses to the mnemonic queues you that used to trigger Spanish responses.

Unless you're Pilipino, that is.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit. . . . "

[Johpa]

Yes, I had similar experiences. I had become pretty good at another language, Hebrew, as during the 1970s I had relocated to Israel. When I first relocated to Thailand in the early 1980s I would often have vocabulary from that other language pop into my head and occasionally, and unintentionally, insert themselves into my attempts at speech in Thai. Hebrew has the perfect word for this phenomena that can easily be appreciated by English speakers, the verb l'hitbabel ( להתבלבל ) that derives from the biblical story of the Tower of Babel and means to become confused.

[AyG]

I suspect there are two types of people: those who can be fluently multilingual, and those who can only cope with two languages at a time. I firmly fall into the latter category. Now I can only speak French with great difficult, having consciously to check that every word I use is French, not Thai. And my spoken Japanese has disappeared almost completely (though I can still read it and write it, and understand it when spoken without difficulty).

[Aforek]

I have all the day time 3 languages in head, French, which is my language, English that I read on Internet and speak sometimes, and thai that I speak and read all the time; I never mix them, but as above for Spanish, sometime it takes a few seconds to remember a word in French ( maybe it's also my age ) ( I am not fluent in thai but it's the language I use most now )

[transam]

My Oxford English does stray into cockney at times, especially with four letter expletives.............

[AyG]

Just another anecdote: when I was working in Luxembourg many years ago I was regularly conversing in English, French and German. Visiting a restaurant one evening I inadvertently mixed all three languages in a single sentence. The waiter just smiled and understood.

[transam]

Just another anecdote: when I was working in Luxembourg many years ago I was regularly conversing in English, French and German. Visiting a restaurant one evening I inadvertently mixed all three languages in a single sentence. The waiter just smiled and understood.

Garners will always be the best pickled onions in any language.................

[AyG]

Just another anecdote: when I was working in Luxembourg many years ago I was regularly conversing in English, French and German. Visiting a restaurant one evening I inadvertently mixed all three languages in a single sentence. The waiter just smiled and understood.

Garners will always be the best pickled onions in any language.................

Not sure I understood your post, but you're wrong. Haywards all the way.

[transam]

Just another anecdote: when I was working in Luxembourg many years ago I was regularly conversing in English, French and German. Visiting a restaurant one evening I inadvertently mixed all three languages in a single sentence. The waiter just smiled and understood.

Garners will always be the best pickled onions in any language.................

Not sure I understood your post, but you're wrong. Haywards all the way.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, Garners are in MALT vinegar..................I am a connoisseur............

[Richard W]

My theory was that I just had a mental category 'foreign language'. Whenever I try to speak French, I have to try hard to stop Thai coming out.

[phuketsub]

I am in the same boat as RichardW and AyG. I studied French for 7 years and went to university (English curriculum) in Montreal, then I kind of gave up based on the lack of responsiveness of the people there as well as the need to focus on my studies in order to graduate. I later had a sort of renaissance when I visited rural France and realized I could communicate effectively with the people there. But after 30 years of Thai study, I ALWAYS use Thai words in the rare instances I try to speak French. I guess my brain is only wired for one foreign language as well.

[Seastallion]

I'm glad I'm not a dunce.... I had thought I may have a minor mental affliction. It seems that it's a common occurrence. A native english speaker, I learnt a 2nd language as a teenager. No problems, no mix-ups. In my 20's I learnt a third language which I used alot, as well as English. When I occasionally had to speak the 2nd language, there was often a smattering of the 3rd language in my sentences until I'd realise what I was doing (from the blank stares of incomprehension). Now, with Thai, I get urges to say words from the 3rd language, but luckily my Thai is so new, I always have to practice in my head before speaking, and catch the foreign words before they are spoken.

edit;

Odd, thinking back, I didn't have the 2nd language interjecting itself when I was learning the 3rd language. Maybe because I was in almost total immersion?

[Morakot]

are there any strategies to overcome this?

Language switching is usually an automatic process, which means we don't consciously think about this.

The use of language normally happens in context. So for instance, if one has spoken French all this life to his brother and English to his wife, as soon as you see your brother's face or your wife's face one will automatically switch to the relevant language accordingly.

The problem of accidental switching occurs when a language is not properly attached to a context. This often happens at an earlier stage of mastering, when one for instance just left the "class room" and language usage has not deeply bound to a specific social context.

The way to overcome this is an increase in social exposure combined with speaking the language. That means speaking Thai with Thai people in a Thai context rather than (unconsciously) assuming that Thai is something "foreign" spoken by "foreign people" like Spanish might be for you.

It's a long term process and a completely "normal trouble" any bilingual speaker is mundanely confronted with and routinely overcomes.