Jessierugg

So I have been learning French in high school for five years, and I am just starting to understand it pretty well, and I am beginning to be able to think in it. This is my first year in college (univeristy) and because Spanish is spoken by many people where I live, I have started studying Spanish, as well as continuing my French. I really like both of the languages and enjoy studying them, but I have a little problem. Now when I try to speak or think in French, Spanish words keep popping into my head from time to time. Of course I realize quickly that it is a Spanish word, and think of the French equivalent, but I am afraid that as I get better at Spanish this will happen more often. It is difficult because the two languages are kind of similar. I think if I were learning two completely different languages this would not be as much of a problem. I am afraid that I am going to lose my French! Does this get better with time, being able to "think" in two different foreign languages without mixing them up? If anyone has learned two foreign languages that are somewhat similar to each other I would love your opinions or advice! ~Jessica

bernhard

I dont have time to respond more in detail, but I learned spanish during 7 years, and now I am learning Polish, and when I try to speak spanish polish words are coming up instead of the spanish words... spanish and polish are quite different, and i still have the problem !

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Bernhard
(Admin)

suggestions ?

petite!

I speak French, German and English fluently and have experienced the same problem. I think it is unavoidable. It is especially difficult when I have to speak German, while in the US for example. But I have found one way to help: I try to prepare myself by thinking in the language I have to use next, read in that same language, listen to music, etc. It usually works for me

felipealonso

This is a classical problem... That happens to me more often than I may want... In Spanish there are only 4 consonant that can be doubled: CC - LL - NN and RR, and you can see in French you have many of them doubled: BB - CC - FF - LL - MM - NN - PP - RR - SS ... and for me that's a matter of constant mistakes. In Italian you have more double consonants, but since the pronunciation changes, it helps you to tell the difference: Nono - Nonno, Sete - Sette, etc. The same happens with written accents. In Spanish you can have only one accent in a word, but in French you can have many of them, even different types of accents: Théâtre, élève, général, etc...
You can speak a language very well without writing it perfectly, but when you need to redact a text, to write a letter, a report, you need to cope with these issues...

Sometimes the similarities between two languages can be an advantage, because you actually don't start from zero; but you have the risk to perpetuate the mistakes... See the case between Spanish and Portuguese, and the famous "Portuñol (Portunhol)".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portu%C3%B1ol

My advice is to spend some time seeing the differences, understanding them, and reading a lot!!!! Because the differences can be about gender, as well:
Milk > Leche (f) = Lait (m)
Butter > Mantequilla (f) = Beurre (m)
Salt > Sal (f) = Sel (m)
Bed > Cama (f) = Lit (m)
Pain > Dolor (m) = Douleur (f)
Value > Valor (m) = Valeur (f)
Heat > Calor (m) = Chaleur (f); etc.

¡¡¡Ánimo!!!

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"Soy lo que hago para descubrir lo que soy"
"Je suis ce que je fais pour découvrir ce que je suis"

Persian Multilingual

hello,

well,as a matter of fact I myself had the same problem, I think it would occur when you are just getting acquainted with the new language but you shouldn't panic. give it a try this way:
if you want to think in a foreign language make a program for your self, for example "today is french day, I will just think in french, no spanish is allowed in my mind", try but don't get angry it is bound to clear in no time and don't worry as long as you continue french nothing will go wrong.
another way is to speak aloud, if you speak aloud, the word just come out in a tune that will help you distinguish that this tune is french, or spanish, and so will follow the word in he respectable language. with some practice this should be sorted out.

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Native speaker of Persian

Advanced Speaker of English

Intermediate Speaker of german

Upper-Elementary learner of arabic

I am an undergraduate of Russian

I just know a little bit French !

I'd love to learn Chinese...

felipealonso

That actually works, but in many cases you're forced to speak in your mother language, whether you like it or not... that's my case... I must speak Spanish every day, I must think in Spanish, write, read, etc; because I live in a Spanish speaking country, and if you have a very demanding job, you don't have the enough time off for thinking in other languages...
If I lived in other country, with a different language, the situation would be completely different and I know I'd make more progress with languages, because I would be compelled to speak that foreing language to make a living, sooner or later. I would love to have a week without Spanish language!!! But that's impossible right now...
I know there are many people in this forum who live in a foreign country, or maybe there are some people who were raised bilingual, trilingual, as well... all of them have an advantage that many of us don't have.

__________________
"Soy lo que hago para descubrir lo que soy"
"Je suis ce que je fais pour découvrir ce que je suis"

Persian Multilingual

hello,
well, you are right, I myself am in my native country and don't have connection with foreigners, very little, i would say, just a little at the university.

I haven't had problems with my native language because it is just there, I can't help it, but there ARE sometimes I can think in foreign languages, speak them out loud (to myself). that works for me, and it matters if you like the language or not. one question, honestly, Is thinking really a matter of the language?

__________________
Native speaker of Persian

Advanced Speaker of English

Intermediate Speaker of german

Upper-Elementary learner of arabic

I am an undergraduate of Russian

I just know a little bit French !

I'd love to learn Chinese...