This is such an interesting topic. Unfortunately no advice here I can only tell you about my own experience.
I used to have the same problem when studying Russian at university. My mind would always come up with French words instead of Russian words. I had French at school for 4 years and was at an upper B2 level back then.
5 years ago I started to learn Arabic and Spanish together and never had this problem again. No mixing of those two languages and also no French, English or German words trying to sneak into my mind with either of those languages.
I don’t know what made the difference and after university I haven’t tried to pick up Russian again, so, I’m not sure if maybe it was just a thing with the Russian language (which I’ve never been really good at).
Thanks @Rina ! That’s so interesting that you had no trouble learning Arabic and Spanish together… how much time did you give to each language when you started? Did you study one, and then move right on to the next during the course of a study session or did you work on one language on one day, and the next on another day?
I always try to only do one language per day (lessons, homework, other things that help me practice). Most of the time this works fine, sometimes I do have to schedule 2 different language lessons on the same day. Currently I’m still studying Arabic and am brushing up my French. I still haven’t got any problem with mixing the languages, but if I do have to do both a French and an Arabic lesson on the same day, I realize that I usually am a bit slower in the second lesson, especially if there isn’t much time in between lessons to prepare for the second one.
I have especially two ways of preventing language “leaking”:
I try to keep the languages I learn and speak “pure”, in my mind. What I mean by “pure”, is that if there is a specific word or term for something in any specific language, then that is the word or term I would prefer to use, rather than any other word or phrase borrowed from another language.
I agree with those that see different languages as having different personalities. The “personality” of each language should not really be distinguished from the collective pesonality of the mother tongue speakers. In this way, you preserve the specific “taste” of each language in your own mind. This also greatly prevents language “leaking”, since personalities do not leak .
It reminds me when I started to study Japanese and I was having classes in English as the teacher was Japanese and couldn’t speak Czech. Instead of replying in EN or JP I was tempted to reply in German and it felt so weird to me. I was trying to find the connection for this strange temptation and I realized that it was probably because of the same environment where I was learning both languages. I studied Italian and English at school (elementary and high school education) and the approach was different, so I didn’t mix it with Japanese, but I studied German in language course which actually looked similar to the Japanese one and that was probably why my brain somehow connected these two languages even if they are completely different. It was a funny moment for me to realize how my brain can work sometimes.
Strengthening both languages might do the trick, if you’re up to working on more than one at the same time. More exposure and practice in each of them may allow your brain to be primed and ready to fetch the right words when the time comes.
I had this problem when I tried to bring back French after years of studying Spanish. I had to work on both simultaneously to sort them out. I still get them mixed up here and there but daily practice in each language seems to help.
¡Sí!, yo iba a comentar precisamente lo mismo. Hace un año retomé el francés y el aranés (occitano), que son muy parecidos y los tenía más o menos al mismo nivel y al principio los mezclaba mucho, con la práctica los mezclo cada vez menos y yo creo que es porque los estudio de manera diferente; aranés en una clase normal con más alumnos, y el francés por mi cuenta o con mi hijo. Sin embargo como las clases de aranés son muy parecidas a las de euskera a las que fui hace años, muchas veces me salen palabras en euskera aunque son idiomas completamente distintos, pero la situación es parecida. Además esto me pasaba más cuando las clases se hacían presenciales, y ahora que se hacen online por el covid me pasa menos.
Creo que el modo en que se estudia, los materiales que se usan, el entorno,… influye mucho: si la situación es parecida se mezclan más, o sea que igual la solución podría ser buscar modos diferentes de trabajar cada idioma.
interesting topic! I know how it feel exactly, because I always dabble. I learn german, french, arabic, spanish, and italian at the beginning (all A1). After some times, I gave up on my german and french, and continue with spanish, italian, arabic, and added esperanto.
Because italian, spanish, and esperanto are similar to some extent, I keep mix it. Although arabic is difference, I still mix it in my italian learning session!
I challenged my brain a lot with learn all those language at the same time same level. At the beginning, it was interesting to observe how my brain differentiate and switch between language. but now, after almost a year, sometimes I frustrated when my brain work too hard in those languages, and end up with saying words in my native language unintentionally, and missed to speak in the language I feel comfort with. something I never feel when I have not learned other languages yet. however, it is still interesting for me to learn other languages. and I still can’t choose only one language to be learnt
I grew up bilingual with English and Tamil, and one by one I added my other four-plus languages. I never had a problem until the past few years with leaking. Given that I use Italian so much in speaking and with singing opera, Italian has started to leak into my Tamil! It really freaks me out! I want to substitute Italian words for Tamil, and I don’t know why. It’s never happened with ANY other language!
Oh my goodness, sorry for my delayed response! You know, that’s a good question. My only thought is that I use Italian so frequently, because of opera, and speaking it very regularly. Either that, or I am really an Italian trapped inside an Indian-American’s body
I can only tell you about my own experience.
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