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Mental tics and language shifting... | ||
Tags: Language Interference | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| portisfreak Newbie United States Joined 5431 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes | Message 1 of 8 13 January 2010 at 12:37am | IP Logged |
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When ever I switch to a different language and speak, I find it really difficult to enunciate and pronunciation words for the first twenty seconds, as if something was
physically holding me back. My mind switches "gears" and most conversation thereafter is smooth and reflects my years of studies. The main issue is that it often makes my first sentence sound really awkward or almost unintelligible. It appears to the listener that I could hardly read a phrasebook much less participate in an eloquent exchange. I first imagined this was nervousness as this happens more frequently with native speakers, but even to my peers studying the language, this still happens. Any advice/studies/ideas on this? Some studies and casual observations claim that speaking languages creates a multiple personality-like situation and I'm wondering if this is related. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6785 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes  Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 2 of 8 13 January 2010 at 1:13am | IP Logged |
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I have the same thing you describe sometimes, but I also have another observation. I'm in the process of learning Italian, and to date I've had very little practice speaking it. So sometimes when I read I read out loud to get the practice. And I notice that at first I make a lot of mistakes. If I slow down I can say it correctly, but at normal speed (at the speed of reading) I mess it up. After maybe 2 pages I'm up to speed and I can read faster if I want and I still pronounce it correctly. Once I've "warmed up" it's working. But the next day it's the same thing again.
It seems to me that perhaps I am "set up for" a particular language. In my case I use English far and above any other language, and so when I'm trying to speak Italian there are some adjustments that have to be made. Maybe if I used them both all the time, they would both be ready to go always. But like you say it's very frustrating that this happens just when you're starting a conversation and it affects the first impression you make. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BartoG Diglot Senior Member United States confession Joined 5449 days ago 292 posts - 818 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian, Spanish, Latin, Uzbek | Message 3 of 8 13 January 2010 at 1:41am | IP Logged |
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I think it does take a minute to catch up when switching languages. However, I find that I'm actually weaker switching from one of my weak languages (Spanish and Italian) to my strong ones (English* and French). I think this is because I stick to set phrases and simple sentence patterns for my weak languages.
As with anything that might in any way be taken as a polyglot boast, you want to be careful not to appear to put on airs. But if you're concerned about a weak first impression of your language skills, the phrase to have on your tongue after that first stumble is, "Sorry, I'm still thinking in French..." The other thing you'll want to do, along the same lines of having a stock phrase regarding switching languages prepared, is having a second stock phrase, maybe that apologizes for mishearing or some such thing. If you drill this one as well, then you'll have two sentences before you have to really make the switch. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5969 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 8 13 January 2010 at 2:36am | IP Logged |
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I have had the same kind of difficulty switching languages, and I'm working on fixing it, but it's still difficult. I have been trying to improve German pronunciation with something of a Listening-Reading/Echo strategy, that is, by following a written text while listing to an audio recording VERY carefully for each phoneme, and then repeating it. This has attuned my mind very specifically to German sounds. I tried to do a Spanish text also today and found myself using German vowels where they should not occur. So, I cannot seem to do a direct language-to-language switch, not yet. Maybe with more practice, one day, but as of now I have to "warm up" in each language, as you said.
I had a problem with initial H sound in German at first because the only foreign language my brain knew was Spanish, and I didn't pronounce it. Now I have the opposite problem--I'm pronouncing the H in Spanish when I should not! My brain handles switching from one foreign language to another indirectly--that is, I can switch from English to Spanish, or from English to German, but not from Spanish to German. It's as if I have to pass through "English" mental territory first. I don't mean that I'm mentally translating into English, but that the pathways from language to language are just not well established yet. I hope this get better as I practice more. Rewiring or training the brain to do new things can take quite a while. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| portisfreak Newbie United States Joined 5431 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes | Message 5 of 8 13 January 2010 at 3:24am | IP Logged |
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These are some excellent ideas, thanks! Keep them coming.
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| Al-Irelandi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5537 days ago 111 posts - 177 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 8 13 January 2010 at 4:20pm | IP Logged |
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Interesting post. I get this when I transfer from Arabic to English, I sometimes get the problem of not being able to remember basic words to complete a sentence and am left hanging halfway until someone helps me out. Or even addressing different social groups here, who have their own different registers in language, is sometimes difficult due to choosing the right words\phrases to say to them.
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| pfwillard Pro Member United States Joined 5701 days ago 169 posts - 205 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 8 13 January 2010 at 9:25pm | IP Logged |
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I think there is a multiple personality effect, probably because we unknowingly model the behavior of our L2 teachers and friends as part of the package. I definitely have that shifting gears sensation, but it takes me more like 20 minutes these days.
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| Quabazaa Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5611 days ago 414 posts - 543 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, French Studies: Japanese, Korean, Maori, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written) | Message 8 of 8 13 January 2010 at 9:50pm | IP Logged |
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Yep I definitely use the "I'm still thinking in (Spanish)" line a lot! XD
I found that it also just takes practise. Somehow the more I speak in my L2 (Spanish), the easier it is to switch between that and L3 (German). As in, lately I have been making an effort to speak in Spanish every day, for most of the evening, and much to my surprise, within only a few weeks I can suddenly switch much easier between the two. Also when switching I often end up unable to remember a very basic word like say "street" in the language I want... but can remember it in 4 other languages. So frustrating! To avoid using a different language (as I feel it would mess me up more) I just start describing the thing in my target language. You know "umm I can't remember the word, you know the thing that cars drive on" may sound stupid but at least it's keeping you talking in your target language :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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