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Can’t switch or L3 is blocking L2 | ||
Tags: Language Interference | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| French_please Newbie Joined 4257 days ago 6 posts - 7 votes Studies: French | Message 1 of 8 21 July 2014 at 8:52pm | IP Logged |
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I had a solid level of L2 and I've got A2 in L3. But I have impression that the more I practise L3 the worse is my L2. I still can watch documentaries, read novels in L2, but when I need to say "green apple" I have instant translation in L3 and I barely force myself to recall L2 translation and of course I cant speak in one flow.
On the other side if I'll dedicate several days on my L2 it would be hard to "switch" to L3 like one language is blocking another one. Always one is active and another become passive. I need to use them both. How could I achieve that? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4359 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 2 of 8 21 July 2014 at 9:59pm | IP Logged |
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You don't happen to mention what your languages are, or how long you've been studying them, but I actually think this is fairly common.
Last year when I started to learn Polish, it was incredibly frustrating because I would go to say something in Polish and only German would want to come out. I still have issues with sentence structure being formed in a more "German" way. It was almost as though my brain had decided that I only had one foreign language, so when I tried to add another one into the mix, it really started to make things difficult. I can't remember if I really had issues in the other direction (I tried to limit my German during that time), but in general this problem seemed to ease up after I hit the 150 hours mark in Polish. This summer during my Ukrainian class it wasn't as bad, but I still slipped a few times if I needed to speak Ukrainian for an extended period. In what way do you need both languages active at the same time? Is it for work? Are you around speakers of both languages on a consistent basis? One thing you could try doing is reading or watching something in one language, and then summarizing it in the other. That may help to reinforce both. Probably more speaking practice as well will help make the switch easier. I really think this is something that can be overcome, but it just takes time for you to get used to actively using both. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Darklight1216 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5090 days ago 411 posts - 639 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German | Message 3 of 8 21 July 2014 at 10:02pm | IP Logged |
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I'm no expert, but it sounds like you need to practice doing what it is you want to
achieve. If you want to speak in both languages, make speaking in both languages a priority. Make sure you are making time to converse in each language without neglecting the other. But one thing I suggest is that you more in depth about what a "solid level" is. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5007 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 4 of 8 22 July 2014 at 12:06am | IP Logged |
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Stop translating.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5756 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 5 of 8 22 July 2014 at 3:00pm | IP Logged |
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Switching can be difficult even when the only thing you translate from is a mental visualization of what you want to say.
My bit of advice would be: Try to switch more. Like many other language-related skills it gets better when you practice more. And, there's probably no magic cure. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6587 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 6 of 8 22 July 2014 at 4:42pm | IP Logged |
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Yes, stop translating and switch more. When I forced my brain to switch between something like Indonesian and Finnish, it had to give in and work on making it a general skill (rather than specific to a language pair).
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4939 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 7 of 8 23 July 2014 at 4:33pm | IP Logged |
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Like everything else, it is really a matter of practice. In two ways:
1. One has to reach a high enough level in L2. And I don't mean necessarily requiring C1 or C2, it's not about that kind of level. It's about reaching thorough, almost automatic familiarity with your L2. For example, I can easily almost at will switch between German, French, Spanish, and English on every day topics, because I have practiced enough speech and studied each language well enough. Portuguese on the other hand, I have to think a bit more, because I simply learned the language but applied no where near the practice hours to my speech, so it is not automatic. 2. Practice switching. Which is obvious advice. With those two, you will reach a point where language switching becomes quite easy. But it takes time and effort, no other shortcuts. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6587 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 8 of 8 23 July 2014 at 5:29pm | IP Logged |
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reminds me on this thread
1 person has voted this message useful |
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