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Related languages, "discounts" and mixing | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| FuroraCeltica Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6866 days ago 1187 posts - 1427 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 1 of 14 05 March 2006 at 5:04pm | IP Logged |
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Something is confusing me. On the one hand, I have heard people say that you should learn a related language to one you have already studied as it will be quicker to learn at a "discount". However, at the same time some people discourage this, as you might "mix up" your languages (I sometimes have this problem in German and Dutch).
Therefore, you are in a tricky situation; on the one hand if you learn a related language, you can learn quicker because of the discount but run the risk of mixing them. On the other hand, you can learn an unrelated language and not worry about mixing them, but not be able to learn with the "discount" advantage. I was just curious as to what all your thoughts are on this 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6910 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 14 05 March 2006 at 5:42pm | IP Logged |
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A math teacher once discouraged me to study French and Spanish "because I would mix them up". In fact, my previous knowledge of Spanish only helped. As long as you know what you, you will be OK. You alone are responsible for separating them/mixing them up. :)
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| M-Squared Senior Member United States Joined 7140 days ago 117 posts - 118 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 3 of 14 05 March 2006 at 7:13pm | IP Logged |
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I don't think there is that much to say. If you've learned a second
language really well, your third (and fourth, etc) are going to be at some discount. Related or not, you've passed the hump of really learning another language, and that experience is a benefit in all others. Others on this board (not me) have testified that families start to become clear when you've learned several members. I suppose it is because you can perceive the patterns that are normally consistent from one language to another. You may confuse one with the other, but on the other hand part of that confusion is from seeing the universals of the family. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| TDC Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6922 days ago 261 posts - 291 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, French Studies: Esperanto, Ukrainian, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Persian | Message 4 of 14 05 March 2006 at 7:23pm | IP Logged |
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With Italian / Spanish I sometimes mix up the spellings... but that's really about it. It seems like I put different languages into different parts of my head. However, when I hadn't studied French for two years, and I had been speaking Chinese for about a year, whenever I started to say something in French, it begin in French, and by the end of the sentence I'd be speaking in Chinese...lol...so...
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| Eidolio Bilingual Octoglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 6862 days ago 159 posts - 164 votes 2 sounds Speaks: Dutch*, Flemish*, French, English, Latin, Ancient Greek, Italian, Greek | Message 5 of 14 06 March 2006 at 4:34am | IP Logged |
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Mixing up languages is awful and you should try to avoid it. But this shouldn't discourage you to learn 2 related languages, you'll just have to pay attention to it.
By the way 2 languages don't have to be closely related to each other to mix them up. I'm terrible at this, sometimes it's like I'm mixing up all the languages I know - Dutch and French, English and French, Dutch and English, Greek and Latin, Italian and Latin,... Sometimes I realize I'm saying odd things, but sometimes I don't and this is annoying. I think mixing up 2 languages is maybe more likely when they're related, but it can also happen with unrelated languages so this risk shouldn't stop you from learning e.g. both French and English 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Hackseng Newbie Canada Joined 6925 days ago 15 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Korean, French | Message 6 of 14 09 March 2006 at 12:28am | IP Logged |
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I have the same problem as TDC. I learned French years ago, but have recently focused on Korean alone. When I speak with a French friend, I start out consciously using French but as the sentence goes on my mind switches over to Korean. Not only do I begin to think in Korean, but Korean words actually begin to come out of my mouth!
Now of course no one would ever consiously mistake French with Korean as they are as different as you can get. So I'm saying that mixing doesn't only happen with two related languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sierra Diglot Senior Member Turkey livinginlights.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 7125 days ago 296 posts - 411 votes Speaks: English*, SwedishB1 Studies: Turkish | Message 7 of 14 09 March 2006 at 6:36am | IP Logged |
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Mixing happens regardless of how closely related the languages are, IMO. After learning Swedish, I'm having a terrible time getting back on track with Spanish. I don't mix words, though; I mix grammatical structures. My sentences in Spanish come out with Swedish word order, like:
Yesterday went we to the movies, and since we not had eaten anything, bought we some food. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Eidolio Bilingual Octoglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 6862 days ago 159 posts - 164 votes 2 sounds Speaks: Dutch*, Flemish*, French, English, Latin, Ancient Greek, Italian, Greek | Message 8 of 14 10 March 2006 at 10:17am | IP Logged |
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Do you have the same problem with your mother tongue? I have, even my Dutch sentences are twisted sometimes :-s
1 person has voted this message useful |
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