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Code-switching by language learners | ||
Tags: Code-switching | Foreign Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6601 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 9 of 23 04 November 2012 at 5:33pm | IP Logged | ||
The "code-switching" of language learners is referred to as interference here. You may want to confirm with your teacher that your definitions work for language learners.
But yeah for me interference/code-switching is just feedback. Yeah, my Spanish is not as good as my Portuguese, thank you brain for letting me know. Or especially: yeah, my translation skills aren't good enough, but idgaf. I'm not confused, I'm just yet to absorb the differences/yet to come across the word enough times for remembering it reliably. The way I see it, my real code-switching happens when I'm producing something creative and my brain grabs the most precise concept from the language where it finds it. Most of the time I end up googling and using dictionaries and whatnot only to come up with a good solution, but one that doesn't seem perfect to me (although sometimes that's just due to having had less "experience" with the word/expression, having seen it in fewer contexts). 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Jenne:) Tetraglot Newbie Netherlands polyglotquest.wordpr Joined 4471 days ago 38 posts - 56 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German, French Studies: Norwegian | Message 10 of 23 17 November 2012 at 12:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I asked my teacher whether the topic is OK and her reaction was extremely enthusiastic, so I am sure that my project is OK. This means that she agrees that language learners can code-switch as well. Also, I have done some research on the internet and I found the following definition:
Code-switching: soneone uses two languages in a single conversation or sentence. These languages are both uttered in a grammatically correct way. Using non-target-language grammar cannot be called code-switching, but is usually called interference. I have found this definition in several sources, so I cannot assume that language learners do not code-switch. I do agree, however, that code-switching by language learners may differ from code-switching between mothertongues in a way. In order to find an answer, I will examine which factors influence the use of code-switching by people with several mothertongues and which factors influence that of language learners. I would appreciate it if more people could fill in the servey. Thanks in advance :). Edited by Jenne:) on 17 November 2012 at 12:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4711 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 11 of 23 17 November 2012 at 10:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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Regarding code-switching - my teacher did a nice bit of Svengelsk a few days ago. It was
pretty funny. (I don't code-switch during class, I just speak Swedish). But it's funny what occurs during those situations. I have stubbornly continued in English, failing to realise all people present spoke Dutch, though, more than once. That is more of a failure. Edited by tarvos on 17 November 2012 at 10:35pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6601 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 12 of 23 18 November 2012 at 12:23am | IP Logged | ||
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I can't fill that out because I don't think the reasons are the same for (fairly fluent) learners. We often learn various distinctions consciously, and then they're at our disposal when we think, even when it happens in a different language. I think it's generally much easier for a learner to pinpoint the difference (the way they perceive it!) between two words/expressions/etc, compared to a native speaker without a teaching experience. This is especially true for those who use textbooks, bilingual dictionaries etc a lot.
As I said, for me it mostly counts as code-switching when I grab a word from a different language to express my idea more precisely. There's also a much worse kind of possible code-switching, when I genuinely don't know whether a word is the same or not in Polish and in Russian. It may easily be so or it may be me filling in the gaps with my native language. It feels different if I use Portuguese or even Latin words in Spanish/Italian. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5770 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 13 of 23 18 November 2012 at 2:00am | IP Logged | ||
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To me, interference is when I want to express an idea and a word or sentence pattern from another language blocks my access to the same in the language I was using.
For example, if I want to say: I went there by boat and start a German sentence "Ich bin dort bei ... äh, mit dem Schiff hingefahren" Code switching usually occurs when I know the other person speak the second language and it seems not inappropriate, or even more appropriate to express an idea in another language. For example when I suddenly want to include somebody who speaks the second language better, or when we used to talk about the topic in the second language. Or even when taking measured units from one language/measurement system to another without converting them. Or talking about customs that don't exist in the first language. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6707 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 14 of 23 18 November 2012 at 4:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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I still remember that when I returned from Italy (through Germany) to participate in my first Esperanto congress in Copenhagen I had a hard time not to say Italian "si" when I meant Esperanto "jes". But I had never had a conversation in Esperanto at that time and weak languages are much more susceptible to influence from other, more well established languages. Strangely I didn't feel the urge to say German "ja" - which tells me that I somehow had classified Esperanto as a stepsister to Italian, not to German.
So the cure against unwanted interference is not to worry yourself to death each time you make an error, but just to notice that it happened and move on. The stronger a language becomes, the more resilient it well become to outside influences, and that will happen whether or not you cry yourself to sleep each night over the silly blunders of that day. Edited by Iversen on 18 November 2012 at 4:37pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Jenne:) Tetraglot Newbie Netherlands polyglotquest.wordpr Joined 4471 days ago 38 posts - 56 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German, French Studies: Norwegian | Message 15 of 23 13 December 2012 at 5:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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The research is going very smoothly. I presented the methodology a few weeks ago and the paper version will be handed in later this month. I've gotten a lot of positive reactions so far :).
I am, however, still looking for people who were raised bi- or multilingually. Could you please fill in this short survey? It's not only important because it is part of my Master's degree, but also because not much research has been done yet. Most studies only focus on one group, but I think comparing the groups might give a much better picture of code-swirching. Thank you in advance :). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Duke100782 Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Philippines https://talktagalog.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4492 days ago 172 posts - 240 votes Speaks: English*, Tagalog* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 16 of 23 23 December 2012 at 1:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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Code-switching between Tagalog and English is part and parcel of daily conversation in the Philippines.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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