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Confusing similar languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7150 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 1 of 7 13 January 2006 at 1:13am | IP Logged |
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For a long time I refused to learn Dutch because it was too close to German and I kept confusing Dutch, German and English. When I spoke I didn't know which language I was using.
It just occurred to me that I overcame the problem by learning Dutch with Assimil. (This has nothing to do with the Assimil vs FSI debate.) By passively listening to the Assimil lessons I came to think in Dutch before I had to speak, except for reading the lessons out loud. I wonder if this is the way to overcome the problem. I had the same problem with Italian and Spanish and overcame it the same way. I learnt Italian first and then often got confused learning Spanish by mixing the two languages until I learnt Spanish using Assimil and learning to think in the language before I spoke it. When you think in the language you are more inclined to form the sentences the way you think. So, regardless of which course you prefer, I wonder if the best way to learn two related languages at the same time is to learn to think in the language before you begin the active speaking stage. My problems with Russian and Polish were different. I learnt Russian with material from the Soviet Union and had a working knowledge of the language. When I began learning Polish it was with a book and recordings called Mowimy po Polsku and the recordings were entirely in Polish. I learnt to think in Polish again before I had to speak, although that isn't quite true as I had to use the language when we visited Poland. I would still read the book and listen to the recordings until I began to think in Polish before each visit. So, I guess I did use a similar approach to Assimil. Does anyone else have suggestions how they dealt with two similar languages? Or three, or more? Spanish and Portuguese seem like two languages that would cause confusion. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| espejismo Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5055 days ago 498 posts - 905 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Greek, Azerbaijani | Message 2 of 7 07 May 2011 at 7:02am | IP Logged |
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I'm reviving this thread in hope that somebody will comment on the simultaneous study of Spanish and Portuguese thing. Edited by espejismo on 07 May 2011 at 7:07am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Akao aka FailArtist Senior Member United States Joined 5340 days ago 315 posts - 347 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Toki Pona | Message 3 of 7 07 May 2011 at 7:21am | IP Logged |
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I believe if you keep a schedule your brain might be able to separate the differences in
each language based on the time of day in which you study. Say... Spanish in the morning and Portuguese in the evening. Also, the room you study in could help a lot. I'm not sure why but I've been able to deal with similar problems by changing rooms. Finally, at least for me, my brain tends to enter different "modes" for each language, so I suggest devoting every other day to each language or even sections of weeks. It's all up to you, but keeping them as subconsciously separate as possible seems like the best way to me. I could be completely wrong. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4953 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 4 of 7 08 May 2011 at 6:57am | IP Logged |
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Ha, Spanish is a native language for me and I am learning Portuguese now, so I can't really speak as to how much if any mixing would occur, because Spanish is in my thought process so I almost never could ''confuse'' the two, I know instinctively which one is which.
Not to be a bummer, but my general hunch is that if you are starting from ZERO in both languages, it is not a good idea to learn similar ones. Your brain will be fully focused on learning the vocabulary and pronunciation of one language, the last thing it needs is to have to also figure out which word, pronounciation (or spelling) belong to which! I think it would be too much clutter... In a somewhat unrelated note, I tried to read a French dialogue yesterday and I coudn't help but pronounce it like Portuguese!! Now I studied French in high school and my pronounciation was fairly good, but now it's much harder because my brain wants to pronounce it like Portuguese! I hope that is just a stage, because I have been putting so much effort into Portuguese pronouncation, and that once I really have it down I will be able to ''switch'' pronounciations easier than now. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7160 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 5 of 7 08 May 2011 at 3:06pm | IP Logged |
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See the following:
Confusing similar languages Language confusion Learning > 1 Language at the Same Time Portuguese messing up my Spanish! Related languages, "discounts" and mixing Retaining and Confusing Languages Switching between languages Thinking of switching to Dutch Too soon to start portuguese? To those learning more than one language 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Emily232 Newbie Ireland Joined 5055 days ago 19 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 6 of 7 09 May 2011 at 12:20pm | IP Logged |
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I started learning beginner level Spanish and sometimes get mixed up and use French words that sound similar to the Spanish. I wouldn't mind but I don't even speak French but I guess I've picked up a few words from living with French people.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4953 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 7 of 7 10 May 2011 at 6:47pm | IP Logged |
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I don't seem to have that problem, when I spoke French I didn't mix it up with Spanish. Same now that I'm learning Portuguese. Problem for me is I tried to read a French dialogue and sounded portuguese.
I've forgotten much French vocabulary (thought not the grammar). I plan on reclaiming my French and beyond starting in the summer, once I have Portuguese more under my belt that I can cruise control it. But yesterday I went to the library and got Pimsleur French just solely to take 20 minutes to repeat pronounciation drills. I'm not focusing on the words, what they mean, the vocab or even what they are saying, I just repeat as best as I can. My hope is that when I do hit my french books again, I'll at least be ready to go with my pronounciation which would save much time. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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