Cross-language vocabulary worries

[Ariane]

One of my big fears is that I know a tiny bit of German, a tiny bit of French, and a tiny bit of Spanish - and that I'll start crossing over words. I'm already worried about saying "die chat" for instance. How do people deal with that when learning multiple languages at once?

[Trellum]

I'm afraid it can happen and there isn't much you can do.  I used to use English words while speaking Spanish with my family after my trip, but that's because I used the language for a long period of time nearly 24 hours.  But when you are learning Spanish this shouldn't happen so often or be such a big problem, so if this happens take it calmly and try to laugh it off, once you learn more and more of each language you might stop doing that so often.

[babyleans]

I don't think that would happen especially when the languages are so different. But if you don't want to take chances then you might want to learn the languages at different times.

[Rosa]

It is quite normal to have cross-language when studying multiple languages. I think this will happen even when the language are studied in different time periods. If you don't have a slip of the tongue then it may happen in the mind. You may not be able to do anything about it except be better focused.

[Baburra]

I don't think it will happen because each language is very distinct, but even if it did have a high possibility of happening I'd say it shouldn't stop you because they are just mistakes and everyone will eventually make them. What's important is that you accomplish what you aim to achieve.

[Livvypoo]

It happens, and it will always happen. I mean, even people who grow up speaking two languages from birth mix up words from time to time. My friend for instance, who speaks Spanish (she's from Uruguay) and English as if she were born to both has been slipping Spanish words into her English talks with me lately because she's so stressed out and tired lately. You just acknowledge that it happened, and move on. It's a bit embarrassing at first when it happens to you, but you get used to it after a while

[joeldeperu]

I speak Spanish and English and that has never happened to me. The reason for this may be that you are allowing you to think in both languages, thus you will speak them both in the same sentence. The trick is to never allow you to think in more than one language. If you want to speak in English then think only in English and the same for any other language

[Livvypoo]

  On 8/11/2014 at 5:25 PM, joeldeperu said:

I speak Spanish and English and that has never happened to me. The reason for this may be that you are allowing you to think in both languages, thus you will speak them both in the same sentence. The trick is to never allow you to think in more than one language. If you want to speak in English then think only in English and the same for any other language

It's not always that simple though, is it?

Like I said, sometimes you get tired, and your mind slips. Likewise, you might have to be speaking two different languages at the same time, acting as a translator for people. You can't exactly to think in one language while you're doing that sort of work

[Dora M]

Similar things have happened to me in the past. I was once chatting to three friends in three different languages on the computer, and things got a little intertwined, which made us all laugh.

I guess the trick when learning three languages at once, is to not overdo it in one day. Dedicate one day to one language, rest the next, and continue with your language study on the following day. Give yourself time to digest what you just learnt.