Skip to the content
Reply

How to deal with languages (specifically vocabulary) mixing in my thought process?

by abcalceta, August 3, 2021

Messages: 7

Language: English

abcalceta (User's profile) August 3, 2021, 11:59:56 AM

I'm new to learning languages, so forgive me if this is a silly question.

I've wanted to learn Esperanto for a while, but only now did I find enough free time to dedicate to it. However, I'm also trying to review my Japanese (since I don't know when else I'll have the free time to dedicate to learning languages).

Here's the problem: for some strange reason, my mind gets words mixed up.

Both Esperanto and Japanese are foreign and new to me, and I want to learn both eventually. I've been studying both for around an hour a day, and it's going smoothly, I think, but when I'm having trouble recalling a word, sometimes the word in the other language shows up. Unfortunately, sometimes I only catch myself after I've written it down...

I don't get the same problem with English, but I have been studying it since I was a kid, so I am pretty fluent in it.

Is this accidental mixing up of vocabulary normal?
How do I fix it? Do I just have to get fluent in one language first for my mind to automatically develop an "Esperanto Mode" and not mix up my languages?

Is studying two languages at a time a surefire way to confusion?

Helpu min.

sergejm (User's profile) August 3, 2021, 3:49:23 PM

At the time of Zamenhof, in Russian schools they learned at once Church Slavonic, Latin, Greek, French, English, German.
It was dificult for some students, but all these were Indo-European and learning one helps to learn other.
But as you notice, it is necessary do not mix studied languages.

Metsis (User's profile) August 4, 2021, 7:29:52 PM

There are some good tips in a video titled How to Speak Multiple Languages Without Mixing Them Up by Paul at his Langfocus channel in Youtube.

I have found Paul's tips number 2 to be valuable. Keep the languages clearly separated, locationwise (in this room I speak only language X while speaking in Y takes palce in another room) or timewise (an hour or even a whole day between languages switches).

PrimeMinisterK (User's profile) August 7, 2021, 5:23:49 AM

I am chiming in not because I have any real advice to give but out of solidarity: I have the same problem.

Some time I ago I spend a chunk of my life studying Spanish. I never did get to the point where I could actually speak Spanish but I did learn a lot of vocabulary and I regularly finding myself mixing words into Esperanto. Just today, for instance, I would've sworn that "weekend" in Esperanto was "fin de semana." I also often want to use "siempre" for "always."

Japanese and Esperanto are so different though that I'm surprised you have that problem. I'd think that Japanese words would sound so alien in an Esperanto context that your brain would immediately signal that something is wrong.

bartlett22183 (User's profile) August 8, 2021, 12:49:08 PM

I have the same problem mixing Esperanto and IALA Interlingua.

PrimeMinisterK (User's profile) August 9, 2021, 5:08:46 AM

bartlett22183:I have the same problem mixing Esperanto and IALA Interlingua.
The concept for Interlingua is very interesting. Too bad no one cares about it.

thyrolf (User's profile) August 9, 2021, 8:37:29 AM

As for me, I find the concept of occidental-interlingue even more convincing.

https://occidental-lang.com/

Back to the top