How do I keep spanish and portuguese separate?

Question

Okay, I learned a lot of spanish through school and spanish speaking roommates, then I lived in Portugal for a while, and learned portuguese. I've been back in the states for about two years now, and it still seems whenever I try to speak spanish I always end up switching to portuguese mid-sentence. Any tricks for getting my head and mouth to better separate the two?

Answer 1

I have a similar problem (I have trouble sticking to Portuguese and end up switching to Spanish). I find that reading things written in Portuguese helps a lot (e.g. newspapers or magazines). You start to associate word groupings of that language and switch less often.

You probably think of the Portuguese word first before the Spanish word. If you read things in Spanish, those words will become more familiar to you and less "foreign," thereby allowing you to access them out of your memory easier.

Answer 2

Hmm... Well, it seems that is a generalized problem. That's why I have never decided to learn Portuguese. A friend of mine whose mother tongue is Spanish and who learned Portuguese told me that it is really confusing because it's almost like words have the opposite meaning. Imagine for an English-speaking person... I would go crazy if I were you! Could you choose between one of the two and continue learning and practicing just one of those two languages. I'm afraid that if you don't, you will end up speaking none!

Answer 3

I have no idea, I had a friend who used to be finding out each Spanish and Portuguese, he used to be harassed and pissed off with each the languages that he dropped them. I could advocate to research Spanish first (on account that it's rather convenient in comparison to Portuguese). When your performed with the Spanish Class, soar into Portuguese. Boa Sorte!

Answer 4

the problem with the two languages is that of the Romance languages, they are the closest. It is very hard to keep the two seperate. My friend who double majored in Spanish and Linguistics has trouble keeping the two seperate. If yu are ever in a conversation with someone and you use the wrong form, dont worry about it, they most liekly know what you are saying. It is even worse for me because I mix up French and Italian.

Answer 5

you can't really separate them unless you are a native of either place.

the good thing is that portuguese and spanish are barely different from each other and someone who understands either will most likely understand what you're trying to say.

Answer 6

I do that with English and Spanish.......we call it Spanglish in Texas