to people who know 5 languages or more?

Question

I myself speak 4 languages (Spanish, English, Tagalog and Japanese) and sometimes when talking in Tagalog I tend to say some words in Japanese or when Im talking in Japanese I sometimes say some words in Tagalog without even knowing that im doing it and its even embarrassing sometimes. My question is how do people that know more than 5 languages not get confused when speaking in a certain language or what do you do so that you wont get mixed up in the middle of a conversation?

Answer 1

I speak 9 languages fluently, my mother tongue being Romanian. The situation you describe usually happens when you are tired . In my early days as an interpreter, I remember being in Gyor, Hungary with an international group and doing what is an absolute "no-no' for any interpreter:allowing myself to be used by the Romanian participant outside the formal context of the conference.It was 10 PM and I had already worked for 9 hours. I started mixing Hungarian with Croatian, so that when saying "75" I said "70" in Croatian and "5" in Hungarian. I realized what was happening and excused myself. The next morning, I was briefed by my more seasoned colleagues that what I did was an interpreter's complete suicide in more ways than one and learned my lesson. Watching my rest times meant that it hardly ever happened again.
Also, in psycholinguistics there is a concept called "system separation", ie whether or not a person is able to mentally differentiate between the languages he she speaks. They say it's usually innate, but some may have difficulties along the way due to variouis reasons, going from mild dyslexia to social pressure of a language over another (especially in the case of immigrants/expats). Exercise is the cure and actually it is never as serious as it seems at first sight.
Maraming salamat para sa tanong mo!

Answer 2

I only speak 3 languages fluently and am in the process of learning the 4th, but they are all so different of each other that such mix-ups are not possible.

My guess is that you need more experience with both Japanese and Tagalog. Are you new to any of them(less than 2 years), or have you learned them at the same time? This sometimes causes problems like the one you face. I can't offer many tips, except practice them a lot, but in different settings and with different people. For example, if you have a friend who speaks both Japanese and Tagalog, have them use ONLY one of the languages when talking to you, all the time. I noticed that for me, learning languages is all about associations, and if you learn to associate each language with something(or someone) different, the mix-up will gradually diminish.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

The point is…why should your confusion be embarrassing?

When juggling several languages, it is absolutely normal to get confused sometimes, especially in the heat of a conversation when you start experiencing overwhelming feelings like passion, anger…
If you’re passionate about a subject, you will be bound to forget about which word is from which language and mix it up.
I’m french and all those english/american swear words do not really mean anything to me. I could say the F word all day long or the C word (the four letters word that people cannot even pronounce if you show it to them even if they have to Choose the Unfair Number Three or Two…I would not mind writing or saying those words but I will obliged to those Yahoo rules of conduct) so if I would really get mad, my French language would resurface and nobody would blame me for it…really…excuse my French.

The more languages you learm, the easier it gets because of similarities, which brings confusion.

If you know French and English, then Dutch is easier because it’s similar to either one or the other, and it helps if you know German. If I learn Mandarin Chinese, then it’s easier not to mix it up with French, English, German, Dutch or Spanish, because it’s so different. But if I learn any other asian languages, then I will have to deal with the possible mix up.
I deal with a lot of people from all over the world, speaking all kinds of languages and when anybody is using weird words in the middle of the conversation, I do not see it as embarrassing, I see it as interesting.

“What did you just say?” is the start of a beautiful conversation.

Answer 4

You are lucky knowing so many languages, that is really a richness. I speak 5 languages and of course I get mixed up from time to time, especially when I haven´t spoken some of those languages for a time. Usually when I get mixed up talking a foreign language with a person, we come to some conclusion and the problem is solved. We should not get stressed about not speaking everything perfect, we are not " talking computers", we are humans.

I have noticed when speaking a foreign language to a native speaker of some language, that I have got more friends by getting mixed up than when speaking so called perfect language. I have always got help.That´s called communication and THAT gives you so much satisfaction.

Answer 5

Hmm... I usually don't get mixed up... I guess my advice is to make sure when you know you have to use a certain language prep yourself before hand... think only in that language. I am certified in three of the four languages I know in addition to my native language and I still sometimes have a slip up. Even when speaking Japanese sometimes something comes out in German. Not a lot... just a word or two.

Answer 6

I do the same thing with French and German. For me, that usually lasts the first few sentences and then I easily fall into the language- I myself speak four languages and I imagine speaking five would require high intelligence and a lot of practice.

I guess you just have to try to speak and read constantly so the mix-ups don't happen.

Answer 7

I speak 5 languages (Hungarian, Romanian, Italian, English, German), and I use the first four of them each day (I speak Hungarian with my parents and some friends, Romanian with my husband and other friends and family, Italian at work, because I live in Italy, English I use everyday surfing the Internet, writing letters, reading, etc). So I got used to it, and I am not mixing them up, it's natural to me speaking different languages with different people with whom I have daily contact.
Since I am not using German anymore actively, it is a little bit difficult and strange when I have to express myself, because when I want to say smth in German, the words come out of my mouth in an other language, usually Italian. But I guess If I would use the language each day, as the other ones, I would have no difficulties. You can get used to it.
So I guess it only depends on the frequency with which you use the languages.

Answer 8

Well, I know three languages, English, Hindi and Telugu, Telugu being my mother tongue. since Telugu borrowed a lot of words from english (doctor, road, computer, TV, Cell Phone for example), we obviously use them while speaking telugu. I normally don't get mixed up between languages while speaking.

I knew Russian and German too at one time but have now forgotten them almost completely (I can recognise the languages and understand a few simple words in each). Sad.

Answer 9

I also speak several languages, but rarely get mixed up between the languages; indeed, when I am using my languages at my work at a mahjor UK airport, I actually get (secretly) irritated when passengers mix their languages - for example, Brazilian people who have spent time in Spain frequently speak to me in a hideous mixture of Spanish and Portuguese. I think that, because I studied languages at University, I was trained to "compartmentalise" all my languages.

The one exception is that, when speaking with my Peruvian daughter-in-law, it is our family practice to speak Spanglish/Espanglés for our own convenience

Answer 10

I speak several languages and sometimes when I cannot remember a word in one language I will remember it in all the others. This is very frustrating but I think that the brain just goes into overload sometimes.