I read a very interesting discussion recently at another forum about those who speak multiple languages and how the brain seems to compartmentalize various languages and even mix and match languages at will (franglais, for instance).
One member described the following:
Other members relayed the same problem. And then another member responded:
And yet another member had this to share on the subject:
Since we have a lot of members on this forum who speak multiple languages, I thought it would be interesting to see if any of you have had similar problems. Also, if you have any knowledge or anything you would like to add about this subject, it would be greatly appreciated, as I find this subject fascinating!
One member described the following:
I noticed that when I was searching for a word in my third language (Spanish), my brain would substitute a word from my second language (French), but never a word from my first language (English). It seemed like the brain has a place for the native tongue, and another place for new languages.
Other members relayed the same problem. And then another member responded:
What you're all refering to is somethiing called your interlanguage. It's an internalised system of knowledge - the place where all your grammatical (syntax, phonology, etc) knowledge is stored.
Interlanguage is basically the language produced by second and/or foreign language learners who are in the process of learning a language.
While learning a language the learner goes through various processes - among them are:
1) borrowing patterns from the mother tounge (this is also called language transfer)
2) extending patterns from the target language which is the language you are learning (this is also called over generalization)
3) expressing meanings using the words and grammar which are already known (this is called communicative strategy and this among others involves the borrowing patters and words from another language.
And yet another member had this to share on the subject:
I remember seeing a video once where people tested a woman who was bilingual, and then had later in life learned another language. Let's say french/english and later learned spanish. Well she was hooked up to a monitor so they could track what parts of her brain she used in response to questions. First they would speak to her in english and french, and she would respond in english and french. She used the same part of her brain for those. Then they asked her a question in spanish and she responded in spanish. She used a different part of her brain! So...there is a difference from learning a language as a child and learning one later in life. This probably has something to do with the substituting of words...because if you are searching for a word in german you are in one part of your brain which also "knows" spanish...you aren't thinking in the other part which "knows" english and french!
Since we have a lot of members on this forum who speak multiple languages, I thought it would be interesting to see if any of you have had similar problems. Also, if you have any knowledge or anything you would like to add about this subject, it would be greatly appreciated, as I find this subject fascinating!