Hello,

I'd like to know if there are other persons out there who have the same problem, as I have. My problem is, that I'm mixing up the languages. Sometimes I think my mind just isn't able to switch between the languages.

I have to speak German with my boss, english with some girls in my flat and spanish with all the other people here. And three different languages is really too much.

Some minutes ago after surfing in the web I spoke with one of the secretaries in my work and was wondering why she is looking at me so strange. Then I realized that I didn't speak spanish, but english and that she didn't understand a word.

So, what can I do to make my mind be able to switch between the languages?

Salu2,
Kathrin

Hey kinki, speak ONLY Spanish in Spain.

Make your boss learn Spanish as well as your roomies.

But since this is not realistic, I will say I understand what you are going through.

Whenever Ena and I are in the UK or USA visitng family, we try (Ena and I) to speak English whenever possible but at times we go back into Spanish mode and sometimes I forget that my family does not speak Spanish and will catch myself speaking to them in Spanish.

I think the mixing of languages (especially of your daily routine requires that you speak a few) is inevitable.

Saludos,
jer...

Kinki,
Practice makes perfect and that applies more to languages than anything else. Although it might be frustrating and confusing at first with time it will get easier if you keep doing it. A quick apology with a smile will work if you speak to someone in the wrong language, I think most people, specially in Europe, are very understanding of an honest mistake like that. And just think of the whole thing as an exercise in keeping your mind and your language skills sharp. Before you know it people will be impressed by how easily you switch from one language to the next without even thinking about it. Buena suerte, alles Gute, and all that jazz,
Lena

All people have this problem. In Barcelona we go from Catalan to English to Spanish and back again. I speak only English with my wife, Catalan and Spanish with some friends, Catalan only with some in laws and it makes a mess but we understand each other eventually. My wife will be speaking English to me and start in English with some of her friends, it just depends I think on practice and what you are used to with people.

You got tribe on this one Kinki and I don't know if it is anything you can ever get out of. I think, as you become more and more fluent in a number of languages, your brain thinks in this language neutral medium. My wife is Spanish and we communicate only in Spanish and when my parents come to visit from the U.S., I will turn to my Mom (knowing full well that she doesn't speak Spanish) and rattle-off a few sentences in Spanish and never realize I am speaking Spanish to her.

Personally, I think its kind of cool that the brain can do that.

I remember reading about a kid who was "tetra-lingual": Mother was native-speaker of "A", Father was native-speaker of "B", nanny was native speaker of "C", and they all lived in a "D"-speaking country. The household members always spoke to her ONLY in their native tongues.

The child didn't have too many language-mixing problems at first, though, because for the first few years of her life she just thought everyone had their own language!

Lucky kid....

Cheers, k.

I know when my son went back to the UK to live a couple of years ago, when he got annoyed or excited his reaction was to speak Spanish, as it was his "first" language. Unfortunately, in the UK that was seen as pretentious and he now refuses to speak Spanish in UK, even with the few Spanish friends he has there. I find that very sad actually. Is it this attitude from peer groups that makes Brits notorious for not learning any other language but their own?

quote:

I know when my son went back to the UK to live a couple of years ago, when he got annoyed or excited his reaction was to speak Spanish, as it was his "first" language. Unfortunately, in the UK that was seen as pretentious and he now refuses to speak Spanish in UK, even with the few Spanish friends he has there. I find that very sad actually. Is it this attitude from peer groups that makes Brits notorious for not learning any other language but their own?

My friend Vero is American and Spanish. When her mother found out she was pregnant in the late 60s, she took a "vacation" to Canada at 8 months and hopped the border to the USA, had her daughter and then returned to Malaga. She did this with both her children.

Eventually the family moved to the US permanently and my friend is much more American than Spanish in her ways. As a child in Baltimore, her parents always spoke to her in Spanish but everyone else spoke to her in English. She didn�t mind, but as the years passed the kids started calling her a spic if she spoke Spanish. So she flat out refused to speak it for a long time. But her parents would not stop speaking it. So now when she and her mother speak, her mother ALWAYS speaks to her in Spanish and she ALWAYS replies in English. It�s actually very funny to watch them...

In the US speaking another language is looked down upon. When I was speaking Italian with a friend on the train, a guy glared at us, got up and MOVED. I won�t even go into how many comments and looks I�ve gotten by speaking Spanish. People tell me that I should speak English so everyone understands. But why should they understand my conversation with my friend who doesn�t understand English very well?

Also in my country people have a superiority complex. Not everyone, but a lot of people do. They feel the rest of the world wants to be American and so why should they learn another language when everyone else can just learn English? This was proven to me after many a fight with an American that I met in San Vicente de la Barquera. Damn did that kid complain. We had VERY long fights over how Spain wants to be like the US because the US is the best country in the world (his opinion, not mine).

He invited himself on a hike with me. I seriously have never seen anything as beautiful as my walk from San Vicente de la Barquera to Comillas. It was the highlight of my vacation and I wish I hadn�t hurt my foot and could have done it again. The entire way he was complaining about how LONG it was taking (cause one hikes instead of taking the bus to save time, you know). I put on my walkman about 2 hours into the walk and ignored him. How can you choose a bus when you see views like this walking??

http://www.geocities.com/hannahmel/sanvi.jpg

It�s because of people like that that I came here.

Melinda

I feel your pain!

s.

Hey Melinda,
not all Americans are closed-minded, monlingual, geography-ignorant dorks. Matter of fact, it was an American friend that resolved this important theological question for me:
Know what language will be spoken in heaven?
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
English, cause Americans are too dumb to learn any other
Seriously now, I have seen the attitude change over the years, speaking another language is not considered anywhere near as negative as it was 23 years ago when I first went to the States. And I'm so grateful that even then my parents saw the wisdom in maintaining the use of Spanish at home so I never had a chance to forget it. And you do see more Americans learning languages and better yet, coming abroad which is always an eye and mind opening experience.
Lena

As long as they don't keep learning french :jeje: :jeje: :jeje:

Saludos,
jer...

There are always exceptions of course, but the fact remains that only 40% of Americans even HAVE a passport. When I lived in New York City the people were much more open minded to other languages and cultures. However, living the other half of my life in rural pennsylvania I can say without a doubt that I never met anyone who accepted speaking a second language as a sign of status. It�s only valued on a business level there and nobody speaks their second language outside of their workplace. Of course it depends on the area, but Americans just don�t have a common culture to fall back on like pretty much every other country in the world so I guess the majority just don�t understand the importance of maintaining a culture through language.

Good joke... Of course another popular one is:
What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages?
Trilingual
What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages?
Bilingual.
What do you call a person who speaks 1 language?
American

Melinda

quote:

but the fact remains that only 40% of Americans even HAVE a passport.

Not that I'm defending my generally xenophobic fellow Americans, but it is possible to travel all over North America (incl most of the Caribbean) without a passport.

TOPIC: In my current study of Spanish while living in Japan, I initially think of the Japanese word before the Spanish word. I suspect that I will be cured of this problem upon leaving this country.

On NPR this morning was a piece about Spanglish, words like "pregniada" for pregnant, "yardar" for yard, "hangiar" for hang out as in a sign seen in Texas that read "No Hangiar."

Then the interviewer mentioned a word he picked up in Madrid. "Anti-baby" used to describe a condom. The commentator said it sounded so malicious. Anyway, I have heard my girlfriends call their birth control pills "anti-baby" but I have never heard it in reference to a condom.

Jejeje, who would have known, Madrid, home of the malicious anti-baby faction! And we thought ETA was a problem.

Candela

Living in the "Spanglish capital of the world", you even hear "hanguiar" in commercials on Spanish radio (..."mis amigos s�lo quieren hanguiar"...) (anway, would't it be "janguiar" because they do pronounce the "h"?)

Others
English-Spanish-Spanglish
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
market-mercado-marketa
washing machine-lavadora-washingmachina
push-empujar-pushar
party-fiesta-padi
pickup truck-furgoneta/camioneta-troca
I see you-Yo te veo-Yo te wacho

etc...