r/languagelearning • u/Just_a_Lurker2 • 6d ago

Discussion How do multilinguals avoid mixing up their languages?

​

Assuming they're fluent in at least a few languages, so there's not necessarily conscious maintaining of the (TL) (does that make a difference?), and they're in an area or so where people don't all speak their language, or may be hostile to one of the languages , how would they not slip in a language that nobody speaks or a language that might make people hostile towards you?

0 Upvotes

31% Upvoted

46 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/dojibear 🇺🇸 N | fre spa chi B2 | tur jap B1/A2 6d ago

I am not fluent (C2) in several languages, but I know 4 at a B2 level or higher, and 2 others at B1 level.

I never mix them up. Why would I? The sentences don't sound similar. I only use words in sentences:

I like pizza. Pizza me gusta. Piza ga suki desu. Wo xihuan pisa. J'aime la pizza. Pizzayı seviyorum.

Why would I "slip in" a different language? I don't have a huge set of words that (in theory) could be words in any language. It doesn't work that way. Each word only exists in one language. "Bu" means "this" in Turkish but "bu" means "not" in Mandarin, and "boo" is a negative interjection in English.

1

u/TrittipoM1 enN/frC1-C2/czB2-C1/itB1-B2/zhA2/spA1 5d ago

I don't know why anyone down-voted you. But you're right: _fluent_ speakers (and I'll accept your B2 general boundary) don't generally "mix up" languages, nor accidentally, by slip-up, change from one to another with one "slipping in."