How to Speak Multiple Languages Without Mixing Them Up

[@fishmamma4846]

Before switching I close my eyes briefly and picture the flag of the language. It really helps!

[@hectordanielsanchezcobo6457]

Still_learning wow

[@haircandykina]

Still_learning I imagine myself wearing a t-shirt with the flag on it 😊 🇨🇴

[@SprunkCovers]

thats very useful, it helps me with my Portuguese, I have a Brazil flag next to my bed and I have live 3 Brazil t-shirts and hoodies lmao

[@erictrester2883]

That's good advise. I'm also learning Brazilian Portuguese. I'll try this as I get a little better.

[@miggy_lan]

imma use this

[@bryku]

I have found my personality changes between languages.

[@mitchellbrown5846]

+Dillon Burnett I know! I only speak English and Spanish, but I feel like I think and act a little different between the two.

[@JCMcGee]

+Dillon Burnett: Totally.....there's a great old quote, "When you learn a new language you get a new soul".....it's particularly evident if you watch an Italian speak English and then switch back to Italian, it's like two different people!

[@agustinl2302]

Same here. When speaking Spanish I sound like a really smart and calm guy, but when speaking English I look always excited. I can't say for Chinese, Portuguese, etc. because I'm not so good at them yet.

[@ZenoDovahkiin]

I am an asshole in English and not as much in German.

[@agustinl2302]

ZenoDovahkiin Well, that's counterintuitive lol

[@LittleLulubee]

My mom is a native English speaker but she majored in French in college. After that she spent 10 years living in Mexico. When she goes to France now, she can read and understand spoken French, but everytime she opens her mouth to say something, it ends up coming out in Spanish. She literally is incapable of speaking French now. So strange!

[@wulvershon]

LittleLulubee not strange at all everything you learn at school Goes to the short term memory thats why school is a waste of time and useless

[@oXPhillyXo]

My grandmother forgot her native Japanese. She grew up as a monolingual Japanese person, only spoke very little English, and forget any other languages. After marrying an American, moving to the US, and (regrettably) not teaching my father and uncle Japanese growing up, when I asked her to teach me Japanese when I was a little kid, what happened? She had forgotten her mother tongue.

[@blankb7483]

@@oXPhillyXo I know a filipino woman at work who does not remember Tagalog. she is from the Philippines but married an American in her twenties and only speaks English now

[@miggy_lan]

Blank B i tried talking to the mom of a girl i dated who was half filipino. she kinda just looked at me confused and she said she hasn’t spoken tagalog in so long that she only speaks ilocano and english now lmaoo

[@LittleLulubee]

@@oXPhillyXo Wow, that is unbelievable! I've NEVER heard of someone forgetting their native tongue

[@chaserbaamalch757]

Once I was mistaken speaking Dutch to a German, and she replied in my language, Indonesian, "Hey, itu bahasa Belanda!" (Hey, it's Dutch) haha...

[@gengotaku]

Als ik neederlands studeerde en met mijn leraar sprak zegte hij altijd ¨Duits is geen nederlands¨!! hahahaha

[@mistyminnie5922]

gengotaku idk if you want this but i wanted to help with your dutch it's *Toen* ik *Nederlands* studeerde en met mijn leraar sprak, *zei* hij altijd: "Duits is geen Nederlands" hope it helped :)

[@wulvershon]

gengotaku zegte 😂😂😂 dammnn

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

that's amazing!

[@annamilusheva7483]

The technique you are proposing is actually deeply rooted in psychology. I think it has been officially proven now that when a person speaks a language different from their mother tongue they "gain" a completely different personality. :) I can agree to this because when I speak Bulgarian, English or Norwegian (to which I've been exposed since my early childhood) I feel in a completely different way. Such is the case with the languages I've studied later on - French, Swedish, Spanish and Latin. I am definitely not fluent in Latin but the emotions I experience when reading it outloud are not of this moment in time! haha Your channel is amazingly inspiring! I never miss a new video! Keep up the amazing work!

[@sandwichxiii]

Moi, I'm not good at ne pas mixing the langues ensemble

[@Langfocus]

Me non plus!

[@xzivriel]

+Langfocus Hey you gars voulez hang out ou something ??? You seem to parler la même language que me !

[@SamiELImamGames]

+The Tiny Gamer que?

[@sjappiyah4071]

+The Tiny Gamer Yo pienso that je, am muy bien at pas mixing las idiomas

[@sjappiyah4071]

+The Tiny Gamer Yo pienso that je, am muy bien at pas mixing las idiomas

[@moiquiregardevideo]

All 3 advice are excellent. I will add the following: - try to think in the language you want to learn. Try to find the words that describe whatever your attention is focused, like if you were trying to describe your though to a friend. You will frequently stop with "how can I say that" in that language. Try to find synonyms or create a phrase using the little vocabulary that you currently know. Each time your attention ring a bell : Ding... I don't know that verb or noun or the phrase I created feel wrong. All these interrogation become like so many "app" launched in your brain, ready to reward you with the pleasure of finding the word that you were missing. As time goes, you get more and more of these nice surprises : the native speaker used the exact same words as what I invented myself. These match become proof that you master that language better. Eventually, you will find your self in the opposite case where you may use the official language more precisely than a native speaker. This is at that time that people stop congratulate you for trying to speak their language and start to criticize every mistake you make. Remember : the native speaker are always right (like in sales, the customer is always right). You have to accept their point of view, even if it contradict the dictionaries.

[@Vanalovan]

Mix my Hebrew and German sometime :/ it's like I'm subconsciously determined to reinvent Yiddish

[@Langfocus]

Haha, I imagine you could probably hack a conversation in Yiddish that way.

[@Colonel-Cornelius-CornJulio]

+Mr. Rich B.O.B Teachnally German And Yiddish are actually from a same Root. If I would say some word in hebrew in Noun, it would sound in the end of the word like: (ShviTz)(er) + (Show off - Hebrew) or (Fouxion)(er) + (A lucky Person or cunning in Yiddish, [Foux + cunning = Fox (English)] Which sounds alot more like Yiddish which is German. Most Words in the Hebrew Vocabulary and grammar are mostly consisting of, which I know, Are German (Nordic), French (Latin), Arabic (Native, atleast half percent is slang) by fluent because of it's area, And Ukrainian, Russian, Belarussian, Polish.. (Slavic). The way the Israelis Pronouns the Letter "R" Sounds abit similar to the way French are pronounsing the letter R, but in a more harder tone, where as the French pronouns it more softer. Also, there is alot of Latin in Hebrew. Also, The way of the writing in the modern Hebrewic literature is very similar to the Greek alphabet. For Example the letter "L", Which in Hebrew is "La'ammed", is Actually the Lambda in Greek. Even the way of pronounsing the Hebrew Alphabet vocally sounds more like Greek. Aleph, Bet, Gimmel, Da'lled Etc... I'm actually a Native Israeli, despite my profile name. And I speak Hebrew fluently. So I say, It's not only nordic and middle eastern. At least for the modern Hebrew...

[@Colonel-Cornelius-CornJulio]

Mr. Rich B.O.B You know why it's sounds like "English-Butchered"? Because modern Hebrew's Popular/Slang language, is used allmost widely in Israel. And when I said the Alphabet sounds abit Greek, at the roots, yes. But entirely, no. But I don't know how Spanish alphabet sounds like. So I can't Argue with you on that one... :P

[@Colonel-Cornelius-CornJulio]

You clearly do a succesful Research. And no offence at, I'd take any joke I can get ;) You got only one thing wrong with the pronounciation of the Taw letter. The letter Taw was used in early or classical age as the English "TH", "TH'aw". But in the modern pronounciation, we just pronounce it as "Taf". Also, pronouncing the name of the letter is actually "Taf". So there is a point for having two types of T letters. The "Tet" ט letter is just a simple T letter, Whilst "Taf" or "Taw" ת is a Dental fricative Letter, Used for pronouncing "Atuna", The capital of Greece, as A(th)ens. Or Tor, The lightning god in Greek Mythos, as (Th)or. Or even Mytos as "Mythos" Suffice the mis-pronounciation of the letter. Though it's the common Dialect in todays. And you are indeed right about the V and B. Rabbi, In Hebrew "Ravv", Is actually called that way in a modern pronounciation, "Ravv". If you will start doing the Hebrew Alphabet, going Aleph, Bet, after the "Bet" there is a letter "Vet" coomming after "Bet". Aleph, Bet, Vet, Gimel, Dalet, Hei, Vav.. Though also in modern Hebrew, allmost no words are in the vocabulary are pronounced with a "W". Just except for the slang word "Wow" for being surprised. But in any case, your research serves you very well. טוב מאוד אחי :) =b

[@Colonel-Cornelius-CornJulio]

Mr. Rich B.O.B I'm really glad that you under the rest of the Hebrew Alphabet, You have saved my time of thinking a half day of planning on how to explained and teach the entire of alphabet to you, But once again I need to say to you, Your research and study serves you well. :P And also if you wish to learn Hebrew Entirely, you can either talk with a friend who speaks Hebrew "Khalak" (If you know what that means, But I doubt that you won't understand the meaning), or you can watch Israeli serials on the internet and understand the native tongue and slang.

[@TimHeinz-htimba]

I found this out when studying Brazilian Portuguese after studying Spanish for a number of years. When I switched back to Spanish I found that I was speaking Spanish with a Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation. Those two languages are very easy to get mixed up. French on the other hand was not so easily mixed up with Spanish, but because French and Portuguese share similar nasal sounds I end up sounding like a French speaker from Brazil or a Portuguese speaker from France. lol

[@BiraneSarr]

congratulation for Speaking all tjose languages

[@BiraneSarr]

congratulation for Speaking all tjose languages

[@Bozewani]

+Tim Heinz when I make my videos on my channel I sometimes think in one language and speak in a different one you need to make a mental effort and say Speak in x language

[@sarah-vw9ty]

I'm Brazilian and get confused learning Spanish. I understand almost everything, but I just can't really learn it.

[@BiraneSarr]

If you speak Portuguese, Spanish should be easy for u....

[@NovelNovelist]

I'm learning German and Spanish at the same time, and I find I have a strong tendency to mix up 'alt' in German, which means old, and 'alto' in Spanish, which means tall.

[@mdubois3332]

Exact same mix up here :-) I only misuse alt in spanish not in german

[@hugohosman2219]

remember english has the germanic word old related to the german alt and the romanic word altitude(height) related to the spanish alto and altitud

[@heinrich.hitzinger]

In Latin 'altus' means both old and high. :)

[@hugohosman2219]

i know, that is why many people mix it up, but it appears it developed differently in germanic and romanic languages: in germanic languages(e.g. English, Dutch, German(old, oud, alt)) it is used for old and in romanic languages(e.g. Portuguese and Spanish(alto)) it is used for tall etc.

[@张深航]

Also filles and fill, which would also let me mix up

[@marii8ytb]

when I speak French I imagine the woman who says "Citroën: créative technologie"

[@lFataI1ty]

when I speak german "das auto" ........... jk I imagine hitler

[@PeWaRaWNintendoFan]

When i speak Portuguese i think of Football. I also speak german and i also think of Hitler.

[@johan.ohgren]

/\/\EME l_ORD does that means you should and scream alot?

[@samguy7654]

Mariana Gambogi Lol you blessed my soul with your comment man.

[@camerkiddo]

Jason Voorhees Ew

[@lilihajek1990]

Very true! My mother tongue is Mandarin Chinese and I speak English, Hungarian, Italian and Spanish at advanced level. I always imagine myself a native speaker when I speaking a particular language (usually a language teacher with whom I can identify :-)) Also, when I enter the realm of Spanish, I don't let in anything Italian (these two are most easily tangled up in my case). Like the monk Salvatore in Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose, sometimes I memorize not only words, but rather record the scene, the occasion when I heard those words spoken, be as it may an article, or a trip to Florence etc. Then I feel myself a part of that scene and therefore naturally speak like all the other characters do. I guess it's also important to study a new language all the way to an advanced level, in order not to confuse it with some other langues that one already speaks. I'm attending French classes now. I do notice that my knowledge of Spanish and Italian does give me a huge advantage over the other beginners, but at the same time I have to repeat to myself that even these three languages are deeply connected, they are three languages after all. A friend of mine lately came back from Rome and told me she thinks Italian is nothing, since she could figure out the meaning of almost all the signs in the city. Well, of course she could, by recognizing the common Latin roots Italian shares with English, but personally, I think it's presumptuous to to say something like that. Just because one can figure out the meaning of a written text, doesn't mean he or she could speak this language, nor that this language is just a variation of the language he or she already speaks.

[@gnozza8683]

Hajek Lili you impress me. Smart, smart young lady.

[@chupakabra337]

Magyarországon élsz?

[@lh2738]

Interesting choice of languages. Where are you from, may I ask?

[@amulyaganti6416]

@@lh2738 im guessing this person is chinese. They said their mother tongue is chinese so- But i could be wrong.

[@planetkasper]

China is huge... and there's Singapore and other places, don't forget

[@Alkis05]

As someone learning english I took your advice of emulating some native speaker and that was a beautiful idea. What a beautiful thing. I made such YUGE progress! I made so much progress I am tired of making progress! I had all those bad thoughts coming to my mind about how my pronunciation wasn't good, and how things wasn't working... And then I said: "You know what, I'm going to build a huge wall against this bad thoughts! A big and beautiful wall!" Now I feel like it can really happen: I'm going to make english great again. And mexico is going to pay for my classes!

[@ZenFox0]

Alkis05 Lol - you might want to pick a different model for your English. 😄

[@clairee4939]

You very stable genious you! ;-)

[@ingridayarza]

🤣🤣

[@jmpiper11]

I never fail to speak Spanish when trying to speak Esperanto.

[@lyterman]

That was a huge problem I had when learning Esperanto. I've since stopped because I couldn't find anyone to speak it with.

[@averagepolishguy3730]

Me too! It's usually simple words like Es/Estas and Yo/Mi

[@EsperantoVarietyShow]

My son is a native Esperanto speaker who stopped speaking Esperanto for a few years. Then he learned Spanish in school. When he started speaking Esperanto he unknowingly threw in a lot of Spanish. Now with more exposure to Esperanto again. he speaks without mixing.

[@daniricaurtey]

Esperanto Variety Show Wow, Esperanto native speaker? How? Isn't Esperanto an artificial language? Did you teach him?

[@EsperantoVarietyShow]

You don't "teach" someone their native language. You talk to them and they talk back. :-)

[@MegaMinerd]

I can see that "imagine a native speaking through you" tip would be very helpful for me. Even within English, after watching some content creator for a while I find my inner monologue imitates them for a bit. My actual speaking would probably be affected by this too, but I don't typically find myself in a situation where I need to speak shortly after watching youtube or twitch, so I haven't noticed it as much.

[@giusax89]

Thank you SO much for all the knowledge and inspiration you're offering to all of us. I'm trying to be a linguist myself and your videos are a big part of what keeps me going!

[@Langfocus]

It's my pleasure!

[@AlinneMahlke]

Switching languages seems to me the hardest part - it seems like my brain freezes, like a computer, and needs some time to process that now I'm speaking another language.

[@thejamesthird]

I do all of these things! I always imagine a street vendor in Taipei when I switch to Chinese and imagine my grandmother when I speak Dutch and think of my Mexican friend when I speak Spanish!

[@clairee4939]

你有面条卖吗？ ；-）

[@Cailaps]

I have noticed how my own voice and my body language changes when I switch between languages. The change isn't always so obvious because for example my Finnish, Swedish and English are close to each other because the cultures are pretty close to each other but there's more visible difference when I speak Russian and maybe the biggest difference when I speak Japanese. Because language is part of the culture of the country I try my best to take the culture with me when I speak. For example my voice is more feminine when I speak Japanese where as my Russian voice is most masculine. Also the "shape of my mouth"/how I use my mouth changes because of the different sounds in the language. Another thing I do if possible is to warm my self for that language. I speak something in the language I know I'll be using in a moment. I say difficult words and just feel what my mouth is doing and where my tongue is etc. These things usually help me when I have troubles of speaking specific language.

[@AndreLima-sk2dz]

What you said is something amazing: you really have to incorporate, embody, the language you are willing and speaking. I have always had this same intuition, and getting this tip from you makes me realize this is the right path. Very sensitive tips, extremelly important!

[@Screaming.Monkey]

I can understand the jist of a conversation in Spanish; but if I try to speak it, my brain throws out words and particles in Japanese! It's as if my brain has "English" and "Other." Strangely, if I'm signing in American Sign Language, I don't have this problem. The Japanese equivalents of words I'm signing do pop into my brain, I just don't verbalize them. 😊 It may also help that true ASL (i.e., not Manually Signed English) is an S.O.V. language like Japanese. So kudos to the true polyglots out there - you guys are amazing!

[@Screaming.Monkey]

+rrrkkk Those two seem just similar enough to be confusing. 😉

[@katiirabbi]

I second the description of my brain making the distinction between English and "other." I believe there is some research suggesting that once you have learned a second language as an adult, your brain would automatically default to that language when you try to learn any subsequent foreign languages. Totally feel your pain with the Japanese thing too, though my case was when I was just beginning to learn Japanese and tried to say something, Italian would come out... it was the most frustrating thing. XD Now I think Paul's explanation makes sense, there is some similarity between the phonology of these two languages...but that's it haha.

[@bastettew3432]

"English" vs "Other" - exactly. I think of it as the "foreign language bit is set" and then who knows what might come out of my mouth. (foreign language bit is computer-geek talk meaning that the foreign-language setting is turned on or off.)

[@cyndie26]

Sometimes, I get a feeling that until I get a very firm grasp on other languages' phonologies, I only have three phonologies to produce sounds from: English, French, and everything else. The latter of the three seems to encompass all languages that I plan to learn that I never really had an interest in learning until after the fifth grade, despite having learned Spanish in great detail in high school. No offense, but do many languages sound similar and the English and French phonologies are complicated enough to be distinct from the rest, did I learn English and French phonologies early on enough and so I've had them around for longer than everything else, or is it because I didn't learn Spanish, etc. from native speakers?

[@kekistansupreme7171]

rrrkkk try coming back to the US after a long trip and accidentally speaking Russian to people here

[@jrexx2841]

Etong channel na this es el best sa buong mundo. Ang difficult mag hablo ng Español, English y Tagalog.

[@DuxoupJr]

I speak Spanish and some German. I always say "Ich quiero" so I do my best just to say "Quiero" to avoid confusion xD

[@yavitvexe9997]

I have some plan, it is to read, watch videos of those languages you learn randomly, or one day for one party language and next day for another. It helps you not to forget one while you're learning another. I do this way

[@samuelaraujo9892]

Gente! Eu amo esse canal!!!! Tanta coisa interessante! Sem falar que o Paul é uma excelente pessoa!!! Parabéns, Paul!!! Muito bom!!! Amei!

[@flavio-viana-gomide]

Português. Que bom que falantes de português estão aqui!

[@shrewdthewise2840]

Excellent advice! I know that it's counterintuitive, but practicing translating from one second language to another second language seems to help me keep each language separated in my mind. The tendency when doing this is to want to go from language A to English then to Language B, but if you force yourself to just picture the images represented by the words rather than visualizing the English words they mean, it trains your mind to "think" in those languages and not get them crossed.

[@eversoluminous]

Couldn't agree more. I also envision myself getting into character when I switch into speaking another language. I absolutely love your videos and your channel!

[@StivyIvy]

Picking a specific person and "shadowing" them is a really good way to get your accent down. I do that a lot and it's really great to hear someone else suggest it!

[@jameswilliams2269]

谢谢。Me gusta mucho your video.

[@Langfocus]

+Matt Nazarian Haha, I`m glad you like it.

[@Heart-kg3lp]

toogletoggle shhhhh they know

[@wharris7594]

Ya lublu teh languagi.

[@erturtemirbaev5207]

Are you from Armenia?

[@janofammd]

The emphasis on phonology has been one of my key takeaways as well. I'm learning Moroccan Arabic and a regional Tamazight dialect at the same time. They have slightly different phonologies which have made them a little more distinct in my brain. The tricky part is the 100% commitment when switching between them because there are so many borrowed words and phrases between the two.

[@bookskamaki]

Wow , you r one of the best teachers .

[@flyingskorpion]

04:30 to 07:00 "tree of cognition". I appreciate and thank you for your efforts. please keep uploading.

[@amulyaganti6416]

It gets a lot tougher when you speak a lot of dialects as well as accents. I speak hindi and i also speak 3 dialects of hindi. I speak korean and i speak korean in both a seoul accent as well as a busan one. And i speak telugu (my mother tongue) and i speak it in an andhra dialect as well as a telangana one. Lastly, i speak english, but my accent changes depending on the person i talk to. For ex. If im talking to my korean friends, i talk in a seoul accent but when im talking with my paternal grandparents, i talk in a busan accent. When i talk to my parents in telugu, i talk in an andhra dialect rather than a telangana one, which i use when im with my maternal grandparents. As for hindi and the dialects, i do not use the dialects much and i speak in hindi with a slight touch of bhopali. English however, changes depending on the situation and the person. If im talking to my really close friends, i barely care if im even saying the right thing. If im talking to my teacher, I somehow speak in a slightly britian accent. If im talking to my seniors, i start talking in an australian accent. In my head, im speaking in an irish-american accent. All of this happens so subconsiously that i can't really control it. Thank you if you read till the end.

[@juliantreidiii]

I was trying to learn "Chinese" and my Chinese friends were teaching me but they were speaking 5 different dialects but I did not know it. I got very confused. The emphasis on tone not pronunciation made spotting that harder. The emphasis on tone not pronunciation made everything harder. I got so confused.

[@gengotaku]

Ich deteste mesclar 언어 omdat isso on 不好 for il 頭脳!

[@Juneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

세상에...

[@melovekittie]

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[@gengotaku]

+melovekittie ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[@cameronsmith493]

+Senorhysa que porra kkkkkk

[@gengotaku]

Tem que zoar né mano!!! kkkk

[@BurntOutPua]

I am a native English speaker, studied 4 years of Hawaiian in MS and HS, 8 semesters of Arabic consecutively starting Freshman year of Union, one semester of French in HS followed by one during freshman year of university, took a break and took two semesters my junior and senior year. I was pretty ok at switching between French and Arabic when I was studying them at the same time, then I did 2 intensive semesters of Arabic in Oman between my last couple of French semesters, finishing about 12 days before I took a placement test for my last French class in Morocco. I wrote fine, I remembered the grammar and written words from the semester before my summer of Arabic, but I could not for the life of me produce consistent French I just kept slipping back into Arabic. Arabic still tries to creep in when I try to speak the basic Hawaiian I remember, but I can do French again without it slipping in much. I think if brushed up on Hawaiian it would help, it's just been a long time.

[@adnenmez]

great channel! makes me want to learn all the languages in the world XD

[@JaxTheCartographer]

adnen mezghani yeah lol and I only know one I'm studying spanish rn but I don't know much

[@thevitruvianman9781]

how much do you know now? jaxson

[@samguy7654]

Adz Mez Lol same.

[@konferansjer]

A useful video, thanks l. I have an affinity for germanic languages and after learning English I learned German and am now studying Norwegian and Dutch and I mix Norwegian with German and Dutch with English constantly.

[@wuteverfloatsurkayak]

As far as pronunciation goes, it seems to me that a heavy background in music can be helpful (though not indespensable) as it trains the ear to detect subtle nuances in sound.

[@Langfocus]

+wuteverfloatsurkayak That`s interesting. I have a background in music, though I played the bass which isn`t the most melodic instrument. :)

[@wuteverfloatsurkayak]

I think that the exact instrument is irrelevant, although the majority of bass-players who develop high skill end up switching to guitar for the spotlight. What matters is developing the aural acuity to detect subtleties. I had already been playing the guitar for 9 years before I took a true interest in a language. A casual interest might not be the same, but I would listen for the smallest subtleties in, say, a guitar solo. It's to a similar end: I was emulating the artist in an instrument, rather than a speaker in voice. I trained my ear to detect hammer-ons/pull-offs, individual notes in rapid passages, and even sometimes the difference between an up-stroke of the guitar pick and a down-stroke (the former being softer and less aggressive than the latter). I think that may be why my experience in distinguishing the French vowells wasn't as bad as what some others claim to struggle with. Sorry for being so long-winded!

[@CookieFonster]

the tip about imagining another native speaker through you is a really good and valuable one. when i speak german, i often try to imitate my mother, whose first language is german, and that makes my speech sound a lot more fluid and natural.

[@msantos7771]

I'm studying french but I always talk french with italian accent !! I just cant avoid that !! LOL Eu estou estudando francês mas eu sempre pronuncio as palavras com sotaque italiano !!! Não consigo evitar !! rsssss !

[@hebahr.2576]

Mauro Santos you remind me of my sister; when she speaks a foreign language she follow that with her mother language to translate to herself so she can understand what she's saying 😂

[@msantos7771]

but my mother language is portuguese .. :(

[@lou6584]

Ce n'est pas grave l'important est de comprendre et de se faire comprendre.

[@Renardsurleweb]

l'accent italien ressemble à l'accent du Sud de la France (dénasalisation, prononciation des "e" finaux)

[@michimacho73]

quando estou a falar português em Brasil o meu sotaque torna-se em uma mixtura de português lusitano com melodia brasileira (aprendi português lusitano, a minha lingua é o espanhol andino), quando depois volto para a Europa, onde eu moro, e estou a ouvir português lusitano, a melodia brasileira desaparece, e sento-me mais confortável (linguisticamente falando), embora gosto muito do Brasil e a sua gente.

[@Lilyrose23]

As someone who grew up speaking 3 languages at the same time, mixing languages is inevitable once you become really fluent to all the languages. I mix French and English all the time, French being my native. Another thing I noticed is that once you learn a new language you replace it with one you knew. Which is why someone can say they speak a language and not being able to speak it on command but generally the language comes back once you focus on it for a week. You need a reminder.

[@Saphine114]

I'm a native English speaker, but my mother is a native Italian speaker and have visited the country a few times, so while I can't converse in Italian, I can pronounce written words. I'm learning Spanish as a part of school, and I often get the two languages and their rules of pronunciation mixed up. Especially with numbers- I'll go "uno... due... no, wait, duos? Dues? Oh, this is Spanish... dos." and so on. I'll get it eventually!

[@toxicperson8936]

I'm currently trilingual, my native language was Swedish & also English, growing up in New York City with most of my family, including my parents, being born & raised in Sweden. I also learned French in middle school, high school, & university, even spending a year abroad in French during university. Right now I am learning German, & to a lesser extent Japanese. Japanese has been sooooo difficult for me but I am really determined to become fluent one day.

[@roejogan2693]

How are you doing now? Have you started learning a new language?

[@NiAlBlack]

Interestimgly, my voice sounds entirely different in my two languages, English and German. That makes it sound weird when I use English loan words in German at times...

[@ZenFox0]

NiAlBlack Yes, when I speak German I always imagine the announcers on radio or for commercials, such as for Clausthaler, “Alles was ein Bier braucht” in a deep, resonant voice. Then I try to say everything in that way, even if it's English words spoken with a German accent. When I lived in Germany, folks would often pronounce “cool” as “kühl”, even when speaking English, so when speaking with them I would too.

[@net51cc]

The same happens to me. I Always feel a little confused when I use one of the many English loan words in Dutch. Which accent should I use, the English or the Dutch.

[@ineluctablemodality]

and I imagine someone screaming, cause really, German is really good for scream at someone.

[@mcmlxxxviii4799]

Thank you for the energy/effort you put into your work, I appreciate it very much. I'm currently learning Portuguese (Brazilian) and your videos help immensely.

[@gnarus1]

good tips, I usually get Portuguese and Italian confused, use a word in one language instead of the other, this also happens between my French and German. I'll try getting in a native speaker's shoes and see how that goes

[@MrAdryan1603]

Your videos are so insightful and helpful. I do this a lot with my Italian and Spanish and I had never really thought about it in the terms you described, so that was like a "woah" moment for me. so simple, yet it makes perfect sense. you are very good at articulating what you mean to get across. I truly appreciate all the time and thought you've put into your videos. Thank you

[@GwenApMannanan]

As someone who is studying Hindi and Marathi concurrently, my brain always has a little spaz out when I switch between the two. XD

[@minotaurs3409]

Gwen Ap Mannanan oh man! I don't speak Marathi but I speak Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi natively and I get all three mixed up so bad. if you need help in Hindi I'd be willing to help

[@vuurniacsquarewave5091]

When I started studying Dutch at university, there were so many people who had learned German most of their lives. While my German experience has always been very useful to me and significantly speeds up the development of my Dutch, mostly because of the similar grammar, it's actually been a disadvantage to many of my groupmates.

[@BiraneSarr]

Thanks for those advice . i needed them

[@callmeswivelhips8229]

One thing I did to give myself enough confidence to actually speak Spanish with my co-workers was to force myself to think in it. I would tell myself, "From this time to that time, I will only speak and write Spanish." Keep a translator on hand, and it really helps. Eventually, you'll have an emotional charged line of thought. And you'll be forced to speak it to yourself in your target language. When that happened to me in Spanish, I found myself goin on a monologue at a much faster rate in Spansih than I thought I could talk in. It gave me a lot of confidence and made me realize that if I just try to speak in the language, I'll learn it a lot faster.

[@myusername6595]

mid video noticed the awesome african style mask

[@Langfocus]

Oh yeah. That's actually from Bali. It was made by hand right in front of me!

[@UltimateArts13]

Very cool

[@ArchMageDarium]

Here I go liking an old video from 5 years ago. These are really great tips and makes me feel better about adopting a proper native pronunciation. I've seen so much conflicting advice on language learning that states adult learners can't achieve pronunciation as well as children. You liken it to acting, in a way, where we must visualize the kind of person we want to be in that language.

[@Ferinoification]

Olá! I wonder how many languages do you speak?by the way,I like your English accent,it´s so good to understand!

[@Langfocus]

Ferinoification Hi! Thanks for the comment. It depends on what level you mean. But basically I would say that I can speak 7 languages. I have studied a numerous others but am less confident with them or only learned some basics. And I`ve learned to read some other languages but I don`t count those ones. Yeah, lots of people say I have a clear accent. I think it`s because I have a lot of experience teaching English as a foreign language, so I`ve naturally learned to speak quite clearly.

[@blackbloodyprince8262]

+Langfocus which languages do you speak?

[@kuronguyra5870]

+Ferinoification yes his accent is perfect haha :3

[@scout11238]

¡Hola! I'm learning Spanish at this time... It's my first week learning it all by myself throughout the ECQ. I'm curious about the language that I hear for my everyday expectations... I hear some mixed phrases/words of Filipino and Spanish and just evolved at just a variety of complexity between those languages... When I hear some words that are Spanish it hit my mind and thought about that language. Spanish Language is really beautiful, sexy to the hearing sense and it just fun to pronounce. Right now, due to the virus that spread all throughout the world, I just thought if I can do something better for my skills development and I chose this one. To learn the Language which I can at ease. This is also my dream, to speak a lot of language because I inspired by those person like Paul! Thanks for this beautiful videos... I've been watching for some of your videos because it really does make me inspired to learn new things!!! #🇬🇧🇩🇪🇵🇭🇪🇸

[@israellai]

#2 was probably what went wrong when I took a Swedish lesson together with Germans...

[@senseitaco2903]

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree about phonology. I sometimes think I've spent too much time learning the specific sounds of languages and how to make them and not focused enough on grammar and vocabulary, but far, far too many people simply use the same overall set of sounds and apply them to any language they attempt to learn. Genuine thanks for validating my wasted time.

[@heysala6595]

If you learn related languages, sometimes your brain automatically change to other language when triggered by speaking similar word. Usually happen with English, as lots of languages have English loanwords, like word "internet". It's really annoying and embarrassing. Now I understand why politician or world figures tend to speak slower while on speech in different language

[@marialauraweems7553]

Oh, man, the "channeling" point is so clear to me: when speaking a foreign language, always imagine myself as a native of that language; I practically play a role different from me. There are studies showing that bilingual people have differences in personalities, tastes, priorities according to which language they are using.

[@arynees]

the length of this video is very interesting

[@garrysmith1029]

lol

[@emptytoiletpaperroll9112]

BUSH

[@yuliruf5458]

PAUL I THINK YOU DESERVE MORE SUBSCRIBERS...GOD BLESS YOU...

[@matthewpeters2502]

This is especially tough for me because I speak English along with Spanish, Italian and French sometimes I get very confused

[@BobTheHatKing]

When deciding to learn your second foreign language, it’s probably helpful if it’s not too similar to the first one. My first foreign language was French, and now I’m learning Japanese. They’re far enough apart where it’s hard to get them mixed up, but at the same time they’re sort of easy to learn for me because of their similarities to languages I already know. My primary language is English, though it’s my 3rd language and I didn’t exit my school’s ESL program until 4th grade. My first languages were Taiwanese and chinese. So anyway back to what I was saying, French has many similarities with English, and Japanese has similarities with chinese and Taiwanese.

[@facusoi]

I always mix portuguese and french, because i learned one after the other.

[@Native0123]

I do the same thing! I learned both languages at the same time. I was very easy for me to learn how to speak French and Portuguese because l already knew how to speak Spanish and Ladino.

[@facusoi]

Benjamin Jimenez Spanish because it's your native language?

[@bencool-2338]

+Benjamin Jimenez I thought ladino was old Spanish written in the Hebrew alphabey.

[@dennismurphy9957]

When I was performing I got into and kept the character by locating it in a specific place on my mouth & head. I did the same when learning a stage dialect - usually based on the focus point of the accent which also was the location of the character voice. I now do the same thing with language. Each language has its focal point. I used a catchphrase to get into my character voice. I now have a catchphrase for each language. I also think of language in terms of Mood. I get into a Serbian mood, or an Italian mood to get things flowing within minutes. I'm having a lovely time.

[@LoneWolf-wp9dn]

im romanian but ive also been speaking english since i was 8yo so its almost native to me... and i went to london for a while and it was kinda weird cause i dont remember what language people were speaking to me... sometimes it was english sometimes it was romanian but it all made perfect sense in my head... but i remember none of the words... romanian and english i very rarely mix up... where i really mix things up is with italian and spanish... thats almost unavoidable

[@squidproquo1130]

Thank you so much for this! I had no idea why I was throwing German into my Hindi when I hadn't seriously studied or used German in ages. Since you talked about pronunciation and phonology, I now realize it was the damn W=V causing all the mischief. I am grateful for the commenter who said that you have to push through it and become stronger in the language(s) to overcome it. So many times when newly learning a language, I was having "bleed through" with some other language. I used to think the problem was the combination of languages. I thought that I could fix it by learning something else, ideally very unrelated, to act as a buffer. So for example, if I had last learned a Romance language and was now trying to learn a Germanic language and kept mixing them up, I would stop my Germanic studies and instead think I should learn something vastly different, like Swahili, and then go back and try the Germanic one. I realize now I sure caused myself a lot of extra work! XD

[@MrSuperwim]

As a native dutch speaker learning German I know that feel.

[@iknowchristalena]

+Meatym8 I can sing your song, native English speaker, can speak German learning Dutch...

[@MrSuperwim]

iknowchristalena That's awesome, good luck learning Dutch. Dutch grammar is a pain in the ass though.

[@jirihuf]

I have two quite different experiences. As a child, I have spend two years in Hungary, effectively learning some basics, especially school related. Upon coming back home I started learning German at school. As those languages both have sounds that are absent from my mother tongue (Czech), when learning German, Hungarian words and sentences kept popping up in my mind, making it difficult to focus on German. With English, which was my first foreign language, the situation is completely different. It feels like I can only speak that which I have learned (heard) before.. from a film, song or elsewhere. Czech never mixes up (and it never has) with my English, nor does any other language. But when I am in a situation that I have never been exposed to, I sometimes struggle to express myself properly in English even though I am a C2, simply because I have never heard the sentences that could be used in such context. My mother, on the other hand, inserts Czech words into her German very often. Strange how the mind works. @Langfocus, Thanks a lot for all the inspiration you bring!

[@TheBongoJeff]

When i speak english, is speak like obama

[@marijakauric5410]

1:14 that's right. When I studied english and german in elementary school, I had mixed them, but later I learned pronounciation of both languages and now I can see differences between those two languages

[@gilangp2011]

Most Indonesian, can speak 2 to 4 languages. I could speak Sundanese as Local, Indonesian as National, English as International, and Arabic as my Religion :D

[@CarlosMoreno-ce1do]

Soy hispanohablante pero aprendo portugués de Brazil y mi idioma favorito es el francés. El tema es que hablo más portugués en el día a día y cuando voy a hablar francés las palabras en portugués se mezclan y me doy cuenta demasiado tarde. Pondré en práctica estos consejos. Gracias

[@tuxcup]

5:54 Can I imagine Hentai? I'm trying to learn Japanese.

[@randomguyontheinternet3872]

Wouldn't that be a bit distracting? xD

[@いちごくん-l6d]

hentai is good for Japanese, just cut out the naughty parts and focus on dialogues and stories ;)

[@PierreEnIslande]

Very interesting video! When you speak about "changing states" (of mind, I guess) when changing languages, it reminded me of something I've heard some time ago: that a person tends to have slightly different personalities going with different languages, leading them to potentially react and make decision differently according to which language they were speaking.

[@Langfocus]

Yes, I feel that when I change languages.

[@flavio-viana-gomide]

Hey everyone! I am from Brazil. Greetings!

[@Peapolop]

Oi :)

[@All3me1]

Flávio Viana Gomide 😂

[@sbrazenor2]

One of the best multi-lingual people I've met was a woman that owned a Chinese restaurant near my house. The area was diverse, so she spoke Chinese, English, Spanish and French every day. The transition seemed effortless to her.

[@kami9472]

Thanks for some advise that I really want. I am working in a company in Tokyo. Japanese is a public language in my company even though half of workers are non-native. When I take a phone call from English speaking customers, I usually take too long time to switch English. Then, if my customer require me to explain or translation documents in Japanese, my brain gets more difficulties between two languages. I must practices your tips!

[@guillaumeromain6694]

Quite brilliant and well articulated tips - crystal clear!. Massive thumb up! You are making a difference Paul! You certainly are to me!

[@Langfocus]

Thank you!

[@scifino1]

A very general technique for learning to do certain things right without consciously thinking about them is to learn them step by step and practicing each specific detail so much that you get it right without thinking about it. For example you might be trying to learn english pronunciation. A detail that sometimes creates difficulties for English-learners is the pronunciation of the "e" in the definate article "the". You can learn getting that spot on by focusing on it everytime you pronounce an english sentence. At first you might have to keep thinking about it, but at some point your mind will be so used to the task that you subconsciously do it correctly about 99 percent of the time and that imo is native-level correctness.

[@Alteru69]

In high school, my French teacher told me I spoke French with a German accent. The reason for this was, because I had started learning German the year before.

[@IAhmed2010]

You are awesome. I came across your videos by chance but I am glad I did. Your explaining history and evolution of different languages and language group is really very informative. Thanks for it.

[@Langfocus]

You're very welcome! :)

[@michaeltheboombringer2848]

Sometimes I subconsciously translate idioms from one language to another and sometimes I find out that the same idiom appears in multiple languages.

[@jdnajes]

That tip about channeling another person when speaking is terrific! I've found that I subconsciously do that, so it was a little strange to hear you describe it as an actual technique, which might also account for some of my personality change when switching from one language to another.

[@jorgenicolau_ar]

Hi Paul. I like your videos on languages, but I specially liked this one. Phonology is definitively complex but is always a help to remember languages. I have a problem remembering the languages that I learned and I don't use everyday. I use Spanish everyday --being my mother tongue. I certainly use English almost daily --by reading tech documentation, but It's hard to me to build sentences up, but when it comes to French, Portuguese, German or Italian it's harder. I'm learning Esperanto, more like a hobby. Immersion wether it comes physically o psychologically is a of great help, mimicking helps a lot; I say "you cannot learn a language other than yours without a sense of histrionism"... even using one own language is playing a speaker character.

[@武道館-e6h]

For me, (a person who speaks three languages) it was really important to sort of create a metaphorical switch within you. Have some distinctive phrases in each language that really shows off the distinctive nature of each of the language. As you said, your perception changes based on the language, what I do is associate a certain sense of perception with each languages. I don't really know how to explain it well, but I think people who speak multiple languages will understand what I am talking about. It may seem difficult at first, but it does get easier with practice.

[@武道館-e6h]

***** Haha, I'm learning Norwegian for my forth language and I physically have to mutter few words in Norwegian before I can switch to Norwegian at the moment... I know that struggle bro.

[@chestercopperbottom]

What's really jarring is when you're doing something--like reading or just sitting there--and your brain will just switch into another language. I was writing in my reading journal just the other day---in English, my native tongue---and I started writing in Spanish and it was three lines down before I noticed. I was actually really proud of myself.

[@bjornfossberg]

Thank you so much for your videos. I am also a Canadian polyglot, and find I relate to your experience of multilingualism and share your passion. On keeping clear distinctions between languages, I usually have no difficulty. However recently, I've been working on Ukrainian after reaching a high level of fluency in Russian. I hope I will be less tempted to answer in Russian when my Ukrainian is stronger. It does not help that all Ukrainians understand Russian as well. Here are my languages, if you're interested: French and English (native), Norwegian (fluent. Mother's language, learned properly as an adult), subsequently Swedish and Danish, Hebrew, followed by dabbling in Arabic, Dutch (I live in Belgium), Russian and now Ukrainian.

[@ΝίκοςΓιαννόπουλος-λ5θ]

The first point is very useful. For English I did it mimicking Hitchens :) (Improved my accent considerably after getting my degrees in English)

[@noledelgado8111]

One of the greetings of Tagalog sounds like it's derived from Spanish.

[@geo123123]

Some really good advice, thank you! I have this problem with Czech and Russian words just come out randomly - there are a lot of "false friends" and it can be confusing.

[@thomastekle4993]

What you said in the beginning is spot on. It is different when you learn it from childhood. I grew up speaking english and tigrinya (the north Ethiopian language). Although English is my first language, i am highly fluent in my parents language too. I find it effortless to alternate between the two despite the phonetics of these two languages being extremely different. However, I struggle with german and french pronunciations as i studied these in my adult age. I'm from the UK btw!

[@graup1309]

What helps me when learning languages is that at at the very beginning I determine a place inside my mouth where the language is spoken (I know this sounds pretty confusing). German is very close to my lips and rather on the bottom of my mouth. Englisch is slightly in the upper half of my mouth just about in the middle. Spanish is right in the middle of my mouth but at my teeth. French is almost inside my nose and Chinese is just very weird because it isn't inside my mouth anymore. It's in the back of my head, which really confuses me. I think this is based on where the majority of sounds in a language are made.

[@woutvanostaden441]

I usually compare it with cooking: there are several pots on the furnace and in each pots there is a language. When you stir in the pot some of the words well up and some don't (that is maybe also why we are sometimes at a loss for words even in our native language). Then when you stir in a diffirent words/ingrediënts well up and you can speak that language. However if you can't find the right words your looking for don't start stirring in other pots but try to find something close in the same pot or you'll mix things up. At least that's how I tryto think about it. For your information I'm native in Dutch, fluent on a near (sometimes it's actually better than my native language), German and Japanese on a intermediate level, Turkish, Korean, and Spanish on a beginners level and I'm currently studying also Thai, Vietnamese, Hindi, Indonesian, Tagalog, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, Czech, Croation, Polish, Hungarian, Kmerr, Lao, Farsi, Punjabi, Malayam, Telugu, Tamil, Swahili, Mongolian, Akkadian, Xhosa, Esperanto, Portuguese and Dothraki or at least I'm planning to go and learn them. When someone would ask me what I think is the most important thing when learning a foreign language I would probably say that it is your mind set and attitude. I always say ''attitude for aptitude'' meaning that whatever you think it is that you miss in aptitude or talent for languages you can make up for it with attitude. It's all about how you approach learning a language, if you think it's going to be something that only a select group of people with a natural talent for languages it's like setting up an extra barrier for yourself. Like running over a track but because of how you think you have to climb over a number of walls that someone who doesn't think that way doesn't have to. In short I would say that any disadvantage you think you have compared with a person who has an aptitude for languages can be overcome with attitude. Like I can do this, I'm going to use my ...... on every person I think that might know that language, as long as I do the best I can I'll get there, I don't care how long it takes but I WILL get there no matter what, talent doesn't really exist I'll show you that even I can become fluent in a language in a short time and of course there are a lot more ways of thinking that could make you successfull. It all depends on how you start your language learning that defines/determines how the result will be. My attitude is usually that if someone else can do it than surely I can do it too and that I won't do under for anyone. Okay I know this video was more about how to keep diffirent languages apart from each other but I find that there are A LOT of people that have the WRONG idea of how difficult it is to learn a foreign language and I really don't like the idea off people giving up just because it seems difficult. So if even one person that reads this post starts to think that he might actually be able to reach his goal in learning a foreign language I will have reached my goal. okay this is a really long post. I think we have quite somethings in common with each other Langfocus, I'm sure I would talking and discussing diffirent topics concerning language and language learning if you feel the same way, I'll be awaiting your PM. Kind regards, Wout.

[@chuasenghan7361]

Thanks for the video, your words is gold to me...I am Malaysian Chinese, which we speak 3 languages in our community in daily ...Chinese, Malay and English..sometimes another 2 more dialects Hokkien and Cantonese mixed up. Malaysian Chinese same as Singaporean tend to mixed up all languages we learn in conversation everyday and seems very fond of it..but we learned these 3 languages starts child ages, but somehow i feel very difficult to learn Korean now as their sentence structure very different from the previous languages i learned.... Thanks again for the video for "clarified" the doubts and confuses of mine..=)

[@PassionforDreaming]

I like your point about working on pronunciation to help when it comes to mixing up languages. I never had a problem with Spanish and French but once I started learning Portuguese, I started to insert Spanish words into my Portuguese. It probably has to do with pronunciation in addition to the fact they're very close languages. I never mix Portuguese into my Spanish though

[@londonscammer6612]

I'm 15 years old and I know english, German , and Turkish which can be considered as my mother tounges since my dad is German whose mum is Turkish and my mum is British.Given the fact that my grandmother is turkish I didn't strive when it came to learning arabic, and just for kicks I'm enhancing my Spanish, Italian an French in which I can just about hold mediocre, everyday level conversations.Its really beneath and beyond being granted with talent, moreover proficiency can only be achieved via the unity of both esteem(motivation) and neural talent, relating to the subject above.A matter a fact is that though there are lots of languages left for me to materialise somehow manage to both conceive and convey (omit) my intended vocabulary when conversatng in some but not all unknown languages. Plese comment your conception regarding to this phenomenom I'm experiencing, on whether you've had such a sent at ion or not.

[@AnnaEAP1]

Many thanx for your tips, they are clear and really helpful. I do admire your hard work and your incredible talent.

[@jimcannon1146]

The comment about precise pronunciation is important. I learned french and English as a child. I started to study Russian in college and it was pointed out that "I sounded unusual." I was lucky enough to spend a holiday wither a native Russian speaking family where the mother taught French and Spanish. Her comment? "You sound like a Frenchman learning Russian."