new language and your native language
Science of language-Bilingual brain by Nigel Praitis sciencefirst-Too many words? The brains of bilingual children are able to distinguish between the two languages.
Yet the brain is remarkable in being able to distinguish between two languages. Bilingual children may take slightly longer to utter their first word but they quickly learn when to speak which language. A recent study published in Psychological Science by researchers at the University of Oregon suggests that when an adult first learns a second language, the brain actively inhibits the first one. The researchers found that after learning to speak Spanish, native English speakers found it more difficult to recall English words. So if you travel abroad to immerse yourself in another language, you may end up finding it hard to speak your native tongue when your return.
As you become more proficient in your second language, scientists believe that the brain becomes better at preventing interference with your native tongue. Evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies supports this idea. “It seems that the words for language one and language two are stored in different areas of the brain, “says Mattys. “The more proficient you are, and the earlier you have been exposed to the second language, then the more separate these areas are.”
I have always found it amazing that children can seperate and not confuse the words or two languages, if they are growing up bilingual. Further, my friends that have learned languages as adults almost universally mix up words from their native and target languages, but this is more amusing rather than anything else. Eventually once they have achieved fluency, this confusion goes away. Making the mind bend and stretch to accommodate a new language goes along with my theory that learning a language changes your brain in an amazing and positive way.



9 responses to If you learn a new language will you forget your native language?
It really is interesting watching children who are exposed to two languages learn to speak. My sister lives in Greece (her husband is Greek), and their 2-year old daughter knows to speak Greek to her father and English to her mother. Really interesting.
@Holland, I sometimes speak Polish to people when I am on the phone to the USA. Instead of saying “ok” I say “dobre”. So its a very common experience.
I am right now for a year in America, and I feel that I forget parts of my first language. When I call home I struggle to speak Dutch!
I forget some words in Russian when I speak to my family. I spend too much time in school talking English and it is hard, sometimes I get the words confused and my mom can’t understand me well and my dad gets angry lol
Its good to forget your native language a little when you learn another. This means your brain is reorganizing in a different and better structure. Yes continue to use English as much as you can.
well, i have a slightly different problem, i’m a trilingual..
i was born in venezuela,raised in the usa.. now i live in israel
so, when i was in the usa, i knew more english than spanish, i actually spoke spanish horribly,
now in israel i speak spanish better and improving my hebrew more than my english.
i forget words sometimes, but my biggest problem is how i speak.. its not the same anymore! i want my old english accent back lol i prefer to know more english than any other language. i studder a lot now with english
If you learn a new language will you forget your native language?
With time it all evens out. In my opinion right now, English is the most important language as it is a universal business language. However, if you speak English with an accent it is not a negative. Watch BBC or CNN many of the people there speak English with an accent.
I am an avid spanish learner and the amount of spanish i have learned has affected my english. There has not been a huge detrimental difference, but I will say that when I am writing essays in english class, I have to suppress the spanish words that come to mind, and it has become more difficult to remember the huge english words that would best express what I want to say. Lol I don’t regret it at all. I feel very intelligent. More intelligent than before.
If you learn a new language will you forget your native language?
I actually know three languages and i feel sometimes that im not perfect in any of those.
I was born in germany to arabic parents who decided then to go to lebanon, so we moved as i was about age 11 or 12 i cant really remember.
And then i had to learn two langauges at school namely arabic and english, but i remained talking to my parents german at home(which i learnt as first language). Somehow i feel that i havent developed my german so much ever since and the time i went to college, i started dealing with english more than arabic and then at work too, so im kind of feeling that im loosing them all.
it’s like i had to go through alot of switches before i had the chance to perfectly master any language aquired. =(
If you learn a new language will you forget your native language?
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