Why Words From Another Language Pop Up When You Speak English

Mixing languages? Why your brain grabs the wrong word, and why it's completely normal.

I remember a time when I was on the phone speaking Portuguese and, during the conversation, my (French) osteopath returned a call I’d made earlier about an appointment. So I interrupted my first call to speak to the osteopath. Would you believe me if I said that I couldn’t speak a word of French ?😃I think I managed “Bonjour” but after that every sentence was a big mix up between Portuguese and French. I tried again and again until finally I managed to more or less organise an appointment with him. But it was SO embarrassing. I just kept apologising😉

Now it’s an extreme example but it happens all the time, generally with certain words which come up a lot of the time.

So why does this happen? And why is it almost never your mother tongue that jumps in? Let me explain. 🧠

😳 The Word That Came Out of Nowhere

Maybe your own experience wasn’t as extreme as my call to the osteopath. 😃 But you may recognise the feeling. You are in the middle of a sentence in English. Everything is going well. Then a word from another language jumps out of your mouth.

A French speaker says “pero” instead of “but”. A Brazilian says “entonces” instead of “so”. Someone who spent years learning German says “ja” or “und” in the middle of a meeting in English.

And the strange part is that it’s almost never your mother tongue that jumps in. It is the other foreign language you learned before.

Many learners feel embarrassed. Some even think: "I'm mixing everything up. I'm not really good at any of my languages." 😟

Let me reassure you. It's not a sign of confusion. It's a sign of a normal, healthy multilingual brain.

🧠 Why Is It Never Your Mother Tongue?

You would expect your mother tongue to be the main "intruder", because it's the language you know best.

But researchers who study people learning a third language have noticed the same thing again and again. When you speak a foreign language, your brain seems to sort your languages into two groups:

• 🏠 Group 1: your mother tongue, the language you grew up with
• 🌍 Group 2: the languages you learned later, your "foreign languages"

When you decide to speak English, your brain switches off the first group. Your mother tongue goes quiet. But your other foreign language is in the same group as English, so it stays awake and ready to help.

In other words, your brain is not making a mistake. It is trying to help you. It thinks: "We are speaking a foreign language now. I know another foreign language. Let me use it!" 😅

🎯 Which Words Slip In?

Have you noticed that the intruders are usually small words? They are the words we say very fast, without thinking:

• but, so, and, or, because

• yes, no, well, okay

• fillers like "euh", "um", "ehm"

These small words are very automatic in your other languages. You have said them thousands of times. In English, they are not automatic yet, so your brain reaches for the quickest option it can find.

Sometimes bigger words come too, especially when the languages are similar, like Spanish and Portuguese, or French and Italian. A word on the tip of your tongue in English can suddenly arrive in the other language, perfectly formed, and completely useless. 😁

😴 When Does It Happen Most?

You may have noticed that it doesn't happen all the time. It's much more frequent when:

• you are tired

• you are nervous or under pressure

• you are speaking fast

• you have been using the other language a lot recently

This is the same pattern we see with overthinking. When your brain is under pressure, it takes the shortest road. And the shortest road is often through the language you used most recently.

When you are relaxed and well prepared, the intruders almost disappear.

💡 Reframe: The Intruder Is a Gap Detector

Here is something useful. When a word from another language jumps in, look at where it happened.

It almost always appears at a moment when the English word is not yet automatic for you. The intruder is a small signal. It says: "Here! This is the place where your English is not ready yet."

So instead of feeling ashamed, you can see it as information. Every intruder shows you exactly what to practise next. 🔍

✅ What You Can Do About It

You can't completely switch off your other languages, and you wouldn't want to. But you can make the intruders less frequent:

1. Do a short English warm-up: before an important meeting, a call or a lesson, spend five or ten minutes with English. Read a few lines, listen to a short podcast, or say a few sentences out loud. This wakes up your English and helps it win the competition in your brain.

2. Learn the English versions of the small words: since the intruders are usually small, automatic words, practise the English ones until they are automatic too. Use "but", "so", "well", "actually", "I mean" on purpose, many times a day. Soon they will arrive faster than the intruders.

3. Slow down a little: a small pause is enough. When you speak fast, your brain takes the quickest word available. When you slow down by half a second, it has time to find the English one.

4. Notice the patterns, don't punish yourself: keep a small note of the words that jump in. You will probably see the same five or six words again and again. Practise those, and you solve most of the problem.

5. Keep a sense of humour: when it happens, smile, say the English word, and continue. Native speakers understand perfectly. Many of them have done the same in the language they learned at school. 😊

✨ A Final Thought

A multilingual brain is not a messy brain. It's a rich one.

Every language you have learned is still there, alive and ready to help, even when you didn't ask. That is not a weakness. It's the proof that you have built something special.

So the next time a word from another language escapes into your English, don't be embarrassed. Be a little proud. 😉

👉 Do words from your other languages jump into your English? Let's work on making your English more automatic.

I'm Liz Aldam, an English teacher with more than thirty years of experience, working with adult learners online from France. I speak English, French and Portuguese, so I know exactly how your languages can get mixed up, and how to sort them out.

📲 Click the WhatsApp icon below and contact me. 😉

Liz Aldam – English Language Specialist

Phone: +33 6 16 90 60 38

Whatsapp: +55 (12) 98294-1433

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