Mixing between two foreign languages at the same time.
Hi everybody! 
I've been thinking about the mixing between two foreign at the same time while speaking for a pretty long time, and l wanted to discuss that with you, to see your opinion about this, most of the members here are native English/Spanish speakers so they don't have that difficulty, but l'm sure there are some people who are not native English or Spanish speakers, and l was wondering, when speaking to a Native English/Spanish where you actually have to speak both languages Eng-Span (which are foreign for you) don't you get confused?, how do you keep focusing on the 2 languages? I don't find it hard when l speak Arabic (my native language) & English or even Arabic & Spanish, but when it comes to English & Spanish, everything simply turns into a living disaster!! 
I forget everything l learnt in both languages and l start pronouncing things wrong!
So l really wanted to see your point of view, what do you think about that, do you have any advice or any personal experience?
And if Spanish/English isn't your native language, how do you handle speaking two foreign at the same time?
13 Answers
According to the latest MRI imaging tests done by scientists, if the two languages are aquired (or the individual is significantly exposed) up to the age of four, then the two languages are stored in completely separate parts of the brain.
Language acquisition after this stage in brain formation causes both languages to be stored in the same area of the brain.
In my experience, those who were bi-lingual from birth through early childhood do not mix languages. When I asked them about it, and what language they dreamed in, etc. the response was that when in Rome, they automatically were thinking in Italian, and after landing at JFK they found themselves thinking in English without being aware of the transition.
I, and most other people I know, who have tried to study more than one foreign language late in life have exactly the problem you mentioned. The occasional word slips in from the alternate language -- especially if it is a word which does not exist in the language you are currently speaking. But as you continue to acquire mastery of both languages, this problem does occur less and less frequently, until it only occurs when you are very tired, distracted, etc.
I know it drives me crazy to be sticking in words from another language I am studying! 
It is especially frustrating because the two languages are in no way similar!
Keep at it and good luck! 
My native tongue is Tagalog (Filipino), and I can totally relate to you. I believe I'm fairly fluent in English and I get by with my Spanish. What happens to me depends on the people I speak with. Sometimes when I'm bombarded with Spanish calls, I find it hard to shift back to English when I finally get an English-speaking customer. The things I want to say are already programmed in Spanish, that I have to translate back to English what I would like to say. It doesn't help that the phonology of Tagalog is much closer to that of Spanish than to that of English. Sometimes I even catch myself rolling more R's than necessary when I speak in English.
I am sad to say that I cannot truly weigh in here, as I only speak one languange (English) fluently and am working on my second (Spanish).
However, kudos to you for having this difficulty, because it means you are multilingual and are an awesome language student (even with the issue)!!
¡Bien hecho!
I am a native English speaker and have C1 fluency in Spanish and German. I find that if I start in one of these two foreign languages I get "stuck" in it and have a difficult time switching to the other quickly. What I have found that helps me is to have an easy well-memorized sentence in each language. When I want to switch, I just repeat this sentence to myself a couple of times and my brain somehow manages to switch over.
I believe territurtle has provided a great response regarding the science of information storage and retrieval as it relates to language. It is a fascinating science.
I can only speak out of personal experience. I have passed through several stages during my Spanish language learning experience. Some are archived as questions on this forum.
During some stages, I noticed a distinct degradation in my ability to speak English, sometimes having difficulty constructing sentences or recalling specific words. Unfortunately, that stage was not always accompanied by an increase in my level of speaking Spanish. Sometimes, while developing texts in Spanish, I have discovered an increase in my level of anxiety and blood pressure. Once, during a specific situation, I experienced what would best be described as a "panic attack", where my mind almost shuts down completely.
This is a great thread. I'll be interested to see the other responses.
Well, the only other foreign languages I've spoken besides Spanish are Italian and Portuguese. Since Spanish is really similar to both of these (more so to Portuguese), I could get away with popping in a Spanish word every now and then.
Edit:
But yes, when I'm in a situation where I'm solely speaking Portuguese or Spanish (I never have enough use for Italian here, anyway), I often just get frustrated and revert back to English.
My native language is English, and I don't have any problems mixing up German and Spanish or French, but Italian and Spanish get interchanged! Also, I find that whichever foreign language is strongest at a given moment sometimes "takes over" without me noticing. For example, I'm currently stronger in Spanish, and when I'm speaking German--talking to a German friend--and he happens to mention a Spanish word such as "paella," my brain changes tracks into Spanish and I switch to it without noticing until my friend laughs at me. Does that happen to anyone else? (If you've ever seen the Dutch tourist information staff in Amsterdam, you know that it IS possible to switch rapidly and smoothly from one foreign language to another. They are awesome-- an inspiration to the rest of us.)
I am a native speaker of English but I learnt both Spanish and French in secondary school. For some reason Spanish comes wayyyy easier for me than French. I am thinking of taking French back up once I have completed all my grammar sections in Spanish. The other day, I was practicing some French with my friend, and the words that I didn't know I was saying them in Spanish :D The two are similar in a lot of ways and I remember back in school when I did not know a word for one subject I would use the word for the other subject.
I'm a native English speaker, have been learning Spanish in school (and on the site!) and learning some German on the side (because my family speaks German).
I'm not sure if I'm interpreting you're question correctly, but I hope what I'm saying will be helpful.
I've noticed that it's kind of helpful that the two NONnative languages I'm speaking are not very similar, BUT they are both similar to my native language. I think a lot of your problem might be that English and Spanish have tons of cognates, and so it would be easier to get confused about which word is which than say...confusing a German word and a Spanish word.
I'm sorry I'm not sure how to give advice, other than with a lot of these cognates that AREN'T exactly the same (because some like cereal vs. cereal are the same...) you can get the feel after a while of which one belongs to which language. If you (like me) tend to see the words in your head, you know things about how it would be spelled if it was Spanish vs English (like Spanish wouldn't use a "ph" like English or Spanish rarely uses "ss" like English, they'll just have the one "s")
Anyway, I hope this is at least a little bit helpful for you! Good luck with the languages! =)
Actually Lovely - although it seems difficult for you I think it is a good way to learn.
That is what the United Nation simultaneous translators do all the time - they translate / interpret between two foreign languages all the time. They are not allowed to use their native language.
A great way to become truely bi-lingual / in your case tri-lingual.
Keep at it - you will do very well.
most of the members here are native English/Spanish speakers so they don't have that difficulty
I'm a native English speaker, and I still have a lot of trouble when trying to speak foreign languages. When I speak Spanish, I sound nervous...jeje 
. And then when I try a speak Urdu...oh goodness, if you don't mind me quoting you, "living disaster".
The thing is...we are learning and it's normal that we make these mistakes.
It doesn't matter how many mistakes we make...that's how we learn. We learn from our mistakes.
If a mistake is not a stepping stone, it is a mistake. ~Eli Siegel. I love this quote because it's so true. When I feel discouraged when I mess up with a foreign language, I just remember that my mistakes are going to make me a better speaker.
My native tongue is English. I learned some German as a very young child (from my grandfather and then in grade school). Now I'm attempting to learn Spanish (at age 55!). I've forgotten a lot of German over the years, because I do not get a chance to use it very often. However, when I started learning Spanish numbers, I caught myself getting just a little mixed up between German and Spanish!
Maybe the Spanish is going into the same place as the German! 
haha. I only wish I had this problem 
