Are there any clear theories about language interference?
Interference is that thing that makes you use a grammar structure of your L1 in your L2, use a word that doesn't exist only because it sounds like one you already know in your L1, etc.
I somehow believe that interference is the biggest problem learners have to face if they want to reach native-like fluency, but I'm afraid it's a problem that can't be avoided.
I guess it can be limited by adopting an approach like the Antimoon Method (in particular, avoid making mistakes and get familiar with lots of input sentences before you try to produce any output at all). It makes sense. But unfortunately that only limits interference, it doesn't get rid of it.
I'm starting to think that because of the way our brains work, languages are never completely separate in our brains, and interference is impossible to avoid. In fact, I feel that our brains might tend to mix everything up naturally, and we need to make a conscious effort to avoid interference.
Even the inventor of Supermemo seems to recognize that interference is the most annoying problem, because it's usually unpredictable.
How do you cope with this problem?
Interference is that thing that makes you use a grammar structure of your L1 in your L2, use a word that doesn't exist only because it sounds like one you already know in your L1, etc.
I somehow believe that interference is the biggest problem learners have to face if they want to reach native-like fluency, but I'm afraid it's a problem that can't be avoided.
I guess it can be limited by adopting an approach like the Antimoon Method (in particular, avoid making mistakes and get familiar with lots of input sentences before you try to produce any output at all). It makes sense. But unfortunately that only limits interference, it doesn't get rid of it.
I'm starting to think that because of the way our brains work, languages are never completely separate in our brains, and interference is impossible to avoid. In fact, I feel that our brains might tend to mix everything up naturally, and we need to make a conscious effort to avoid interference.
Even the inventor of Supermemo seems to recognize that interference is the most annoying problem, because it's usually unpredictable.
How do you cope with this problem?