Could learning a foreign

language be affecting your

native language?
Mona, 9A
It could affect the
native language.
• First, the issue will be start with your native
language speaking or other skills, then
it would be affecting other things.. Like
your relationships with family, relatives or
friends.
• the language of the country that someone is
born in or native to.
• Some say it does affect their native language
communication skills…
• In other words, naming objects in another language
inhibits the corresponding labels in the native language,
making them more difficult to retrieve later.
• After immersion in a foreign language, speakers
often have difficulty retrieving native-
language words
Why would people want to learn a
foreign language ?
• For the people who moved to another country, they will have the locals speaking in another
language. They will have to adapt their new surroundings and learn the language most locals
there speaks.
• Or to experience different foreign culture, profound more about the other culture , to
communicate better with the locals, to be more understanding with their foreign friend or family.
• For more better career choices…etc
It could affect your
native language.
• Learning another language could
eventually be affecting your native
language negatively, If we don’t practice it
as often.
• communication skills and other skills could
suffer or will slips away slowly..
• It can also make you forget what do some
words phrases sometimes but you know
how it is called in the other language.
We could forget to use our native language.
• That is, when first learning a new language, we have to actively ignore our easily accessible native language
words while struggling to express our thoughts in a novel tongue. As a speaker achieves bilingual fluency,
native-language inhibition becomes less necessary, accounting for the better performances of fluent
bilingual speakers in the study.
This process is called:
• Language attrition is the process of losing a native or first language.
• Language attrition is just a natural process that occurs when learning a second
language. It is reversible, and if you find yourself stuck in your second language,
to remember your first is simple.
Problems that could
happen
• When talking to another person or a family member
who don’t speak the language you were learning or
only communicates with their native language ; the
person could forget to switch their speaking tongue
to their native language and could make the people
their trying to speak with confused…
• It can also make some people gets annoyed by you
• Some would even feel disrespected that you
speaking in another language to them.
• knowledge of a second language can influence
bilinguals' performance on native-language
vocabulary and reading tasks.
Not speaking your
native language…
• Some type of people in your surroundings will
call you out and shame you for forgetting your
own mother tongue language.
• Shaming you or asking why you’re not using
your native language. Or say you betrayed your
own mother tongue language.
• You could feel ashamed for being unable to
speak your first language anymore.
• And you can’t really communicate normally with
you relatives without stutters or translator…
Example of first language drifting away
• The relationship could be affected negatively,
• You could hesitant rather to speak in your native Lagrange or the other language with your
family…
• Like the person’s situation in the example , she seems to be hesitant if she would disrespect her
parents or relatives.
• She felt ashamed for not understanding her relatives.
 How could it
happen?
• Sometimes when we use the other language too much,
then the first language was left aside...
• A big percentage of people forgetting their native
languages or first language ,were on those people
who moved from their homeland country to live in country
that another language is spoken.
• After immersion in a foreign language, speakers often
have difficulty retrieving native-language words.
• When we learn a language, we meet new people, new cultures and therefore our personality
evolves, we reinvent ourselves and we develop our capacity for adaptation.
• Foreign language study leads to an appreciation of cultural diversity.
• Knowing other languages allows us to travel and relate to different people and environments,
in which we have to behave differently.
• People around you will think that you’re a bright and capable
• Communication skills developed in the process.
• Foreign language study enhances one’s opportunities in government, business, medicine,
law, technology, military, industry, marketing, and more.
Let’s see how that person tried retrieve her first
language.
How to try preventing this from happening…
• Talk in your native languages sometimes,
• try to stay in touch with any friend who speaks your native language.
• Practice with other people who speak your native language.
• Use your native language with your relatives more often , if you can still speak it.
• Join a language speaking group with your native language speakers.
• If there’s any source of entertainment you can consume, you can try to watch or listen to songs or
movies with your native language in it too.
• early exposure also seems to speed the process of relearning it later in life.
• create a need for the language so it would
convince a bilingual to practice and speak
the language. It is found that increasing the
amount of the time you spent listening to
and reading content written by the native
speakers would help correct the usage of
vocabulary.
Conclusion
• Yes, it can affect your native language skills.
• But the affects its also depends on your surroundings, environment. If the locals there speak
another language, you will have adapt it to be in that new setting.
• It is totally fine, language attrition is a
• Common to happen especially bilinguals or
• Multi language speakers…
Thank you, for listening
References are shown below:
• https://www.thelily.com/i-forgot-my-first-language-after-moving-to-america-heres-how-im-
reconnecting-with-my-roots/
• https://www.gooverseas.com/blog/common-language-learning-problems
• https://www.goabroad.com/articles/language-study-abroad/why-is-it-important-to-learn-a-
foreign-language
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17362374/
• https://cla.auburn.edu/world-languages/future-students/25-reasons-to-study-foreign-languages/
• Personal perspectives,