Information about Language Transfer

Language transfer (also known as L1 interference, linguistic interference, and crossmeaning) is most commonly discussed in the context of English language learning and teaching, but it can occur in any situation when someone does not have an L1 command of a language, as when translating into an L2.

Positive and negative transfer

When the relevant unit or structure of both languages is the same, it most often results in correct language production called positive transfer, "correct" meaning in line with most L1 speakers' notions of acceptability. Note, however, that language interference is often discussed as a source of errors known as negative transfer. Negative transfer occurs when speakers and writers transfer items and structures that are not the same in both languages. Within the theory of contrastive analysis, the systematic study of a pair of languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and similarities, the greater the differences between the two languages, the more negative transfer there should be.

Conscious and unconscious transfer

Transfer may be conscious or unconscious. Consciously, learners or unskilled translators may guess when producing L2 speech or text because they have not learned or have forgotten L2 usage. On the other hand, they may not consider that the structures and internal rules of the languages in question are different. Such users could also be aware of both the structures and internal rules, yet be insufficiently skilled to put them into practice, and consequently often fall back on their first language.

Multiple acquired languages

Transfer can also occur between acquired languages. In a situation where French is an L2 and Spanish an L3, an anglophone learner, for example, may assume that a structure or internal rule from French also applies to Spanish.

Examples

Language transfer produces distinctive forms of learner English, depending on the speaker’s first language. Some examples, labeled with a blend of the names of the two languages in question, are:

• Chinglish (Chinese)
• Czenglish (Czech)
• Denglisch (German)
• Dunglish (Dutch)
• Engrish (or "Japlish": Japanese)
• Finglish (Finnish)
• Franglais (French)
• Hinglish (Hindi)
• Konglish (Korean)
• Manglish (Malaysian)
• Poglish (Polish)
• Porglish (Portuguese)
• Runglish (Russian)
• Serblish (Serbian)
• Spanglish (Spanish)
• Swenglish (Swedish)
• Taglish (Tagalog)
• Tanglish (Tamil)
• Tinglish (Thai)
• Yinglish (Yiddish)

Similar interference effects, of course, also involve languages other than English, e.g. French and Spanish (Frespañol).

These examples could be multiplied endlessly to reflect the linguistic interactions of speakers of the thousands of existing or extinct languages.

Such interfered-language names are often also used informally to denote instances of code-switching, code-mixing, borrowing (using loan words).

Results of positive transfer

The results of positive transfer go largely unnoticed, and thus are less often discussed. Nonetheless, such results can have a large effect: the result will generally be more positive transfer, the closer the two languages are and the more the learner is aware of the relation between them. For example, an Anglophone learner of German may correctly guess an item of German vocabulary from its English counterpart, but word order and collocation are more likely to differ, as will connotations. Such an approach has the disadvantage of making the learner more subject to the influence of "false friends."

Broader effects

With sustained or intense contact between L2 and L1 speakers, the results of language transfer in an L2 can extend to and affect the L1 production of the L1-speaking community. For example, in North America, L2 speakers of English whose first language is Spanish or French may have a certain influence on L1 English-speakers' use of language when these L1-speakers are in the minority. Locations where this might occur include Québec, Canada, and predominantly Spanish-speaking regions and neighborhoods in the U.S.. For details on the latter, locate the U.S. on the map of the hispanophone world under Spanish language and consult the list of U.S. communities with Hispanic majority populations.

See also

• Second language acquisition
• Interlanguage
• Language contact
• Code-switching
• Macaronic language
• Loanword
• Calque
• Mixed language