My languages seem to hate each other

I’m taking Elementary Japanese 2 right now– the second level up from Japanese 1. I somehow managed to place out of Japanese 1. It was a miracle, actually. I did not do well on the placement test.

My Japanese was never that great in the first place, but at the moment it’s particularly bad. Perhaps because I haven’t spoken it in, oh, about a year. And for some reason, every time I try to muster up my Japanese, all that comes out is German. Or, on occasion, Spanish. Not that I’m proficient at any of those three languages.

It’s a common problem I’ve heard of, actually. When people try to learn multiple languages, often they get them mixed up. Find the right word in the wrong language. I’ve done it many times.Exchange students will often complain of this as they cope with multiple tongues.

Yet for some reason, my Vietnamese has never interfered with my other languages. I wonder why? Perhaps because I grew up with it. I can definitely understand it more intuitively than Japanese or German.

We’ll see. For now, I got to buckle down. My classes this semester are looking tough. Hopefully I’ll pull through.