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How Multilinguals Perceive Linguistic Interference, Amanda Ruskin

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When someone begins a third (or nth) language they often struggle to inhibit previously learned languages, something that established multilinguals do without much difficulty. In this qualitative survey encompassing 298 multilinguals representing different languages, proficiency levels, and learning histories, an attempt was made to identify what strategies, if any, multilinguals are aware of using which help them to successfully inhibit competing lexemes from non-target languages, with the goal of identifying strategies or commonalities that may assist budding multilinguals. Multilinguals reported noticing their interference most in conversing and mostly as applied to vocabulary; however, for most it did not occur very …