Muscle Memory
I spent last semester living in Spain, speaking, reading, and thinking in Spanish most of the time (except when I read Jane Austen). While four months back in the States have mostly gotten me out of the habit of accidentally addressing shop clerks and the like in Spanish*, I find myself facing a serious problem when writing my thesis.
You see, the primary source material I am writing on contains an occasional Spanish word; rarely, but apparently just enough to trigger the correct portions of my brain. This is greatly compounded by the fact that I switched from QWERTY to DVORAK* while I was in Spain, to help my wrists, so I effectively learned to touch type in Spanish.
The end result is that I will happily type a page, look at it, and then realize that I have typed the entire bloody thing in Spanglish, using "y" for and, "a" for to, "en" for in, and occasionally even substituting entire phrases. I don't even realize that I am doing it.
On the plus side, I now have ten pages written, albeit in need of very heavy editing.
*You should see their faces when I do, though. It is not quite what they expect from my pale, redheaded self.
*A more efficient keyboard layout. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard
You see, the primary source material I am writing on contains an occasional Spanish word; rarely, but apparently just enough to trigger the correct portions of my brain. This is greatly compounded by the fact that I switched from QWERTY to DVORAK* while I was in Spain, to help my wrists, so I effectively learned to touch type in Spanish.
The end result is that I will happily type a page, look at it, and then realize that I have typed the entire bloody thing in Spanglish, using "y" for and, "a" for to, "en" for in, and occasionally even substituting entire phrases. I don't even realize that I am doing it.
On the plus side, I now have ten pages written, albeit in need of very heavy editing.
*You should see their faces when I do, though. It is not quite what they expect from my pale, redheaded self.
*A more efficient keyboard layout. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard