I've been speaking Dutch daily for 5 years. My mother tongue is Portuguese.
I used to speak faster in Spanish and English when I thought in Portuguese daily. I think that by forcing myself to think in Dutch I have kind of lost the connection I used to have to words of other foreign languages as well. I say this specially because when speaking in Spanish or English, I catch myself trying to figure out simple words I used to know, now relative to Dutch. It seems now I may be building the word connections all over again relative to Dutch. For sure if I were naturally thinking in Portuguese as it used to be the case, this would be better for my Spanish. But it's more difficult than you think to suddenly stop thinking in Dutch in the middle of a conversation in Portuguese, Spanish or English.
To understand more about language and memory is important for me now to be able to keep the languages I master ready to use. I also find conversations in Portuguese and English significantly more vivid which again demonstrates the importance of the relation between language and memory.
So could anyone give me more insight on this topic? I also did a little research but it seems people only want to promote the benefits of learning new languages and not the negative effects.
