Adventures in learning multiple languages

I attempted to have a conversation with another Japanese learner today, which randomly led to a lot of Spanish. I wasn't trying to think about it, trying to let it come out normally, and I just got a random mix of Japanese and Spanish. 'Sí, 分かりました。(Yes, I understood it)' and such. Maybe this is because I was trying to stop answering はい(yes) to every question- and answer in a language people understand. Whatever it was, it was pretty hilarious. But eventually,  I did work through it and when I tried to focus, then the Japanese flowed. Hopefully later, it will just come naturally.
My tongues aren't really separate- I apparently don't have them compartmentalized at all. I wonder if it is possible to have them compartmentalized- especially now for me.

Phases in the study of Japanese

I found a really funny post over in Daniel Marín's blog Eureka about the phases you go through when you study Japanese. It's in Spanish, though, so I think the humor would be lost to a few(ok, after reading it, you may see how sardonic my humor is if I think this is funny). So, with his permission, I'm translating it here. Enjoy!

1. IS THIS A LANGUAGE OR A JOKE?: Because of the kanji, because of the syllabaries, because of its really strange grammar- with the particles and the reverse order of its sentences...at the start, more than a language, Japanese seems an unsolvable puzzle or a joke made in bad taste.

2. NOW I UNDERSTAND!: After fighting with it for some months or years, according to the patience of the student, things start to fit into place. One is able to write simple sentences and understand easy conversations. About the kanji, well, having taken in the terrible work that you have to learn more than two thousand of them, the thing seems promising and one studies the first  few hundred with much patience and illusion.

3. WHAAT?: Well no, what you were thinking you knew was in reality a bait to attract you to the dark side, the tip of the iceberg of a language designed for a perverted mind. For every rule, there are a hundred exceptions. The pronunciation is relatively simple, but the reading is undeniably complicated, every kanji can be read in a bazillion ways, some of them irregular. The kanji come together in your mind like mosquitos around a lamp and there is no god that can distinguish them. As soon as you learn a hundred, you come back to forgetting them. If that was a little, the regional dialects and the many levels of courtesy conspire to make you abandon the study of nihongo.

4. THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL: It can be supposed that you enter this level when things start to come together again, after many doses of patience. It's the same as in a martial arts film- the student suffers his first defeat by the language to make him flustered and pressured, while the sensei repeats: patience, patience...After many years and efforts maybe you will achieve speaking somewhat decently and be heard by a son of the Nation of the Rising Sun without him spitting in your face.

Random words

I have no idea when I learn certain words in a language. It seems with Spanish that I really do have a good base, thanks to AP Spanish in high school, and an extra year beyond that helping teach AP Spanish. I know a lot of random words(though my vocabulary is still not anywhere near where it needs to be for fluency).

But anyway, every once in a while I have one of those word that keeps on coming up in my thoughts, perhaps because it just sounds fun. Over the past couple of days, it's been 'payaso' or 'clown.' I mean, I have no idea how it even came up. I don't think I've seen a clown, I hate clowns, etc. But payaso is just such a fun word, in the middle of the day, I'll just be reminded of it. Other times, I'll have words like 'bombachas(plaited pants)' or 'にゃにゃしています(grinning)' stuck in my head. Hey, at least I know what they mean!

I wonder if this is a side effect of language learning and if other people have the same thing happen to them.