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In my third or fourth language, when I don't know a word or phrase, I substitute a word from my other non-native language rather than the one I obviously know in my native language. Or if I'm looking for a Russian word, I'll say "in French, we say..." Rather than "in English, we say..."

Is there a term for this linguistic impulse?

I feel like this is an idea that should have a term.

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    linguistic interference
    – Adam Bittlingmayer
    Commented Aug 27, 2017 at 15:03
  • @Emily so you want it to specifically be a word from a language which you learned after your native one?
    – madprogramer
    Commented Sep 30, 2019 at 11:34

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