A Spanish speaker confuses “embarazada” (pregnant) with “embarrassed” in English

A German speaker uses “Haus” to guess “house” in English.

A Chinese speaker misuses English plural forms

A French speaker avoids using cognates in English

L1 has been completely forgotten

Transfer is not relevant in multilingual settings

L2 is dominant in their mind for multilingual tasks

. L3 is closer in structure to L1.

Forcing learners to avoid speaking L1 and L2

Raising awareness of similarities and differences between L1, L2, and L3

Teaching L3 grammar in isolation

Encouraging rote memorization of L3 rules

Lack of practice

Fossilization

Negative transfer from L2

Negative transfer from L1

A child raised in a home speaking Spanish and attending an English school

An adult learning French by associating every word with an English translation

A student studying Latin through immersion in a Latin-speaking community

A bilingual professional switching between Hindi and English at work

A learner with full immersion in L3 context

A learner exposed only to written input in L3

A bilingual learner with similar L1 and L2 structures

A learner whose L1 and L2 are very different from L3

Interference increases with each new language

All previous languages can contribute positively to L3 learning

Only the first language influences the third language

Transfer can only occur from the most recently learned language

Avoidance strategy

Positive transfer

Negative transfer

Metalinguistic awareness

Learn a second language by directly translating it through their native language

Use both languages interchangeably in all situations

Acquire both languages from birth and use them in different settings

Have a higher IQ due to bilingualism

All three languages share similar vocabulary

The learner uses knowledge from L1 or L2 incorrectly in L3

The learner avoids using L3 entirely

The learner relies on conscious grammar study