Resumen de The potential trade-off between L3 Chinese proficiency and L1 Thai verbal fluency

Nujaree Intasao

• The present study investigated the potential trade-off between acquiring proficiency in a new language and maintaining verbal fluency in a previously learned language. Sixty-two imbalanced multilingual participants, whose first language (L1) was Thai, second language (L2) was English, and third language (L3) was Chinese, underwent proficiency tests in English and Chinese, and they completed verbal fluency tests in Thai and English. The results revealed that L3 proficiency was negatively correlated with L1 verbal fluency, suggesting the presence of a trade-off between languages. This interaction could manifest among individuals who are not fully proficient in languages other than their L1. By expanding upon existing research, this study contributes valuable insights to language learning and multilingualism research.