As we form new memories, it is inevitable that old ones will be lost.  Unfortunately, one cannot store all of life’s information in its entirety.  With each new day, we continue to absorb new information and subconsciously forgot old information.  I think we can all agree that most of which we learn in school is relatively easy to forget.  While in high school, I had an experience that had the reverse effect.  While attempting to absorb new information, old learned memories continued to cloud my brain, somewhat blocking the formation of new memories.  I was experiencing the effects of proactive interference.

Eighth grade through tenth grade, I had chosen to study French.  However, I have family that speaks Spanish.  During my freshman year of high school I had realized that it would obviously be more beneficial for me to learn Spanish.  So, I enrolled in Spanish for the following year.  Also, because I had experience with French and they were supposedly easier to learn after you knew the other, I was able to take Spanish one and two my sophomore year while also taking French.

When I first began learning Spanish, I immediately realized how similar the two languages were.  Later on, I would realize how difficult it was going to be to not confuse them.  Many aspects of the two languages are very similar; such as the way verb tenses are used.  For each language, there are different endings you add to verb stems according to the subject.  While attempting to learn Spanish, I continually found myself using French verb conjugations and not even realizing it.  It was clear that my previous knowledge of French was interfering with my learning of Spanish.  Also, I was taking both classes at the same time, so French was also still being freshly learned.  That was the last year I took French, but I continued to take Spanish during my junior and senior year.  As I continued to learn Spanish, I become more equip to keeping the two languages separate.  I was no longer taking French, so those memories had quickly started to fade.  Even after one year of no longer studying French and focusing only on Spanish, I still experienced the effects of proactive interference.  Now, a year out of studying either of them, I have forgotten the majority of both languages.