Word.ws English Dictionary

language transfer

language transfer noun: synonym of language shift.

Noun

language transfer (countable and uncountable, plural language transfers)

  1. (countable) Synonym of language shift.
    Synonyms:
    language shift
  2. (uncountable) The (correct or incorrect) application of linguistic features (grammar, vocabulary, etc.) from one language to another, such as false friends.
    • At present, language transfer is not viewed as the manifestation of a learner's inability to resist first-language patterns; instead, it is thought to interact with L2 developmental processes, […].1985, Jack C. Richards, The Context of Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN

Synonyms of language transfer

Forms of language transfer

plurallanguage transfers

Questions about language transfer

What does language transfer mean?
Language transfer means synonym of language shift.
What part of speech is language transfer?
Language transfer is a noun.
What is the plural of language transfer?
The plural of language transfer is language transfers.

Words near language transfer in the dictionary

  1. language survey
  2. language surveys
  3. language swap
  4. language swaps
  5. language technology
  6. language transfer
  7. language transfers
  8. language-agnostic
  9. language-independent
  10. language-learner
  11. language-learners

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: language transfer (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “language transfer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/language_transfer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.