It is impossible to imagine a modern person with higher education who would have never studied one or several foreign languages and would not be familiar with the culture of different countries. Especially in the modern world, in which knowledge of languages serves not only as a way of cognition, but also as a key to self-realization both in one's own linguistic environment and beyond. The borders of countries are in many ways more and more transparent, means of transportation are available, which makes a modern person mobile and active in changing their place of residence and work. Knowledge of a foreign language and understanding of the cultural characteristics of other peoples further erases the barriers to temporary or long-term migration. Consequently, interest in the study of foreign languages grows in proportion to the growth of educational, scientific, commercial, cultural contacts, the desire of peoples and governments of different countries to develop cooperation and interaction. The study of linguistic and cultural contacts and the mutual enrichment of languages involves not only the study of specific socio-historical and cultural conditions of their development, but also the results of their mutual influence and interpenetration.
In the process of learning one or more foreign languages, the problem of linguistic and cultural interference arises. The focus of our article is the problem faced by students of language departments. Students, even with a good command of a foreign language, often make mistakes, the cause of which is interlanguage interference - the influence of the native language system on a foreign language or two or even more studied languages on each other. With prolonged «immersion» in the language, the languages being studied begin to influence each other, actively interacting with the native language. Interference can manifest itself in both oral and written speech, as well as at all linguistic levels. In addition, issues of cross-cultural interference play a significant role.
This article examines the reasons for the occurrence of language interference, describes its main characteristics and features, provides illustrative examples from European (English, Spanish and others), Slavic (Russian, Polish and others), as well as in the Eastern (Chinese) language. The authors pay special attention to the problem of linguistic interference of students of higher educational institutions emitting two or more foreign languages. They are carriers of the cultural code of their country, their people, but at the same time their cultural characteristics are in close contact with the cultural values of the people whose language they are studying, and their native language enters into a complex interaction with the languages being studied. Any culture is national, its national character is expressed in language through a special vision of the world, respectively, these two phenomena are inextricably linked and it is possible to consider them within the framework of one study.
In the course of analyzing the above-described scientific linguistic and culturological problem, the authors come to the conclusion that the study of the culture of the people of the country of the target language is in many respects primary and serves as a superstructure over the study of a foreign language. This methodological approach allows students to avoid both cross-cultural and, in the future, linguistic interference. Teachers are required to be not only teachers of the language, who understand its origins of history and its evolution, but also specialists immersed in the culture and traditions of the country, the language they teach, who know its historical features, the mentality of the people and those key moments that influenced the formation of the linguistic features.