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Too many languages VS significant progres | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| guiguixx1 Octoglot Senior Member Belgium guillaumelp.wordpres Joined 4027 days ago 163 posts - 207 votes  Speaks: French*, English, Dutch, Portuguese, Esperanto, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 1 of 21 13 February 2015 at 10:20pm | IP Logged |
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There has been a recent topic about whether members on this forum rather study in order
to speak a language or rather for the fun of it. I happen to have begun several languages this year, and wonder if I'll be able to keep on working on them all for the whole semester. Still, I have met good friends from several countries and we speak a lot about each other's native languages, and I do want to try those languages. If I were to do it, I would probably not be able to make progress in several languages, due to lack of everyday work, but I would, on the other hand, enjoy touching at new things. Would you advice against still adding new languages (I am currently working on 8 foreign languages, 3 of them being rather weak, or very energy-demanding), or do some of you also study so many languages simultaneously that you work for the fun of it, although advancing too slowly to make significant progress? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5163 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 2 of 21 13 February 2015 at 11:03pm | IP Logged |
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Like many, I study more languages than I should. But I enjoy each one. You understand the tradeoffs: more languages = slower progress in each. If you're OK with that tradeoff, then carry on!
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| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4571 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 3 of 21 14 February 2015 at 12:05am | IP Logged |
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It depends on my goals. If I want to progress quickly in a language, I'll put all of my focus on it. If I don't have any particular desire to, I could study or dabble in 5-7 at a time.
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| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6517 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 4 of 21 14 February 2015 at 9:04am | IP Logged |
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I've tried to study several languages simultaneously, but I seem to be unable to. I just end up spending all my time on one of them and neglecting the others.
As to advice, well, it's hard to give. If you enjoy learning lots of different languages but are aware that it hinders your progress, then that's a tradeoff you'll have to decide on for yourself. If it were me, I'd focus on one at a time and get it up to a point where I could do something with it (like read a book with dictionary help), then pick up another. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Kc2012 Diglot Groupie South Africa Joined 4408 days ago 44 posts - 65 votes Speaks: English*, Afrikaans Studies: Dutch, Mandarin, Russian | Message 5 of 21 14 February 2015 at 4:40pm | IP Logged |
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Yeah this is an interesting dilemma.. And something which I am facing right now too. I
originally decided to do three languages this year - learn Dutch, improve my Russian and do Chinese (since I live and work in China now) but after a little while, I've noticed all my time going to Chinese (seeing as this is the most needed for me) and I'm OK with it. I've decided that while I'm in China I'll take advantage of the immersion and just do Chinese intensively - by making this decision I no longer feel guilty about neglecting the others. My Russian is not going to fade away that easily, and seeing as I already speak Afrikaans, Dutch will always be ready and waiting for me to pick up :) so basically, if you have the time and there is no actual NEED for you to learn one of these languages faster than the others, than just keep going and have fun! Edited by Kc2012 on 14 February 2015 at 4:42pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6532 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 6 of 21 14 February 2015 at 6:04pm | IP Logged |
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Ari, have you taken a break from Czech?
I agree that when you learn less than 4 languages, it takes a lot of discipline/planning to devote enough time to each of them without neglecting any. But with 4+ there's much less temptation to drop all but one (or two). Also, you can't just apply linear maths to this. The tradeoff is way overrated. It seems logical that if you're learning 8 languages for 1 hour per day (or even 30 min), you could focus on one and study it 8x more... but would you really study it for 4-8 hours per day? If you're only learning from your friends and not getting much reinforcement outside of that, consider SRS'ing everything you know. This way you'll remember even isolated facts that don't fit into a system. Which are the languages in question anyway? With your strong French and Spanish, weaker Italian and Latin, I'd say it's safe to add more Romance languages. Same for English/Dutch/German and Scandinavian languages. If your friends are Vietnamese, Albanian or Korean, that's a very different situation. And in any case this depends on your long-term plans for the languages in question. Are your friends supportive of your desire to learn their language? Are they fellow geeks? It's surprisingly difficult to change the language you use with someone. Personally, I would recommend you to choose the languages that actually enrich the friendship, maybe especially with those who don't speak much English/French. I've had good friends who speak Indonesian and Romanian natively, but in both cases they thought their language is useless for me and used English a lot and in general I feel that I was really close to reaching basic fluency but missed out due to their attitude/my lack of willingness to find other friends who speak the same language and practise with them. In fact, I kinda got out of touch with both because using English again would be like admitting defeat, but I genuinely feel like trying to use their L1 is pointless. (well, the Indonesian girl also moved to Canada and had very little online time for like forever, but I struggle to take the initiative and try to get back in touch, since I do see her still scrobbling on lastfm at least) Also, what are your plans as a language learner in general? I personally decided to get started with more or less all the languages I wanted to learn before 25. I'm learning while I have the time. Honestly I would advise focusing on the languages that match your long-term interests, or are easy enough to pick up along the way. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| guiguixx1 Octoglot Senior Member Belgium guillaumelp.wordpres Joined 4027 days ago 163 posts - 207 votes Speaks: French*, English, Dutch, Portuguese, Esperanto, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 7 of 21 14 February 2015 at 6:23pm | IP Logged |
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Well, I am improving my Italian and German, and keep using Spanish. I follow courses
for all of them at the university (along with English and Dutch of course, which are my majors). I'm also taking courses in Ancien greec (I have already had a course during my erasmus programme last semester, and am following a course now without an exam at the end and as the only student of the class), and I also take Latin (just out of curiosity). I have also begun Esperanto, but it's the language I use the less of all my languages. Except for English and Dutch, I'm taking a course without having to take the exam in all the other language, and if I skip a lesson or 2, or stop coming, the teachers don't care. In the futur, I don't really have precise plans, except having B2 in Spanish and Italien, and B1 in German. I would also like to have some command of Esperanto, without any preciser goal (except maybe speaking it for the Polyglot Conference in a couple of months). Concerning Ancien greec and Latin, I still don't know what I'll do with them later. I might want to use my Ancien greec to learn Modern greec. I wanted to try Polish (a friend of mine is Polish, and is learning French) but I also have a Russian friend this semester in one of my courses, and I will definitely learn this language someday. I also have a Slovak friend this semester, who is improving her friend and help her with that. So I wanted to try Polish, or Russian, or Slovak. I have also found an old cheap Assimil Hungarian, and would also like to try it out, although I don't have anyone in Belgium to use it with (although I have some friends on facebook). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6532 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 8 of 21 14 February 2015 at 7:02pm | IP Logged |
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Well, my strategy has been to start a language when I just can't live without it, or without encountering it (the latter applies to Spanish or Swedish for example). Out of Polish, Slovak and Russian I'd say it's better to choose one for now. Do you have any specific reason why you'd want to learn Russian one day?
Let me just post a quote I've seen somewhere: "I wish I’d partied a little less. People always say ‘be true to yourself.’ But that’s misleading, because there are two selves. There’s your short term self, and there’s your long term self. And if you’re only true to your short term self, your long term self slowly decays." Your short-term self also deserves fun and joy, but always think of your long-term self when making decisions. 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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