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Learning languages simultaneously | ||
Tags: Simultaneous study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Lakkhamu Diglot Groupie Turkey Joined 5247 days ago 63 posts - 65 votes  Speaks: English, Turkish* Studies: Latin, German, Russian | Message 1 of 9 24 July 2010 at 3:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi all. I was wondering if I learned multiple languages at the same time, would it impede my learning? My German teacher once said to me that you can learn as much as languages at the same time as you want, but be sure that they are completely different languages (e.g. unlike Italian and latin) , otherwise you get confused. I'm currently learning latin and plan on learning Italian, Russian, Japanese, Mandarin (and also perhaps Spanish) chronologically, and because it would take so long to learn them all, would it matter if I learned (some of) them simultaneously? Thanks.
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| eumiro Bilingual Octoglot Groupie Germany Joined 5277 days ago 74 posts - 102 votes Speaks: Czech*, Slovak*, French, English, German, Polish, Spanish, Russian Studies: Italian, Hungarian | Message 2 of 9 24 July 2010 at 4:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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Latin, Italian and Spanish are similar enough to cause confusion. A few years ago, I tried to learn Italian and Spanish simultaneously, and while I was at quite an advanced level of French (also a similar language) and had no confusion with French, I was unable to speak properly only Italian or only Spanish (although I could understand both languages).
I don't think you will learn faster if you learn simultaneously. Try to do one language at a time, each time reaching some level of basic fluency an only then start a new one. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| aarontp Groupie United States Joined 5270 days ago 94 posts - 139 votes | Message 3 of 9 25 July 2010 at 10:10am | IP Logged | ||
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I think it will be fine. I study Latin vocabulary alongside Spanish and French
vocabulary (I don't study Latin grammar). I don't have any problems confusing Spanish with Latin or French with Latin. The Latin actually helps me remember common words, without ever causing me confusion. I wouldn't try to start two Romance languages at once, but I think mixing is fine once you have the pronunciation, verb endings, prepositions, ect., more or less figured out for the first language. I don't think Latin will cause you any problems, especially if you are not studying Latin for listening skills. As for advice on getting through Russian, Japanese, and Mandarin in a single lifetime--can't help you with that one! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JPike1028 Triglot Senior Member United States piketransitions Joined 5400 days ago 297 posts - 337 votes Speaks: English*, French, Italian Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written), Swedish, Portuguese, Czech | Message 4 of 9 25 July 2010 at 11:50am | IP Logged | ||
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It will slow down the learning process as you are dividing your time, and expect to confuse the languages at first. All in all though, it is doable and can be good if you are like me and get easily bored doing only one thing at a time.
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| Lakkhamu Diglot Groupie Turkey Joined 5247 days ago 63 posts - 65 votes Speaks: English, Turkish* Studies: Latin, German, Russian | Message 5 of 9 25 July 2010 at 12:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm planning on learning Japanese and Russian at the same time, perhaps later on Mandarin. Could that be doable, or even Mandarin at the same time? In your profile, for example, you're studying 7 languages at a time. Is that hard?
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| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5285 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian | Message 6 of 9 25 July 2010 at 1:05pm | IP Logged | ||
My personal opinion: 1. If you're learning languages that are similar (like Latin, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, etc) don't learn more than two at the same time. 2. If you're learning languages that are completely different (like Russian, French, Japanese, Arabic, etc) you are only limited by available study time. Realistically it would be a maximum of four for most people, I think. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ReachingOut Pentaglot Groupie Greece Joined 5240 days ago 57 posts - 81 votes Speaks: English*, German, GreekB2, French, Romanian Studies: Italian | Message 7 of 9 26 July 2010 at 10:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I was learning two very similar languages in tandem, Italian and Romanian. Not really such a good idea because both languages have similar vocabulary, or words which exist in both languages but with a totally different function. For example, while speaking Italian I kept on using "ne" instead of "ci" because ne is "us" in Romanian and I'm sure I was driving my teacher mad with these silly little mistakes.
I find that it's better to concentrate first on one, and then the other. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| The Real CZ Senior Member United States Joined 5652 days ago 1069 posts - 1495 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 8 of 9 29 July 2010 at 2:29am | IP Logged | ||
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It helps me learning Korean and Japanese at the same time. They're not "officially" related, but have similar grammar and similar vocab, so it speeds up the process for me, allowing me to spend less time learning Japanese because when learning a new grammar function, I'll most likely know the Korean equivalent and it really takes away the frustration of trying to understand it, like when I had to when learn the same structure in Korean the first time.
Of course, the differences in pronunciation help a lot more than learning two Romance languages or any other related family. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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