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Learning many languages simultaneously | ||
Tags: Simultaneous study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| hp230 Tetraglot Newbie TunisiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3628 days ago 30 posts - 63 votes  Speaks: German, Arabic (classical)*, French, English | Message 9 of 18 30 January 2015 at 8:30am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I totally agree with you. It's very important to continue studying a language even if it's the native one; languages are vast sees that never end; the only drawback probably is the possibility of mixing languages that leads to lose efficiency. Personally; when doing some activity in English for example, it might happen to forget some words, try to find them in french and then trying to translate them back to English, this closeness of languages may cause some confusions, but you seem to have no problems with that :). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5142 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 10 of 18 30 January 2015 at 10:05am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I think Luca gave 1-2 just as a typical example for what a "normal" person can manage: let's say, someone who works full time, doesn't live in the country where one is spoken, has other interests outside of languages, and doesn't have an unusual amount of talent or experience. I fit into that category and I've found it to be quite accurate: I can handle two, but when I tried three it was simply too much and I didn't have enough time to make satisfactory progress in any of them. Even dividing my time between two often feels like a compromise, but I have enough interest and use for both of them to be willing to make that compromise.
But of course it varies, you'll find plenty examples on here. 3 persons have 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 11 of 18 30 January 2015 at 12:52pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yeah, I follow the cumulative strategy too. I think it's not that unpopular, it's just that most only pursue it when they're satisfied with their level, even though they don't stop learning the "old" language anyway. Think iguanamon for example.
I think pretty much everyone agrees that starting a few languages together is a different question. It *can* be done in a comparative context, linguists do this all the time, but that's not for everyone. Mostly because they tend to aim only for passive skills, especially reading. (My profile can be misleading, btw - I do list a bunch of languages as beginner or intermediate, but most are in the passive stage and far from being activated. The most notable exceptions are Italian and Polish; other Slavic languages can be activated if I manage to go to the relevant country, and Swedish is also not intentionally passive. I tried to activate Romanian last year but lost the motivation soon. I definitely agree that being an active beginner in several languages is not easy, although it's doable) In your particular situation, may I ask about your reason to learn Italian? I've not been to Italy or Tunisia but I've been to Malta which is in between :) I assume it's a relatively important and useful language for you? Do you have a personal motivation though? Maybe literature, movies, music, that sort of thing? Or is it more about friends, travel opportunities etc? Basically, unless it's merely "useful" but not interesting and special, I recommend you to start with Italian first. (the same applies to German, btw - what about German anyway?) And I'm not sure what you mean by the summer project? Are you going to try learning on your own for the first time? You'd make the most progress if you focused on Italian (and continued German). Alternatively, you can start Italian now, spend your (possibly limited) free time working out how you learn best, and then spend the summer actually learning. You can even consider starting Russian or Japanese in summer, but not both. Or if you're so keen on starting one of them, work on your German for now and learn it independently (even if you do have classes as well). More than this sounds unrealistic to me, but who knows... The most important thing: don't assume you'll be able to spend all your free time in the summer learning. Even 3 hours a day will be a success. Unless you have an incredibly strong passion for one language, you'll probably be able to devote more time if you learn two (or more than two, counting French, English, German). 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| hp230 Tetraglot Newbie TunisiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3628 days ago 30 posts - 63 votes Speaks: German, Arabic (classical)*, French, English | Message 12 of 18 30 January 2015 at 2:56pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Italian is one of my favorite languages,it's always enjoyable to listen to people speaking Italian. My childhood was full of Italian cartoons and TV shows. As you have mentioned, the geographic closeness between Italy and Tunisia was very important for that, we use many Italian terms when speaking informally in public. For Tunisians going there (even illegally) have always been a dream. Anyway I'm learning it for fun and for the love of the language.
You see I said "adventure" not "project", it's absolutely not for professional reasons - it may turn out to be later- (I'm studying engineering) but right now I'm doing it for fun; that's why I started German last summer - it was by my own and I'm rather satisfied about what I've acquired till now- I believe I have a good English (more than 10 years at school, college and university) and French (more than 13 years); and that I have a basic knowledge of Italian; ( if you return to my first reply you would notice that I mentioned Italian as third after Russian and Japanese, that's my priority for now. knowing that I don't have any knowledge about these two languages I may seriously consider your advice to go on with only one of them and think about adding Italian as an option later. You see, first I had the idea to begin only one new language per year but then I realized it wouldn't be possible with my professional career beginning in a couple of years (I'm not saying I'm going to stop with languages), that's why I asked about simultaneity before beginning what may be a failing adventure :). 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 13 of 18 30 January 2015 at 7:23pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Yeah, I didn't mean project in the professional sense, just as in "learning seriously". That's the common usage on HTLAL :)
Your German profile says you plan to work in Germany, is it still true? If so, I would advise you to focus on German, and maybe Italian too. Starting while you can is more about building a solid foundation than having adventures and playing around. Dabbling is something you can do later. Consistent hard work, less so. Why are you interested in Russian and Japanese? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| hp230 Tetraglot Newbie TunisiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3628 days ago 30 posts - 63 votes Speaks: German, Arabic (classical)*, French, English | Message 14 of 18 30 January 2015 at 8:38pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yes, I still have the intention to work in Germany, but even it doesn't happen, I'm still eager to become a fluent German speaker. I didn't mention that I become interested in German 4 or 5 years ago and I began to discover the language but not on a regular basis until last summer when I really started to focus seriously on it. For Russian, my piano teacher is Ukrainian and for six years, I've been astonished when she speaks Russian with her Bulgarian friend teacher or on the phone. For Japanese, I love watching Japanese manga, and I think it would be great to watch them in the original language without subtitles. I can't deny I'm a "movie-holic", it comes often in an American movies when the bad guys (who are usually Germans, Russians or Japanese) and one of these languages is spoken and I become on fire; why couldn't I understand what they're saying? You see, it might be crazy, but this is what brought me to learn new languages in the first place. I may never use some of the languages that I want to study in real life, but it's just some emptiness that I want to fill. I hope this answers your questions but I'm surprised: why are you stuck with Italian ? I see you're Russian, do you have any constraints about other people learning Russian? I know that the way to learn Russian is much longer and much more difficult than Italian ( that's what I felt you wanted to say indirectly, when reading your posts) but we have an Arabic proverb that says " walking a way of 1000 step begins with walking one step". What I wanted to say is that I am ready to devote my time to learn these languages among others, hopefully mandarin, Spanish and Farsi are within my interest but why Russian, Japanese and Italian? :that's because they are 3 languages with different symbols (letters), I thought that would simplify the simultaneity. 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 15 of 18 30 January 2015 at 10:16pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Aw no, I love it when people want to learn Russian :) I've watched some HTLAL'ers make impressive progress, most notably tarvos and Solfrid Cristin. And if you settle on Russian, I'll be happy to help :) It just seems like your reasons are a bit superficial. I think you need to explore the languages you mentioned some more before making a serious commitment. And then just add them one at a time, when you can't resist.
Also, the people in movies might be saying nonsense actually ;D Have a look at subs2srs btw, seems like a powerful tool. Basically, I definitely don't think that Japanese or Russian is too difficult for you. You just seem to have what I call the "I want to learn one more language"-syndrome. Your desire to learn languages is much stronger than your interest in any specific language you're not fluent in. You don't seem to have a clear favourite, otherwise you'd be already learning it. (Or was it German? what happened? whatever you do next, keep your German experience in mind. You can't expect to maintain the initial level of excitement forever.) Anyway, in the situation you describe, it just seems like a better strategy to me to learn languages that are related to those you already know, linguistically (Italian, German, Spanish) or even just culturally (Persian). You can reach a decent level sooner, and you'll become a better learner in the process. I'm all for learning many languages, but it takes passion and persistence. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| hp230 Tetraglot Newbie TunisiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3628 days ago 30 posts - 63 votes Speaks: German, Arabic (classical)*, French, English | Message 16 of 18 30 January 2015 at 11:58pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I totally agree with you but there are sometimes real native speakers and polyglot actors who are rather convincing, I meant that category of movies.
When I read this, I knew you got me, I defenitly have that syndrom, and yes German was the first medicine, so powerfull but also desiring; my relative success in learning German by myself made me hungry for more.
I first thought likewise but then I realized that if I extend my knowladge to other language families like slavic or east-asian languages it would be faster then to extend my choices and help me learn fast. The two approaches have their advantages and drawbakcs, in engineering they told us to begin always with the easiest things, but we're not here for that, if the big problems are solved, it's done ;). Anyway, there is very much time till summer, I would better focus more on my German as you said and everything will be done in the right time; Thank you for your proposal to help me with Russian someday, I would appreciate that very much. I can offer you my help if you ever wanted to add arabic for exemple, to your language basket :) Edited by hp230 on 31 January 2015 at 12:07am 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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