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Can a third language strengthen a second? | ||
Tags: Simultaneous study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| kevingreece Newbie United States Joined 4028 days ago 12 posts - 20 votes Studies: Greek | Message 1 of 4 30 September 2014 at 6:49am | IP Logged |
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Hi everyone. I've learned Greek to a B2 level. Now, I've decided to learn some Russian on the side for a change of
pace. For those of you who've learned multiple languages, does a third language strengthen the second one? Does this phenomenon exist? I've at least heard that taking a short break from one language while you focus on another, when returning to the previous one, one finds that it has improved. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4443 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes  Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 2 of 4 30 September 2014 at 8:55am | IP Logged |
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You can be bilingual or multilingual as long as there is a chance to use your languages. As fluent as you can
be with any language, if you don't keep up, the language can get rusty. Learning languages is a time-consuming process. The way I'd tackle learning a third language is to get my second language up to a certain level and then make my notes using the second whenever possible. For instance: when I'm learning Chinese I'd record "分析 fēnxī" = "analyze" in English. When I'm doing French, I'd record "analyser" = "分析". Keeps me from losing my Chinese while I pick up French. If you try to tackle too many languages at a time, you end up not getting enough exposure in any of them. Some people like to do 5 at a time. Personally I'd stick to just 2. Even with similar languages like Spanish & Italian, I'd spend more time with 1 so that I can understand TV & radio programs, read local newspapers. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| blonl Newbie Australia Joined 3711 days ago 6 posts - 14 votes | Message 3 of 4 30 September 2014 at 3:17pm | IP Logged |
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It does strengthen your second language as long as the two languages are related. Since no
matter how proficient we are, we cannot know the meaning of every single word in a language. We might happen to come across that one word that we didn't know existed in your second language but frequently used in the third language you are now studying. Just use the word "facile" for example. Pretend you are an average ESL learner that hasn't yet learned this word. You proceed to pick up Spanish, and you found out that this word means "easy" in the language. You go back and read a new novel in English, and you happen to come across this word which you haven't yet learned in English. But now, with your knowledge in Spanish, you are able to accurately guess its meaning. It is not an uncommon situation for people who study multiple related languages. shk00design: What a genius idea! I think I'll start doing this from now on! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4443 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 4 of 4 01 October 2014 at 6:20am | IP Logged |
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While travelling in Hong Kong for a few weeks, I came across an interesting article in a local newspaper in 3
paragraphs and forwarded it to other people who only speak English. Took me an hour to translate the content and looking up references online. Chinese newspapers tend to translate people's names in English to Chinese phonetically by combining 1 or several syllables from the first and last names so you do have to check another reference to get the original English version of people's names. Although my Chinese isn't as proficient as my English, I can read most of the characters to understand what the article was about. The polyglot Luca Lampariello enjoys translating between languages as a way of learning. He would find articles of interest on Wikipedia in English and the same article in other languages like French, Italian or Spanish and cross-reference between them. Basically you are working with languages in their own context. In 1 language you have the subject, verb and object in a specific order. You would use certain words & phrases to express yourself in 1 language but not another. You get your mind working all the time. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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