|
 |
Learning Languages Simultaneously | ||
Tags: Simultaneous study | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5263 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 1 of 77 20 March 2012 at 12:55pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Curiosity has prompted me to start this thread. I've always been curious about the members who study multiple languages simultaneously and the rationale and process behind it. I know that I can't study more than one language at a time. The forum seems to be split amongst people who study, or at least claim to study, multiple languages simultaneously and those who are devoted to just one language at a time. My own assumption is that many people are really just "dabbling" even though their profile says that they are actively studying.
Those of you who do study multiple languages simultaneously, why do you do it? Is the pull of the languages so strong that you can't resist studying them all at the same time? Or, do you just love the studying aspect and the end-result of proficiency is just not that important? In other words, is it more about the journey than the destination? I've always been curious about what a day/week in the life of a multiple language learner is like. How do you physically do it? How, given a busy schedule and a life outside language learning, do you make the time during a day to devote to multiple language study? How many of you who have studied multiple languages simultaneously have progressed to an advanced level in them? Do you ever feel that if you just concentrated on one that you would be more efficient but you just can't let go of the others? Have any of you tried studying multiple languages simultaneously and then dropped all but one and found that simultaneous study was not for you? Conversely, do you feel that there is a synergy involved in multiple language study that actually helps you to progress more rapidly studying multiple languages than just devoting that time to one language? Is it more efficient for you to study languages simultaneously than consecutively? Would you advise beginners who do not have an L2 to begin studying multiple languages or wait until they have successfully learned an L2 to a high level before taking the plunge into multiple language study? I am looking forward to seeing the responses. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6553 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 2 of 77 20 March 2012 at 3:22pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I'll only address a few points.
I study multiple languages because first of all I enjoy it. And fun is a big motivator in my learning. If I only do one I sometimes need something a little more. There is only so much German I can handle in a day. Physically, I give German priority and study about an hour to two a day or more - listen to radio, watch movies, talk -- a lot is passive study. On a good day, I spend about half an hour to an hour of active study (15 mins slots before breakfast, etc...) I use my car time to listen to podcasts or ASSIMIL. The other languages I work into the schedule are dessert. I usually block a minimum of 20 minutes a day with least two 10 min sessions (easy to find) and again driving will have me listening to lessons or shadowing. There is very little synergy between German and Ladakhi or Arabic -- I look specifically for little synergy because I fear interference. I do not suggest working on languages that are similar at the same time -- I've had very little success with that. Edited by zenmonkey on 20 March 2012 at 3:23pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5263 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 3 of 77 20 March 2012 at 3:38pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Thanks, @zenmonkey, fun is a great reason! Also, thanks for the insight into your time management. Like I say, I'm curious. Good luck with your studies.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tiyafeh Pentaglot Newbie Israel Joined 4779 days ago 12 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English, Modern Hebrew*, Portuguese, Spanish, Latin Studies: Biblical Hebrew, Arabic (Written), German, Greek, Aramaic, Arabic (Levantine) | Message 4 of 77 20 March 2012 at 3:58pm | IP Logged | ||
|
If I had to learn just a single language I'd find it boring after a short while.
I don't know if it's more or less efficient than learning one language at a time, but I always learn multiple languages, I've reached a level I'm satisfied with in several over a not-too-long period of time, so this way of learning obviously works for me. It can also be quite helpful at times: for example, it so happened that I was learning the subjunctive in both Arabic and Spanish at the same time, which I suspect is the reason I've never had as much trouble with it as other people I know who are learning only one of the two. And yes, I do enjoy the learning process as much as I do actually knowing a language. As for how I physically do it, since high school isn't much of a challenge, it doesn't take up much of my time, so I can easily dedicate several hours a day to my languages, which probably isn't a very satisfactory answer to your question. Edited by tiyafeh on 20 March 2012 at 4:01pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 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 5 of 77 20 March 2012 at 4:40pm | IP Logged | ||
I mean I do have a life but most of it is in my target languages. I try to be very accurate about which languages I study and I actually frequently update my profile. You can see my 6WC stats here and decide whether I'm dabbling or not. Yeah, there's definitely synergy involved. If I wasn't learning German and Danish, my 150 mins of Dutch would've been just dabbling, but as it was not a single "oh that looks interesting" session without a follow-up, but rather several short sessions whenever I felt like it (at least once a week, fitting the description of "studying actively"). So, I definitely feel like my study of German and Danish makes sure these sessions are not useless, it keeps my little knowledge alive (btw I SRS a lot in those low-priority languages. If I've understood it I won't just let it go! :P) (Some notes about specific languages: Polish was listed as Just flirting during the 6WC and I only got more serious now that Tadoku has started. I didn't register a single minute of Catalan but I had contact with it as part of the multilingual tags for twitter and anki. Something's happened between me and Croatian. My OS and most of the software/website interfaces are in various languages, currently mostly Portuguese, always some Finnish too.) A bit of my story... I started learning English as a child, started learning German and Latin as a teenager... And then the best language-related decision in my life was to go ahead and start learning Finnish, despite not being fluent in German yet. I was passionate about it and I took the plunge. As you see I'm now at C1/C2 in Finnish and I still haven't reached fluency in German... honestly don't know what it is with me and this language. After that, as I've mentioned in the female polyglots thread, I've decided to get started on most of the languages I eventually want to speak. I have the time now, as a student (got kicked out of a fairly prestigious uni because I hated their old-fashioned methods). I want it to be easier when I have kids&career - it's easier to continue when you've already reached a certain level. Though I also can't imagine having a job where I wouldn't use my languages and raising my kids as monolinguals without any interest in languages... but better safe than sorry:) Edited by Serpent on 20 March 2012 at 4:42pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4689 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 6 of 77 20 March 2012 at 5:33pm | IP Logged | ||
|
My profile says I study 4 languages actively and 1 on and off, so I guess this is directed to me (among many others). I'll break it down for you:
Study actively -------------- German-I do pleasure reading and listen to audiobooks in German mainly, about an hour a day or more on average, mostly during my commute. I do other things as well, but more intermittently. Very little that I do resembles textbook or classroom study, though I look up a lot of words when I read, mainly using the integrated kindle German-to-German dictionary, and I'm continuing to broaden my vocabulary and knowledge of idioms. Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic-Again, no textbooks or classrooms here. I have dual-language texts and I read the original language, using the parallel English for help. My aim here is more to understand the original text than to develop fluency, but I can't help but slowly improve when I do this. About 15-30 minutes a day, usually at home late at night. French-I just started doing Assimil, and I don't have a solid routine yet, but I'm spending 15-45 minutes per lesson whenever I can. I've been doing some in the mornings before work and some shadowing while walking to the train. I also browse online news like Le Monde and Le Figaro, where I can pick up some vocab and grammar sometimes. Studying off and on ------------------- Yiddish-I speak this more than any other language, because I use it at home with my kids, despite not being very good at it. Recently, I only listen to podcasts or read books and newspapers for an hour or so a week, which is how I learned in the first place. This is borderline whether it's active or not, but actual time spent in "study" is pretty small, and basically replaces an equivalent activity such as reading the Sunday newspaper. So, I think it's quite fair to say that I study 5 languages regularly, and yet, it almost never feels like I'm studying, just that I'm enjoying the language at whatever level I have at the moment, and I'm always improving. Since I'm learning for fun mostly, I don't really need to worry about being all that formal, and if I get bored with something I just stop doing it. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4689 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 7 of 77 20 March 2012 at 5:56pm | IP Logged | ||
|
As for reaching advanced levels through parallel learning, I got most of the way there in German by living there as a child. Once I made a decision to put serious time into improving, I advanced pretty far (I think my speaking skills are probably around B2+ or C1, and passive skills around C1+ or C2, by my best guess) mainly through just using the language that I already had and learning along the way--not at all helpful advice for a beginner, I know. I spent most of my time on German for a few months, but was always still doing the Hebrew, Aramaic and Yiddish, at a minimum.
Yiddish is the only other language that I got fairly advanced in so far, but knowing German and a bit of Hebrew, it wasn't very much of a leap. I probably spent a mere 100 hours before I felt completely comfortable, at least passively, with standard YIVO audio and text (I'd estimate B2 for passive skills). Speaking opportunities have been far more limited, though, but I think B1 might not be an exaggeration. Again, not much advice here for the beginner. After being a long-time frequent language hopper, getting to A1 or maybe A2 in many languages and then dropping them, I decided to first get my German up to snuff, and then learn French, 1) because I want to, but 2) almost as a proof of concept that I can do more than just learn new languages to A1/A2. All my previous efforts do help, but it remains to be seen how well I do with learning something to basic fluency without previous childhood exposure. Maybe in a year or two I'll have a better answer for you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ellsworth Senior Member United States Joined 4958 days ago 345 posts - 528 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Irish | Message 8 of 77 20 March 2012 at 10:09pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I hope that by exposing myself to as many different languages as possible I will develop
skill in them gradually, even if slowly. I am fine spending the next 20 years of my life learning my languages to fluency. Also, I think that languages do receive some benefit from being started at a young age, and as I am 16, it seems advantageous to start all my languages as soon as possible. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
