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Advice for first attempt at two languages | ||
Tags: Simultaneous study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| RogueMD Senior Member United States Joined 4955 days ago 72 posts - 82 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 9 of 33 24 August 2011 at 8:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
Ah, but it is also said that "Fortune favors the prepared mind"! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Luai_lashire Diglot Senior Member United States luai-lashire.deviant Joined 5763 days ago 384 posts - 560 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese, French | Message 10 of 33 24 August 2011 at 9:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
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It seems like a good choice to me- one difficult language, one easy, both already have a foundation. My only advice
to you is to set mental barriers to help keep from confusing the two. Try associating them with different colors, studying one in the morning and the other in the evening, studying one in a certain location and the other in a different location... anything that helps your brain compartmentalize them. Besides that, just stick with whatever you choose to do, and work at it every day. The usual advice. ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| prz_ Tetraglot Senior Member Poland last.fm/user/prz_rul Joined 4794 days ago 890 posts - 1190 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish | Message 11 of 33 24 August 2011 at 9:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
Sounds like you're suggesting that someone hasn't got "prepared mind". Besides, I'd stick with the first sentence. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| misslanguages Diglot Senior Member France fluent-language.blog Joined 4781 days ago 190 posts - 217 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: German | Message 12 of 33 24 August 2011 at 9:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
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"fortune favors the brave."
Well, then let's all buy a rabbit's foot! We can probably get a good deal if we buy them in bulk. Are you serious? Luck doesn't have anything to do with how well you speak your target languages. You should know that by now. That kind of thinking encourages people to waste money on lottery tickets. I still think that learning several languages at the same time is a very bad idea. If the author of this thread is going to do it anyway, I don't know why he asked this question. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| prz_ Tetraglot Senior Member Poland last.fm/user/prz_rul Joined 4794 days ago 890 posts - 1190 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish | Message 13 of 33 24 August 2011 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
Somehow we have people here who know more than 10 languages and somehow they've survived! Edited by prz_ on 24 August 2011 at 9:33pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Magdalene Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4971 days ago 119 posts - 220 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Mandarin, German, Modern Hebrew, French | Message 14 of 33 25 August 2011 at 10:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
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On this forum the most common advice for people embarking on the simultaneous study of
two or more languages is 1) to study unrelated languages, like you said; and 2) to study languages in which you have different levels of proficiency. (A third factor, experience with studying multiple languages at the same time, comes, of course, only with experience.) Since you're basically conversational in Spanish and know only survival Arabic, you've fulfilled both of these criteria, which admittedly are not completely necessary. Some on this forum who study multiple languages at once designate different days of the week or months of the year to focused study on that language; all other study is purely incidental. If you decide to go with this option in some form or other, I'd suggest you still work on each language a bit every day, as you said. For a discussion on why, you can check out AJATT's post on critical frequency*, in which Khatz posits that "the frequency of contact with your L2 matters more than the quantity." One thing I've found helpful is to partake in different activities in each target language. Using Assimil in Spanish? Use FSI for Arabic. Reading the news in Spanish? Read children's books in Arabic. Watching a telenovela? Work out of your Arabic textbook during the week(s) it takes you to finish a season. Found a Spanish conversation partner? Do some intensive Arabic vocabulary study. And so on. Finishing one FSI course before moving on to the next one keeps you from getting bored doing the same or similar drills for multiple languages. And while, say, watching TV in both languages may be enjoyable and helpful, I've found it easier to spend most of my TV time in one language while doing something else (reading, perhaps) in another language, and then switching off once I've finished that TV series or that novel. For instance, my current studies consist of watching a drama in Mandarin; reading a German novel; and working through Pimsleur Turkish. Once I'm done with that drama, I'm moving on to some German TV. Having the right attitude is also crucial to making progress in multiple languages at once. Keep in mind that your progress won't be as fast as that of a person studying only one language at once. Try not to get hung up on knowing all the Arabic words for their Spanish equivalents. It's important, of course, to increase your vocabulary, but expending a lot of time trying to get your Spanish and Arabic lexicons on par with each other (and those on par with your English lexicon) before you know how to use already-known words in context is an endeavor better spread out over various stages of your learning. Finally, if it turns out studying two languages at once isn't working for you, there's no shame in dropping one language until you've become proficient or otherwise substantially improved the other. Learning how to learn a language can be harder than learning a language itself, and your knowledge of yourself coupled with some trial-and-error will put you in good stead on both journeys when applied with dedication over time. As far as your French goes, I wouldn't worry about it too much if working it into your schedule would prove too challenging. When you return to French, your knowledge of Spanish will help you more than hinder you, and even if it seems like you've forgotten half your French in the interim, relearning tends to be substantially faster and easier than the learning was the first time around. Spanish and Arabic is a nice combination; you've got lots of Arabic loanwords in Spanish to look forward to! Alfombra, ajedrez, alacrán, alfil, alcoba, alboroto... Good luck! I look forward to hearing about your progress. *"Critical Frequency: A Brand New Way of Looking at Language Exposure." http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/critical-frequency -a-brand-new-way-of- looking-at-language-exposure Edited by Magdalene on 25 August 2011 at 10:20pm 8 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Luai_lashire Diglot Senior Member United States luai-lashire.deviant Joined 5763 days ago 384 posts - 560 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese, French | Message 15 of 33 26 August 2011 at 12:16am | IP Logged | |||||
Misslanguages, it is totally fine for you to express your opinions but perhaps you should watch your tone a little more carefully. I have read a lot of your posts today and I am struck by how flippant and dismissive you seem to be to anyone and everyone, and if this is not your intention you may want to reread what you have written more carefully before you post. "Fortune" hardly means the same thing as blind chance, and prz_ is certainly not advocating that we let luck guide us- just the opposite. He is suggesting that by being bold he will turn circumstances in his favor- indeed, making his own luck. That is what "fortune favors the brave" as a stock phrase is always meant to suggest. Furthermore, regardless of your own feelings about studying two languages at once, an enormous number of the people on this forum do exactly that every day, and have done for years, with great success, and your dismissive tone is offensive not only to prz_ and the OP, but also to everyone else on this forum who has made this decision. Lastly, you imply that the author of the thread asked people whether or not he should study two languages even though his mind was made up, when in fact what he asked for was advice on how to study two languages, stating that he had already decided. So the aspersions you are casting are completely nonsensical because this is a completely reasonable thing to ask. Perhaps you misread the first post. In any case, there is no need for the less-than-friendly tone you are taking. 12 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| misslanguages Diglot Senior Member France fluent-language.blog Joined 4781 days ago 190 posts - 217 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: German | Message 16 of 33 26 August 2011 at 2:43am | IP Logged | |||||
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I hope you enjoyed writing this long rant, because I couldn't be bothered to read the whole thing. I skimmed through it, and I don't care what you think about me.
I gave advice, if you don't like my advice, too bad. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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