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Learning Multiple Languages | ||
Tags: Simultaneous study | Learning Strategy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| rivere123 Senior Member United States Joined 4765 days ago 129 posts - 182 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 9 of 17 26 September 2011 at 1:35am | IP Logged |
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While on the subject, I have a question. I am interested in learning a little bit of Spanish, so that when I've become a fluent French speaker (of course I won't quit learning- I learn a little bit of my native language each day) I can know pronunciation, numbers, short sentences and basic grammar. I am a little worried that problems may arise, like getting French words confused with Spanish, since many words are so similar. Has anyone had such a problem?
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| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5491 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 10 of 17 26 September 2011 at 1:59am | IP Logged |
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Welcome to the forum Shemtov - nice combination of languages there! :)
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| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4944 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 11 of 17 26 September 2011 at 10:44pm | IP Logged |
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It is possible to learn several languages at once but you need to accept that you will be progressing with them slower than if you were putting all the time in just one (and perhaps even slower than just half the pace when learning two and 1/3 when learning three). There are many members of the forum who have successfully learnt several at once and others who got to just as impressive results by learning them one by one (or learning "just" one perfectly. Depends on you which way do you prefere. Your combination of very different languages should not bring a high risk of confusing them.
For Rivere123. I have done a bit similar thing, after years of French I added Spanish where I am progressing quite slowly (mostly because of breaks and reviewing). The confusion may come but it is much less likely if you are already intermediate or higher in French. You will be probably getting the basics of Spanish quite fast, thanks to French but you'll need to learn to not rely too much on the similarities. Not only because of false friends in vocabulary but as well because of the small differences in grammar constructions(je vais aller x voy )a ir). And the more you advance with both, the less likely you'll confuse them of course. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| rivere123 Senior Member United States Joined 4765 days ago 129 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 12 of 17 28 September 2011 at 3:32am | IP Logged |
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Much appreciated Cavesa!
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| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5269 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 13 of 17 28 September 2011 at 8:54am | IP Logged |
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Welcome to the forum, Shemtov, that is an interesting selection of languages you are studying. Are you at a beginner's level in all of them, or are you more advanced in some?
I ask because personally I find it easier to study several languages at the same time if I am at different levels. Right now I am theoretically only studying two - Turkish and Russian. In Turkish I am an absolute beginner -I know around 40-50 words. In Russian I am probably A2, possibly leaning towards B1. I am however still learning the languages I have classified as "speaking". In German I am still learning both grammar and vocabulary, and the same with Italian, and particularly in German I still have a lot to do as far as speaking without effort. In French, I consider myself fairly fluent, but that doesn't mean I don't still have a lot to learn. It is however a different process when you are in the very beginning of learning a language, and every sentence you learn is a victory, and the stage where you can read a book, and then occasionally frown because there is a word you do not understand. Even in English and Spanish, which I consider my strongest languages, I am still learning, and although I can mostly guess the meaning of new words from context, I still learn new things every week, if not every day. Summing up that's 7 languages I am still learning, but in very different stages. And if you look at some of the others here, you will find that there are people who are juggling a lot more than that, and most of them will say that they are also still in a learning process, even if they have reached fluency. I do not believe there is any fixed limit of how many languages you can learn at the same time, though obviously, when you reach into the 20ies, your motivation, talent and available time and resources need to be of an uncommona nature. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5365 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 14 of 17 28 September 2011 at 7:06pm | IP Logged |
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Maybe we should think a bit about what we mean by learning multiple languages. As Solfrid Cristin has so nicely put it, we are probably all still learning something in our various languages. It may be a new word, expression or grammatical concept. It's another thing however to actually study a language in a an organized way. I personally find it difficult to study more than one language at a time, but that's just me. And I very curious to see the end results.
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| Hyperborea Newbie United States Joined 4763 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Speaks: English* | Message 15 of 17 30 September 2011 at 1:43am | IP Logged |
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I'd be interested in hearing any experiences people have had with "cross-talk" between the languages they are
learning. Has anybody experienced it? Short-term or more seriously long-term? What techniques have you used to eliminate or reduce it? I am studying Japanese and have been off and on for a while (though much more on in the last year) and I am planning on working on French for a trip next year. I don't want to stop the Japanese study since I'm thinking about taking the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) next year. So, I don't want my Japanese to suffer other than from the reduction in time. French will be somewhat of a refresher since I took it for in school (grew up in Canada). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4916 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 16 of 17 30 September 2011 at 9:08pm | IP Logged |
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Solfrid Cristin, as always, has aptly summed up the subject.
It's all about levels of language for me too. I'm currently 'learning' 4 languages, but that ranges from fluent Spanish, to advanced German, post-beginner Catalan and beginner Welsh... Which helps me, because I'm learning different things at different types, or at least I hope so! As always inspiration, effort, energy and motivation help too =) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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