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Alternating, studying both ? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Evanitious Triglot Newbie France Joined 4518 days ago 36 posts - 39 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC1, Italian | Message 1 of 3 23 August 2014 at 1:38am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello,
I wanted to have some advices on what I could do to deal with learning two languages at the same time. Here is my problem : I've been studying Russian for a year then stopped and switched to Croatian/Serbian. I think I have a nice passive comprehension in Russian, I mainly lack vocabulary to understand everything, I know how verbs and grammar work, even if I don't master all the cases. In Serbian, I have a nice level of expression, I master the cases but I lack vocabulary. (My level of Serbian is far more superior than my level in Russian even if I spent less time studying it). The thing is I'm somehow "torn" inside because I prefer Russian. I prefer to hear Russian, it's just a question of sonorities and feelings. It's hard to describe but Russian is like a "song that makes me feel better" when I hear it and understand it. I don't feel this when I listen to Serbian/Croatian, even if I think it's a beautiful language. I feel the same way when I listen to Italian, it makes me "feel better" whereas Spanish does nothing at all for example. But I haven't finished studying Serbian yet and I have a decent level, but not fluent. I have no problems with Serbian cases and grammar, and I think I should focus on this language first instead of losing it all. I mainly need vocabulary. I learned my languages mainly by chatting and watching TV shows, I don't like reading. I also used Assimil but never reached the end of the books because I got bored by their dialogues. For the moment, I have no real opportunity to practice Russian except by watching movies. On the other hand, I'm playing video games with Serbs and Croats everyday, and I have two awesome pen pals from these countries. On the games I play I rarely find Russian players. So lately, I have only focused on Serbian. But recently I stumbled on some Russian videos on youtube and was amazed by how well I could understand what they were saying. I also watched some previous movies I've already watched in Russian and I understood it even better even if I haven't been doing anything. Maybe Serbian helped me. That's why sometimes I'm a bit confused and I'm telling myself I should do - I have to do - something with Russian. I don't know what to do anymore. Should I try to learn both, should I finish Serbian first, should I pause Serbian ? Because somehow I realized that I can only focus on one thing. When I do something I have to focus all my energy on it that's how I function. Actually, these days my study of Serbian has drastically decreased because I'm hesitating about what I should do. I tried to learn two languages at the same time in the past and it was a disaster. I was thinking, maybe I should just focus on Russian once a week but I know myself and I will want to do more so I will be torn between spending my free time on Russian or Serbian. Actually, it makes me think of a similar problem I had with music, I started by learning how to play the piano and switched to the guitar. I resolved this problem easily, mainly because I move frequently and a guitar is easier to carry. That being said I miss playing the piano a lot. Thanks in advance. Edited by Evanitious on 23 August 2014 at 1:39am 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 3 23 August 2014 at 7:07am | IP Logged | ||
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I tend to think you need to get a language up to a high enough level (at least at the upper intermediate)
before starting another. Otherwise, you may be trying to do 2 or more at the same time and ended up mixing words and phrases in different languages. Some people have no problem with studying 2 languages at a time. When I am learning Chinese, I'd write notes in beside each word/phrase in English because it is a language I'm more fluent. And when I'm studying in French, I would write my notes in Chinese so that when I am adding 1 language, I won't lose another. For example: 秩序 zhìxù: order as in maintaing social order 維持秩序 Les actualités: 新聞/世事。通常用 les nouvelles (眾數). 時事/世事-近來發生的事。 After you get your Russian up to an advanced level, you would use it to make notes beside your list of new words & phrases in another language. Edited by shk00design on 23 August 2014 at 7:24am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| robarb Nonaglot Senior Member United States languagenpluson Joined 5058 days ago 361 posts - 921 votes Speaks: Portuguese, English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, French Studies: Mandarin, Danish, Russian, Norwegian, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Greek, Latin, Nepali, Modern Hebrew | Message 3 of 3 24 August 2014 at 3:23am | IP Logged | ||
Agreed: when at a low level, learning a language requires lots of studying, which takes mental energy. In addition, the knowledge is poorly consolidated, and thus vulnerable to interference. Basically, if you're not careful you risk losing a language if you try too many at once while they're at beginner to intermediate level. I would recommend picking one language (only you know whether your inclination to Russian or your greater access to Serbian/Croatian is stronger) and getting it to the level where you can have a conversation, read articles, watch movies, etc. without much need for vocabulary support. You can tell you've reached this level when 90% or more of the time you spend with the language is spent using it, not studying it. Then, your knowledge will be well-consolidated and secure, and you can continue to use that language as needed while studying another one. That said, you can't go back and delay starting one of the two languages. Since you've already progressed in both, it's worthwhile to avoid losing either one. My concern is that I strongly recommend against spending no time at all with a language you've started studying and plan to return to eventually. While you work at your main language it's important to spend at least something like 5-10 minutes per week listening to or reading the other language, otherwise you risk losing it and having to start over. This won't put much of a dent in, or interfere with, your main study. If you need to avoid getting sucked in, you could try subscribing to a single podcast. Edited by robarb on 24 August 2014 at 3:24am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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