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Learning several languages in parallel | ||
Tags: Simultaneous study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| jimmyy Newbie Belgium Joined 4118 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English | Message 1 of 8 24 March 2014 at 5:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi,
I can speak five languages Romanian, English, French, Dutch, Russian, some of them better than the others. Is there any advice on learning multiple languages at once, or being exposed on a daily basis to 3-4 languages at once. I'm having some difficulties remembering all the rules and the difference in spelling. Many thanks 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6448 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 2 of 8 24 March 2014 at 7:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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Here's a recent thread on this topic. I wrote quite a bit there, and there are links too (check my wikia article for example)
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| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4558 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 3 of 8 24 March 2014 at 8:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yeah.
You study them. It depends on your levels, but for me, all the languages you mentioned are part of my arsenal, and I did them more or less one-by-one, with the exception of my native tongue and English. As you probably know, both German and French are compulsory at Dutch schools (and I also took Latin), so at that point I studied them at the same time. I cannot reiterate how important having a good foundation in those languages and how important time management becomes when you study several foreign languages (and for us it was compulsory). Rules, grammar and spelling are things that come with time and practice. If you don't remember it today, don't beat yourself up over it - it'll come tomorrow. I don't know every detail of French either and I don't need to know right now. If it is a particular issue then expend considerable effort in remedying it (if it really represents a hole in your knowledge), other than that just keep trucking. The trick is to keep using them, keep them active, and give them contexts in your daily life. Most of my better languages tend to be those I have (had) to use socially, and French/Russian form a big part of that. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| xMachiavelli Newbie United States Joined 4043 days ago 7 posts - 22 votes Studies: Russian | Message 4 of 8 31 March 2014 at 12:53am | IP Logged | ||
I agree that they come with time and practice. If I say something wrong, it feels awkward, even if I cannot rationalize that awkward feeling immediately. People tend to assimilate grammatical rules. Even when typing, we tend to 'feel' typos immediately. It also depends a bit on what you are studying, in my opinion. Spanish and Italian back to back or Russian and Ukrainian would be a nightmare for many people. I would advise against studying two closely related languages simultaneously unless you have to, and instead wait until you're at least at a B2 level before moving on. Time management is also important. I spend at least an hour on Russian every day, and 20 minutes for Spanish. The reason the minimums are so different is because I have absolutely no problem with Spanish, and I live in a Spanish speaking part of the United States(five hours from the Mexican border, actually). Russian on the other hand is completely foreign to me- from the alphabet, to the pronunciation, to the grammar, and therefore requires two or three times as much daily study as Spanish to get it to stick. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 4nLV Newbie United States Joined 3740 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 5 of 8 05 April 2014 at 2:04am | IP Logged | ||
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From what I've read and heard from experienced linguists it might be in your best
interest to only focus on one at a time. It definitely makes it easier to confuse the multiple languages with eachother if you're constantly switching between them. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6448 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 6 of 8 05 April 2014 at 3:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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You probably mean polyglots. There's an overlap but it's not the same thing. And I don't think they're afraid of confusion. I know I keep linking to my own posts, but here's one about the reasons why the one-language-at-a-time thing got popular.
It's basically a question of time and motivation. Do you have a highest priority language that you want to learn well? Do you already speak some of your languages well? (I'm guessing English at least, and likely French?) Take the diminishing returns into account as well. Lyricstraining is a great site for keeping your spelling skills sharp. Switching is normally not a big deal: just force it and it'll happen. Learning L3 via L2 helps a lot here, and I tend to avoid translation exercises for the same reason. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Retinend Triglot Senior Member SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4159 days ago 283 posts - 557 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), French | Message 7 of 8 06 April 2014 at 8:27pm | IP Logged | ||
Presuming that you do mean polyglots, it's notable that Alexander Arguelles and Deka Glossai advocate simultaneous study. Perhaps others too, I'm not sure. Arguelles says in his most recent video ("Price of Polygottery") that he thinks that simultaneous study helps preserve languages and retard memory decay. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4558 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 8 of 8 06 April 2014 at 8:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Benny and Luca don't.
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