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Tackling German & Russian at once | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Atriya Diglot Newbie India Joined 5725 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English, Bengali* Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 11 23 March 2009 at 6:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am aware that the author of this website advises against beginning two languages simultaneously, as a general rule. However, several other sources hold contrary opinions, and there are even people who claim that it is beneficial to do so. I'm just starting German and Russian, an absolute beginner in both. I'm learning German for practical reasons, but my heart is in Russian, which I'm learning for pleasure. Do you think these two languages can be effectively learnt together? Have any of you tried to learn these two languages at once? In general, what are your experiences regarding simultaneous language learning?
I've managed to procure both 'Pimsleur German - I' and 'Pimsleur Russian - I', as well as Rosetta Stone 'German Level 1' and 'Russian Level 1', and ‘Tell Me More German 7’ from a library - audio CD's, software, e-books and the internet are my only sources of language instruction. The only foreign language I've learnt before is English, which I started learning at the age of 4. All comments will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5728 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes  Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 2 of 11 24 March 2009 at 2:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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As I wrote in another thread I'm not opposed to learning two languages at the same time. German and Russian aren't that similar so you won't get confused (as you would have if you started learning russian and polish or ukrainian at the same time). I started learning yiddish and hebrew at the same time from scratch at university becouse I had to and I didn't even think whether I should or not. I had no choice and I'm doing fine. All you need is time. If you have enough for both than you'll be able to improve your skills at a decent pace.
That is my personal opinion. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Zeruiah Triglot Newbie United States Joined 6042 days ago 36 posts - 36 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: German Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 11 25 March 2009 at 3:46am | IP Logged | ||
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Are you cyber-stalking me? I mean seriously, what are the chances of someone else learning German and Russian? ;)
On a serious note, I don't suggest beginning two languages at once. I do, however, recommend giving the easier language a three-month period of isolated learning, then picking up the second one if you have the accent of the first at least partially assimilated. This way, the probability of mixing accents falls by a margin. Of course, you can do as you wish, but I think the chance of cognitively mixing the two are too great. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LittleKey Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5952 days ago 146 posts - 153 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Japanese | Message 4 of 11 25 March 2009 at 4:05am | IP Logged | ||
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In my non-expert opinion, two languages at once is fine as long as they aren't very similar (So German and Russian seems fine to me.) But when you say you're learning German for practical reasons... do you have to learn it for a job or something, or is it just something that would be useful to know? Because as I heard once on this forum, the hardest language in the world to learn is the one that you don't care about learning. So I would say if it's not totally necessary to learn German, then go ahead and learn both, but focus more on Russian at the moment, because that's the one you want to learn more. Either way, good luck =)!
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Tigresuisse Triglot Senior Member SwitzerlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6005 days ago 182 posts - 180 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, German Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 11 25 March 2009 at 6:34am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with what the ohter members said.
I just would like to add a little thing. In what you write, you say that you have only learned English, starting at the age of 4 (probably at school) so you do not have a great experience in learning languages by yourself don't you? This is fine, of course, but if it is so I would take the advice of starting one and waiting a little bit (3 months or whatever you want) just to have time to learn how you learn languages. Good luck !!! And if you need help with German simply ask !!! M. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Atriya Diglot Newbie India Joined 5725 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English, Bengali* Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 11 27 March 2009 at 6:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for all the advice. I've decided to learn Russian exclusively for a few months and then take up German, as most of you have suggested. Edited by Atriya on 27 March 2009 at 6:36pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mr. Speaker Diglot Newbie United States Joined 7110 days ago 28 posts - 32 votes Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Mandarin | Message 7 of 11 27 March 2009 at 7:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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I studied German in high school and Russian after I graduated. Though I love German
and plan to go back to it someday I took Russian to fluency. I'm not sure that German is more practical these days. I think it depends on what you hope to do. At any rate, I know that many people all over the world learn more than one language at once and do just fine. If you have any questions about Russian feel free to ask. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fcavalheiro Diglot Groupie Brazil Joined 6096 days ago 54 posts - 54 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 8 of 11 03 April 2009 at 11:07pm | IP Logged | ||
I did something similar, I started learning German and then, after several months (OK, maybe an year) I started studying Mandarin. There's really no way I can mix them. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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