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Quality/Quantity | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5643 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes  1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 33 26 June 2010 at 10:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
This is very true! Languages on a beginner - lower intermediate level need much more input and attention, I'm just experiencing this with my Turkish and Danish. Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| arturs Triglot Senior Member Latvia Joined 5067 days ago 278 posts - 408 votes Speaks: Latvian*, Russian, English | Message 10 of 33 30 June 2010 at 6:32pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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My personal opinion is that in depends on the languages your studying. For example, I speak English fluent and German quite good, so I can afford to learn many other Germanic languages, like Swedish, Danish and Dutch, because I already know some similar vocabulary, grammar, etc. If I spoke only English, it would be nuts to start learning Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and some other exotic language. On this occasion I would focus only on Arabic or Japanese, or maximum two of the languages. To sum up - if you study languages in the same language group (Germanic, Slavic, Finno-Ugric, etc.) then it's OK to do many languages, but if the languages are from different groups, then you should focus on less quantity and more quality.
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| orion Senior Member United States Joined 6817 days ago 622 posts - 678 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 11 of 33 01 July 2010 at 6:23am | IP Logged | ||||||||
If this is your philosophy, why are you only studying one language? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5807 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 12 of 33 01 July 2010 at 1:34pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I find quantity can increase quality.
The first language you learn is likely to be understood in terms of how it differs from your mother tongue. The wider your experience of languages, the more you see the bigger picture and can understand each language in its own terms. I also find that there's stuff I may have missed when learning one language that I suddenly notice when I come across a similar feature in a second language. You could argue that I wouldn't have missed it if I'd studied harder, but there's a limit to the amount of information you can pick up in one go, and rereading materials hardly ever works because I switch off when I'm reading stuff I already know, so by the time I get to stuff I missed the first time round, my eyes are glazed over and I'm not paying much attention. So the way I see it, the languages I never study enough to get good at aren't actually a waste of time, because they actually help me get good at other ones. And being able to chat up the waitress in a café comes as a free bonus! 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Akao aka FailArtist Senior Member United States Joined 5132 days ago 315 posts - 347 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Toki Pona | Message 13 of 33 03 July 2010 at 9:59pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I am a child and cannot afford to pay for sufficient resources for two languages. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| johntm93 Senior Member United States Joined 5123 days ago 587 posts - 746 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 14 of 33 03 July 2010 at 11:13pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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| Aineko Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 5244 days ago 238 posts - 442 votes Speaks: Serbian*, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 15 of 33 04 July 2010 at 1:13am | IP Logged | ||||||||
If we are mentioning Kato Lomb in this topic I think we must not forget that also "language is the only thing still worth knowing badly". :) I don't think that there is 'right' and 'wrong' in this quality/quantity choice situation. People should go for what makes them happy or simply suits their needs. If someone wants to know as many languages as possible at the B1 level, that's a perfectly valid goal. I will be happy if I manage to learn few (3 to 5) languages to the C+ level and then as many as possible to the B+ level. 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| John Smith Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5838 days ago 396 posts - 542 votes Speaks: English*, Czech*, Spanish Studies: German | Message 16 of 33 04 July 2010 at 5:26pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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You can learn lots of languages to a high level. Maintaining them all is another story.
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