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Learning Languages Simultaneously | ||
Tags: Simultaneous study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| LatinoBoy84 Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5373 days ago 443 posts - 603 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Latvian | Message 9 of 77 21 March 2012 at 2:43am | IP Logged | |||||
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Monday-Friday:
Listen to the world news in Spanish and French (to keep up to date on world events) 1/2 hr of Turkish after breakfast, ironing getting ready for the gym and work 1/2 hr FSI/DLI French drills during commute 45 min of Russian Drills during morning gym workout About 6 hours of podcasts in all my target languages (about 1 hr each) in the background at work. DLI/FSI drills (any language) on the Commute home, or foreign music if I want to relax After Dinner 1/2 of Russian 20 min of French 1/2 of Portuguese I only "loose" 1 hour a day studying. Multiple languages takes discipline and careful planning. Chinese is my looooong term project that I touch on lightly for a few min a day. I'm finally getting the hand of Russian, I can see it moving to the "speaks" category in maybe 6 months. Disclosure: My focus on each language is Oral production/comprehension and reading comprehension. Writing takes a backseat, if I can write a quick email/letter I'm happy. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gallo1801 Diglot Senior Member Spain Joined 4700 days ago 164 posts - 248 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), Croatian, German, French | Message 10 of 77 21 March 2012 at 3:15am | IP Logged | |||||
I can see why. That is truly impressive. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| s0fist Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4844 days ago 260 posts - 445 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Sign Language, German, Spanish, French | Message 11 of 77 21 March 2012 at 7:25am | IP Logged | |||||
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Allow me to make a chess metaphor.
Enter chess players (language learners) playing chess (learning languages). There are many levels to being a chess player. Novice players benefit most from concentrated instruction or a directed exploration, such as suits your personality. Any novice can play a simultaneous match against 10 players. Only problem he'll probably do terribly against all of them, and (I suspect) would neither learn much in the process, nor enjoy the experience. On the other hand there are some truly beast minds who'll play 10 players simultaneously while playing Super Mario. They emerge victorious, refreshed, and possibly even wiser about each players style. But even such as they rarely play several hard opponents at the same time. Most people fall somewhere in between. Some like playing month long games by mail. Some play short blitz matches, an opponent here or there. Some find an opponent they can keep growing with and stick with it -- until they outgrow or get bored. Exit chess metaphor stage left. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6395 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 12 of 77 21 March 2012 at 9:58am | IP Logged | |||||
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What a great metaphor! Much better than the dating one, imo.
Makes me remember The Twelve Chairs, hehe. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6395 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 13 of 77 21 March 2012 at 10:20am | IP Logged | |||||
I've realized one important thing. If you're super passionate about one language, it's best to reach fluency before adding others. Otherwise you'll feel like you're stealing time from it and planning will only make it worse and you'll give up. I used to be mad at everything that would take my time away from Finnish. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6380 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 14 of 77 21 March 2012 at 10:39am | IP Logged | |||||
I'm super passionate about one language at a time. A month or two ago I was super passionate about Cantonese and spent all my spare time studying it, watching movies, reading it, and so on. Now I'm super passionate about Spanish and I'm mad at having to do stuff in Cantonese (because I signed a contract) since it takes time away from my Spanish. I've experienced the same thing in all my languages. When I get the urge, I spend six hours a day studying and neglect all other languages, including the one I spent six hours a day studying just a week ago! 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4486 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 15 of 77 21 March 2012 at 2:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
I appreciate the effort to spice up the discussion, but I respectfully disagree as to the appropriateness of the metaphor. When chess masters play simultaneous matches, generally the vast majority of opponents are so far below their levels that there is basically no thought involved--"wiser about each player's style" sounds pretty ridiculous to me. In those cases where there are one or more somewhat challenging opponents, the simultaneous exhibitor will spend essentially no time on the weak boards, and instead concentrate on spending time thinking at the tough boards. Even then, the difference in skill is generally so great that simply spending a little more than zero time is all it takes to overcome the opponent. Simultaneous exhibition matches are just a display of how superior the exhibitor is relative to the challengers, and in no way a learning experience for the exhibitor about the game itself. Exit chess player stage right. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| nonneb Pentaglot Groupie SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4549 days ago 80 posts - 173 votes Speaks: English*, Ancient Greek, Latin, German, Spanish Studies: Mandarin, Hungarian, French | Message 16 of 77 21 March 2012 at 4:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
Both of these are true for me. It's not really that I think learning multiple languages at the same time is a good idea, but I can't help myself. I get burned out or bored if I only study one language. I think I could actively study one language 30 minutes every day plus a few hours passive or unintentional studying: audiobooks, tv, talking with native speakers (if you're B1 or so and it's not too much work to talk). Because I'm studying four languages at the moment, I can literally spend the whole day (outside of work, I teach English) studying in some way. Here's what an average day looks like: I listen to Chinese Assimil lessons on the way to work. I read a book in German during my breaks at work, as well as talking to some of the staff in German. On my way home, I listen to more Chinese Assimil. I then read some news from my favorite sites in Spanish and German and browse Reddit, where I subscribe to pretty much every non-English subreddit I can find. I browse lernu and some other forums a bit, then I begin studying Russian. I usually do an Assimil lesson and some FSI work. I'll then do an Assimil lesson in Chinese and review some. When I need a break, I can read or watch some more news or TV in German or Spanish, talk to my wife in German, or read whatever book I'm reading, or (and I just got this and am excited), listen to my Ancient Greek Assimil course (til now I've only been able to read and write). It's more of an obsession than something I plan or even try to do. As far as recommendations go, if you want to improve a language quickly, study one. If you want to improve multiple languages more slowly, study multiple languages. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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