Can I learn 2 new languages at the same time?

General discussion about learning languages
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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: Can I learn 2 new languages at the same time?

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Wed Dec 22, 2021 6:14 pm

My reply in Has anyone learned 2+ languages at once?:
jeff_lindqvist wrote:I've been doing this for a long time, already since high school when I learned Spanish and French - then I dropped French and took Classical Greek. I once studied Russian and Chinese at the university, but I wasn't a total beginner in either language (nor did I reach say B2, but that's another story). Then Irish and Old Irish. And the list goes on.


I can see how many can fail doing this, and also how many can succeed. I can't present a magic formula, but your success will depend on many factors.

  • Are you going to study both language A and B every day? (If not, what's your weekly schedule?)
  • Are you going to study both equally much (in minutes/hours)? (If not, how do you distribute your study time?)
  • Are you going to use different approaches/(methods/courses/etc)?
  • Are the languages related? (Some find it helpful, others confusing.)
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Re: Can I learn 2 new languages at the same time?

Postby tarvos » Thu Dec 23, 2021 1:49 pm

You can study two languages at the same time; where I live it's not even uncommon to do that at school. (I've studied more than that and I did just fine).

The problem isn't whether you can. It's whether you have the time and energy to spare for it, and that is a question I cannot answer for you. The more languages you burden yourself with, the more planning and expectations are an issue.

As for the high level discussion - I'm not going to get into that, some people just aren't interested in anything but their own agenda and that's what that is all about. You need to decide what level and time investment is acceptable to you, and whatever everyone else says is their own problem. If you need to learn basic Uzbek, then learn basic Uzbek. If someone else is like "but only fluent Uzbek is worth anything!!!1111!!!11" just ignore that and do what you need to do.

Don't get sidetracked by comments on the internets. It's not worth it and it doesn't help you. Only you can decide what matters to you and no one else can do that. If they're not going to play nice about it, then you don't have to listen to it either.

Just go for it and tell us about the results.
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Re: Can I learn 2 new languages at the same time?

Postby BeaP » Thu Dec 23, 2021 2:19 pm

There's one thing I forgot to mention in my first post. In my experience it's not just a time-management problem, but I've also found studying two languages extremely tiring mentally. And I have to emphasise that by studying I mean textbook work, Anki, vocabulary lists, grammar exercises, things like that. Activities that require concentration. (I'm able to watch films or read in several languages on the same day.) So studying two languages slows down the process for me in total, it's not just a simple addition of the time spent on each. Most students study two languages here in high school, but for the first language the goal is B2 in 12 years, and for the second language it's B1 in 4 years. This rate doesn't match my goals.

I've also remembered a video from the Days of French 'n' Swedish channel, the message of which I could identify with a lot. It's really honest and contains a practical analysis, so I'm putting the link here for those who are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k47m5UZ6L0
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Re: Can I learn 2 new languages at the same time?

Postby bolaobo » Thu Dec 23, 2021 3:24 pm

BeaP wrote:There's one thing I forgot to mention in my first post. In my experience it's not just a time-management problem, but I've also found studying two languages extremely tiring mentally. And I have to emphasise that by studying I mean textbook work, Anki, vocabulary lists, grammar exercises, things like that. Activities that require concentration. (I'm able to watch films or read in several languages on the same day.) So studying two languages slows down the process for me in total, it's not just a simple addition of the time spent on each. Most students study two languages here in high school, but for the first language the goal is B2 in 12 years, and for the second language it's B1 in 4 years. This rate doesn't match my goals.

I've also remembered a video from the Days of French 'n' Swedish channel, the message of which I could identify with a lot. It's really honest and contains a practical analysis, so I'm putting the link here for those who are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k47m5UZ6L0


Actually, I find splitting the time into multiple languages less tiring. 45 minutes of French and 45 minutes of Japanese is less exhausting for me than 1.5 hours of Japanese and I'm less likely to lose concentration. Arguelles talks about this strategy of chunking here
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Re: Can I learn 2 new languages at the same time?

Postby alaart » Thu Dec 23, 2021 3:50 pm

The way I tried is was like this:
Stage 1: Learn language 1 to B-level, learn to understand media and make friends who you hang out with and talk in the language.
Stage 2: Stop learning language 1, just use and enjoy it, and learn language 2 until you can do the same there.
Stage 3: Repeat the same with language 3, 4 etc.

The result you are getting is several languages stuck in the intermediate of which you have some competence, but never to a satisfactory level. You always have to choose between what to forget and what to reinforce and so on.

My goal was maybe to increase my potential opportunities in life and I hoped that life would lead me somewhere. Also I like the talking-phase where you interact with people more than the advanced learning phase where you read more.

If your goal is to get to an advanced stage in a language I don't recommend it. I also don't recommend it if you have specific goals, lets say to get a job, reach that goal that will be hard enough.

There are regrets. By learning everything half baked, instead of focusing on one language, I of course am not doing that well in them. There is frustration with forgetting things. I think more patience would have been more healthy, and I will probably stumble into learning Spanish sooner or later too. I'm not sure why I do this, I think there is hope, and it outweights sanity. There is a price for overloading your life with learning. You have less time for sport, friends etc., less time for important things.
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Re: Can I learn 2 new languages at the same time?

Postby BeaP » Thu Dec 23, 2021 3:56 pm

bolaobo wrote:Actually, I find splitting the time into multiple languages less tiring. 45 minutes of French and 45 minutes of Japanese is less exhausting for me than 1.5 hours of Japanese and I'm less likely to lose concentration. Arguelles talks about this strategy of chunking here

This is an interesting concept that also has scientific background. I've already read about this in Barbara Oakley's Learning how to learn, but there it's aimed at solving problems, not concentration. If you want to solve a difficult maths problem for example, she suggests trying to spend a little time with other subjects or activities, and later go back to the same maths problem. On the other hand, if I want to be honest to myself, I can't say that I've experienced benefits from any of the learning tips from anyone. The worst concept was the pomodoro, which I found a real hindrance. I don't know what's the reason for this. Maybe our learning habits become so solid in our school years, that later it's very hard to change them. There's an almost instinctive opposition towards anything that doesn't fit in. This would also explain the difference we feel when studying multiple languages.
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Re: Can I learn 2 new languages at the same time?

Postby Le Baron » Thu Dec 23, 2021 11:37 pm

I think I agree with alaart. Like with most things in life you can achieve many things 'simultaneously'. We have jobs we maintain and work at, but also hobbies/passions and housework chores and duties (like children). So multitasking is done by everyone. It's not really 'simultaneous' though and the fact of limited time in life, in a day, means that if you're spending 1.5 hours on Chinese and 1.5 hours on Spanish, you could actually be spending 3 hours on Chinese with focus and could get functional enough at a faster rate that you can shift it to maintenance and continued learning and crack on with focusing acquiring Spanish at 3 hours a day.

A bit like not driving home from work during the breaks to get on with a little painting and decorating. A bit like when you focus on learning to drive, but then master it and then your focus shifts elsewhere.

At any rate 3 hours on a language, even per day, is not a great deal when doing self-teaching. Okay maybe if the plan is to learn Chinese for 15 years to get to B1.
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Re: Can I learn 2 new languages at the same time?

Postby s_allard » Fri Dec 24, 2021 4:26 am

Let’s try to be a bit more specific and hypothesize that someone wants to prepare for the B2 exam in two languages. One strategy is to study language A for six months and sit the exam then move on to language B for six months and the related exam. Language A goes into maintenance mode. The other strategy is to study languages A and B simultaneously and do both exams at the end of 12 months.

I personally would go with the first strategy because I believe learning a new language requires a lot of focus. I wonder what the famous polyglots have to say about this.
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Re: Can I learn 2 new languages at the same time?

Postby Henrikk » Fri Dec 24, 2021 11:13 am

Which two languages are you tried to learn? :D
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Re: Can I learn 2 new languages at the same time?

Postby Le Baron » Fri Dec 24, 2021 4:07 pm

s_allard wrote:Let’s try to be a bit more specific and hypothesize that someone wants to prepare for the B2 exam in two languages.

Why would someone do that? I mean 'normal' people.
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