Decision guide: learning two languages at once

General discussion about learning languages
Sprachprofi
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Decision guide: learning two languages at once

Postby Sprachprofi » Sun Aug 14, 2022 3:46 pm

This seems like the most common question ever from newbies... whether they can learn language A and language B at the same time or they should do one after the other. I'm assuming that everyone in this forum already knows the answer, but next time you get the same question, feel free to link to my decision guide at https://languagecrush.com/forum/t/3435 - I go into a lot of depth there.

Main points I cover:

- Interference: for each bit of similarity between two languages, you need to compensate by having a higher level before you start the second language from scratch, or accept that you'll lose one of the languages.

- Efficiency: splitting the same number of hours over several languages is usually inefficient and may mean you drop the language too soon. HOWEVER if you either have several hours per day or if you study one beginner language and one intermediate/advanced language, it may be more efficient to study more than one language.
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iguanamon
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Re: Decision guide: learning two languages at once

Postby iguanamon » Sun Aug 14, 2022 4:07 pm

Frankly, over the years I've got to the point where if someone asks if they should learn X; Y; and Z at the same time, I don't even bother to reply anymore. People who ask this genuinely want to do it. I am tired of raining on people's parades by saying "no". They are going to do what they want anyway. The only way a monolingual beginner is going to find out is the hard way, by trying it. They will eventually learn that advancement, if any, will be extremely difficult and arduous for them. So be it. They're going to do what they want anyway, despite evidence to the contrary. There's no point in me telling them not to do it.

Edit: punctuation
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Re: Decision guide: learning two languages at once

Postby leosmith » Mon Aug 15, 2022 12:43 am

iguanamon wrote:I don't even bother to reply anymore
Although I sympathize with this, I like to share my knowledge and let people decide how they want to use it. Sometimes it’s a balance between feeling like the “destroyer of dreams” and feeling negligent. Sometimes I get cursed, but to me it’s worth it if I am able to help even just one person.
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desafiar
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Re: Decision guide: learning two languages at once

Postby desafiar » Mon Aug 15, 2022 3:59 am

Given that my goal is to learn Spanish to a high level, I couldn't imagine sharing my language time with more than it. I'm averaging in the neighborhood of 6 hours per day with Spanish, and I feel I should increase that in order to accomplish all that I want to do in a day.

I've been concentrating heavily on verbs (among many other activities). Since I started roughly a year ago, I've encountered 976 verbs that I've recorded, and I'll estimate another ~50 that I didn't record for various reasons. Since I was curious, I extracted all verbs in their infinitive form from my Spanish-English dictionary into another spreadsheet, for a total of 6,660 Spanish verbs. And based on lookups, I know there are some that are not in my dictionary for various reasons. I estimate, or perhaps pull out of a hat, that I'll need to get to 2,000 plus known verbs to begin to read native material without effort.

My point is that, if I were to study more than one language, the incredible task of assimilating all that language would be significantly divided. As it is, I'm comfortably reading at a B2 level as estimated by the material I'm reading, and I'm still finding new verbs at a good pace. That's not to mention all the other vocabulary and structures. Spanish is huge.

I don't see how any person at my level, a new language learner, can tackle more than one language in any serious way at once. Sure, if the goal is just to dabble and explore, but not to efficiently get to a point where one can use the language proficiently. Maybe that's not the case for you experienced folks, but down here, one is enough.
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sporedandroid
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Re: Decision guide: learning two languages at once

Postby sporedandroid » Mon Aug 15, 2022 6:16 am

For a while I’ve believed in learning one language after the other. What I struggle with is defining “after.” I think once you’re intermediate it can be helpful to dabble in other languages gain perspective. It’s a lot less painful to have 90% comprehension when you compare it to 20% comprehension in a language you’re dabbling in. I don’t think it’s a good idea to dabble too much when you’re still a beginner. It’s likely to distract you.
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Re: Decision guide: learning two languages at once

Postby TeoLanguages » Tue Aug 16, 2022 10:33 am

From personal experience, I learned that for me personally learning 2 languages at the same time doesn't work so well, particularly if these languages are from the same family and I start from scratch in both of them. As others suggested, this means splitting the study time and, at least for me, getting half of the results. I find it extremely more effective to focus on just one language and if I get bored for whatever reason I prefer taking a step back and dedicating some time to maintain some of the other languages I speak rather than dive into a new linguistic venture that would distract me from my main one. This is when it comes to embarking on a long-term linguistic journey but if what drives you is just pure curiosity towards a language and if you settle for grasping the basics then I wouldn't be so strict.
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Re: Decision guide: learning two languages at once

Postby s_allard » Tue Aug 16, 2022 1:31 pm

iguanamon wrote:Frankly, over the years I've got to the point where if someone asks if they should learn X; Y; and Z at the same time, I don't even bother to reply anymore. People who ask this genuinely want to do it. I am tired of raining on people's parades by saying "no". They are going to do what they want anyway. The only way a monolingual beginner is going to find out is the hard way, by trying it. They will eventually learn that advancement, if any, will be extremely difficult and arduous for them. So be it. They're going to do what they want anyway, despite evidence to the contrary. There's no point in me telling them not to do it.

Edit: punctuation


With all due respect, I wouldn't be so harsh. I would say "It's not a good idea but try it if you want". Of course we know that very few adults actually do learn even one foreign language to a decent level of proficiency on their own.

The reason I'm a bit nuanced is that I'm imagining circumstances where one can be exposed to multiple languages in certain situations. I saw this in Africa. There I saw people actually learning multiple languages simultaneously by immersion. But that is not probably what we are talking about here.
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CardiffGiant
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Re: Decision guide: learning two languages at once

Postby CardiffGiant » Wed Aug 17, 2022 3:17 pm

I just started to try to learn Spanish again after taking a break while maintaining and improving Italian. It certainly helps to be at B2 in Italian, but man it is hard from a time management perspective, and I have difficulty with the inevitable confusion that results from learning two closely related languages. Contrary to my impression that it would be easier to pick up, I find that it is actually harder to see progress in Spanish while learning both. Maybe that will change with time?(I sure hope so). I can't imagine stopping Italian altogether to devote all my time to Spanish so this is path I must take. I cannot imagine learning both at the same time from zero.
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sporedandroid
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Re: Decision guide: learning two languages at once

Postby sporedandroid » Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:58 pm

s_allard wrote:
With all due respect, I wouldn't be so harsh. I would say "It's not a good idea but try it if you want". Of course we know that very few adults actually do learn even one foreign language to a decent level of proficiency on their own.

I think beginners don’t listen because all they hear is “You shouldn’t learn multiple languages at once because you’re a beginner.” That usually makes them want to learn multiple languages at once even more to prove people wrong. I probably would have been like that, but luckily I don’t really get interested in too many languages at once. One reason I think beginners shouldn’t learn multiple languages at once is because they haven’t seen themselves successfully learn a language yet. If you try to learn multiple languages that’s less likely to happen. Since I’ve already sort of reached my goals in one language, I don’t mind my slow progress in Finnish. I’m making a conscious choice to take it slow.
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s_allard
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Re: Decision guide: learning two languages at once

Postby s_allard » Thu Aug 18, 2022 4:16 am

Just to be a bit picky, I think we are all learning multiple languages at once. Does one ever stop learning a language? What happens is we may stop studying a language once we have reached a certain level of proficiency and then go into maintenance cum learning mode. Then we might begin studying a new language, and so on.

I think this is especially true when we get the opportunity to actually use our language(s) in a real setting, usually during travel. That’s when the language really comes alive as we learn all sorts of new things just by exposure.

I believe that the polyglots and superpolyglots – whatever your definition – are efficient learning machines. When you think about it, six languages in your head is a lot of words and grammatical and phonological structures to be mastered. There is certainly a lot of learning going on.

That said, what I think the OP is probably talking about is the pitfalls of studying two or more new languages from scratch. That is not going to work, period.
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