leosmith wrote:Cavesa wrote:Learning seriously 2 languages without waiting for 5 or more years to start the second one, that's an efficient way to deal with it.
By "efficient" I meant "least number of hours". If that is also what you mean, can you explain how it is more efficient/better (using math)? I can't figure it out, but maybe you have some constraints that I'm not aware of.
Ah, that's the issue. You are talking about "efficiency", I am talking about "usefulness".
Alright, I'll try to illustrate it with some made up numbers. Let's say a Czech native person wants to learn English and German (the most obvious combination for the job market, also a way to basically catch up with a one language learner with the privilege of English or German as the native language). Both to B2 (the most commonly demanded level for jobs).
Let's wildly guess they need 1000 hours to learn each to B2. It's 2000 hours total. It won't be 1500, no matter whether they try at the same moment, they add the second one at A2, or after B2. They are not learning Spanish and French, they are not learning Swedish and Norwegian. They are learning languages, that seem to present equal challenges to the Czech natives, and the similarities of which are not that impactful.
Let's imagine they can put in 250 hours of learning per year. Let's imagine they need 250 hours for A2, 500 for B1, 1000 for B2. Let's see a few scenarios:
1.They start both languages at once in 2022. They'll be (a very simplified model, to illustrate this) spending time and progressing like this:
1/8 of each language in 2023
1/4 of each in 2024. We can assume it could be A2, therefore both languages are useful for tourism at this point.
3/8 in 2025.
1/2 of both languages in 2026. They will be B1 in two languages, which is already useful for many not that skilled jobs.
Two B2 languages in 2030.
2.They stick to just English in 2022, with a plan to start German after their FCE.
1/4 of the English goal in 2023
1/2 of the English goal 2024. B1 in English, already useful for some jobs, but nothing in German. Lost personal opportunities, as they have to rely just on English during their holidays in the surrounding germanophone countries.
B2 English in 2026, but still not a speaker of two foreign languages on the CV, even for jobs requiring just B1.
Two B2 languages in 2030.
3.They do what most 2 language learners do (so a large majority of European kids, even though with horrible results for totally different reasons):They add the second language at A2 of the first.
1/4 of English goal in 2023. Starting German.
3/8 of the English goal in 2024, 1/8 of German.
1/2 of the English goal in 2025, can use B1 English to look for some jobs, 1/4 of the German goal, A2 for personal uses
3/4 of English in 2027, 1/2 of German. Both B1 on the CV
Two B2 languages in 2030.
This is really just an illustration. Of course the numbers would be different, and it would be better to go up to C1 and assume more qualified jobs requiring B2... But I think this makes my point clear. The learner 2, fully focusing on English, is missing out on stuff. Opportunities naturally arising in their life are being wasted.
Of course, a learner in need of one language much more than the other should opt for the path number 2. But a large part of learners could actually profit much more from paths 1 and 3. And I dislike that the concensus on most language learning sites is dismissing options 1 and 3 as something not serious and discourage people from them. Why: because most of them are English natives, most of them have no clue what it really means to need foreign languages.