If you have multiple 'working' languages, by what method did you acquire them?

[Le Baron]

This is for everyone and follows on from the discussion and poll about learning multiple languages. If you have acquired numerous languages please specify the route and methodology you took (and perhaps still take now) to build up your 'portfolio'. In terms of doing languages at the same time or not. Especially if several have passed the B2 stage.

I've generously given you 2 options.

[Cavesa]

1.English and French at the same time. school+self teaching+tons of input. Result: CAE C1 and DELF B2 in the same year.

2a.French and Spanish at the same time,
2b. later French and Italian at the same time (Spanish maintained).
Self teaching + tons of input. Results: DALF C2 and uncertified B2 active and C1/C2 passive Spanish, and B1ish active and C1ish passive Italian.

3.German (after a few not too successful attempts) as the primarily actively learnt language, Goethe B2 achieved this year. At the same time some refreshing of Italian (but a really minor part of learning), result: improvement of active skills and pronunciation, but not a huge progress overall.

4.NOW: Italian and German actively learnt, with Italian being relearnt from zero, right now with materials for A2 and with normal native stuff, German being learnt after a few months of a gap with material for B2.1

[einzelne]

I chose "in rotations" but I regret I weren't consistent enough. I wouldn't have rotated them that often but I have always been too impatient.

[zenmonkey]

I migrated from place to place. All other languages are 'not working'...

[rdearman]

There is no option for, haphazardly.

[Le Baron]

There is no option for, haphazardly.

Ah yes!..and it would do doubt be a popular option.

Oh no, I added it and it reset the poll! I'll get my coat.

[anitarrc]

Great, haphazard was definitely my first choice.
I had to learn French when I was 15 because I had run away from home and went to a French school. No excuses.
I learnt English over time, German from my mother and at work (some at school) and the rest just because I needed to or wanted to look less stupid when visiting another country (Bahasa)
Portuguese because I wanted a job in São Paulo. If it hadn't been for Bolsonaro's new rules, I'd be there now. Hence I am in Luxembourg now, writing Spanish. My mother says you could have achieved more in life. At least I achieved something: I learnt a few languages and my life was interesting and varied so far.
Goal: I have a Ukrainian colleague since 2 weeks and we made a pact. I hope it works.

[garyb]

"One after the other" is the closest for me, but with big overlaps. I've always taken each language to a high B2 before starting the next one, but continued to work on the first one too, aiming for C1. Well, for a while at least, until accepting that I'll probably never actualy reach C1 and I'm not sure I want to anyway, and putting it into maintenance mode... But that overlap/while has been a few years in some cases.

It's hard to say if that has been the "correct" approach. Theoretically I think it was, but real life doesn't always work according to theory and I might have been better off starting some of them earlier and taking advantage of the opportunities to use them while I had them, and cutting my losses earlier on the overlap period rather than falling for the sunk cost fallacy and just focusing on getting the newer language to a useful level more quickly. My whole long-term plan had been based on an assumption that the languages would be just as useful to me in 5 or 10 years as they were at the time, which funnily enough turned out to not be the case!

[bolaobo]

My strategy is probably closest to concurrently, although they are all at different levels. Check back in 5 (or 10!) years in my log to see how it worked out for me.

I started German when my Chinese was at B2, but I continued studying Chinese at same time and used Chinese Deutsche Welle and got Chinese to C1+. When my German was B1 or so, I started learning Hindi while improving Chinese and German at same time. While still maintaining/improving all those languages, I added French, and quickly got it to a level where I could use it to ladder other languages, starting with Japanese. During all this time, I maintained and slightly improved Hindi (laddering with German when possible) which made me realize I could maintain languages while adding new ones when motivation faltered.

Once I realized I could learn new languages while improving French at same time with Assimil, I got quite liberal with adding languages but I have no immediate plans and know I need many years.

As for concurrently vs. one at a time, I'm not convinced there is much of a time difference. I think the overall time comes out to be about the same. To me, motivation is the deciding factor. Motivation is so important to learning a language and I'm not sure if someone between B1 and B2 in German, who suddenly has the urge to learn a new language, should suppress this urge, which could lead to him losing interest in German and failing to learn the new language as well. Motivation is such a huge determining factor and sometimes people just need to take a break and try something new.

Nevertheless, for people who know 6+ languages to a C1 level (not me!), it seems there's inevitably some overlap. I don't see many people waiting until their previous language is at C1/C2 before starting a new one, since our motivations and circumstances are always changing.

[Le Baron]

As for concurrently vs. one at a time, I'm not convinced there is much of a time difference. I think the overall time comes out to be about the same. To me, motivation is the deciding factor. Motivation is so important to learning a language and I'm not sure if someone between B1 and B2 in German, who suddenly has the urge to learn a new language, should suppress this urge, which could lead to him losing interest in German and failing to learn the new language as well. Motivation is such a huge determining factor and sometimes people just need to take a break and try something new.

This is an interesting paragraph. I hoped to see something along these lines.