How do you know when you’re ready to move onto your next language?
Posted: Sat May 08, 2021 6:27 am
I’m sort of struggling with this. I studied Icelandic ten years ago. I never officially quit because I didn’t really have a regular study schedule to begin with. I just naturally lost motivation.
After several years of having no motivation for language learning I finally started learning Hebrew for a completely different reason. After maybe a few months I started getting intrusive thoughts about mixing it up with Icelandic. Even though they’re unrelated languages. At that point I haven’t even looked at Icelandic in several years.
In November 2019 I sort of got interested in studying Icelandic again when I was visiting Iceland. I guess I never truly lost interest. In November 2020 I tried to study a bit of Icelandic again, but I decided I wasn’t ready. I had too many intrusive thoughts/interference. I’m not even sure it could be considered true interference since they’re unrelated languages.
I don’t have any need to speak either language, so they’re both passive. I still get bothered by the intrusive thoughts. I don’t like that my brain mixes two unrelated languages together. For a long time I wasn’t even studying them at the same time.
Right now I’d say I’m intermediate in Hebrew. Since I haven’t gotten any languages to a high level as an adult, it sort of makes my level hard for me to access. I’d say my reasons for learning Hebrew were fairly vague, but good enough to motivate me. So I don’t entirely know which level I want to “stop” at.
I don’t really need any specific advice for my situation. I just want to hear about when you knew you were ready to take on another language. I’m also curious if anyone else has had intrusive thoughts about mixing up unrelated languages.
After several years of having no motivation for language learning I finally started learning Hebrew for a completely different reason. After maybe a few months I started getting intrusive thoughts about mixing it up with Icelandic. Even though they’re unrelated languages. At that point I haven’t even looked at Icelandic in several years.
In November 2019 I sort of got interested in studying Icelandic again when I was visiting Iceland. I guess I never truly lost interest. In November 2020 I tried to study a bit of Icelandic again, but I decided I wasn’t ready. I had too many intrusive thoughts/interference. I’m not even sure it could be considered true interference since they’re unrelated languages.
I don’t have any need to speak either language, so they’re both passive. I still get bothered by the intrusive thoughts. I don’t like that my brain mixes two unrelated languages together. For a long time I wasn’t even studying them at the same time.
Right now I’d say I’m intermediate in Hebrew. Since I haven’t gotten any languages to a high level as an adult, it sort of makes my level hard for me to access. I’d say my reasons for learning Hebrew were fairly vague, but good enough to motivate me. So I don’t entirely know which level I want to “stop” at.
I don’t really need any specific advice for my situation. I just want to hear about when you knew you were ready to take on another language. I’m also curious if anyone else has had intrusive thoughts about mixing up unrelated languages.