Learning more than one language at a time: some useful tips

[dTREBLEmaker]

He's been learning languages for 20 years... Thats makes me sad and feel hopeless... ;(

[LearningFrenchNow]

Great video!

[KimCyunHi]

So you've been learning languages for the last 20 years. How old where you when you started? Five?

[poliglotta80]

@KimCyunHi I started learning English at the age of 10. I am 31 now. L

[Bogrome]

Thank you very much! Currently learning Portuguese and Turkish. Honestly very hard :)

[amanogawamakoto]

Very informative video. The tips were very helpful. I'll go with the easy one (Russian) and a tough one (Chinese)!

[KimCyunHi]

@amanogawamakoto Russian is only easy if you already know Ukrainian or any of the other related slavic languages, IMO. Getting acquainted with two new writing systems will be quite taxing, but by all means go for it.

[amanogawamakoto]

@KimCyunHi Polish is my native language so it's a little bit easier. Thanks for the encouragement and good luck with your learning!

[KimCyunHi]

@amanogawamakoto Oh, ok. Then at least Russian grammar will be piece of cake for you. :)

[amanogawamakoto]

@KimCyunHi Grammar is never easy :)

[KimCyunHi]

@amanogawamakoto Everything's relative.:)

[mikyross]

Astonishing American accent! I'd like to ask you a question: Did you choose to sound like a native American or did it just come out naturally as more as you learnt it? As you could easily guess, BE rules of pronunciation are almost always taught in Italian schools and that's the way I learnt it. I can't even end a sentence picking up the standard AE accent.

[poliglotta80]

@mikyross Thanks for the nice words. I made a video on this 3 years ago - Luca speaks American English - but I wil soonl make a video about how I acquired the this paticular accent. A bit of patience :-). L

[mikyross]

@poliglotta80 I've just watched your video and I agree with you when you use the word "absorbe" to explain the process that led you to acquire a native-speaker accent. I've been working in Paris for two years and I feel proud of my Parisian accent altough I find it quite heavy and "flooded", as speakers' voices are often low and flat.

[TheMartikaa]

What about learning English and French!??Könnte man lernen Französisch und Englisch gleichzeitig???Ich bin neugierig ob man das mischen kann!Ich bitte um Antwort !Danke schön!

[xalesd2]

@TheMartikaa If you've watched the video carefully, you've noticed that language families are mentioned there. English is a Germanic language, and French is a Latin one. I wouldn't recommend learning French and Italian at the same time though, especially if those are going to be the first foreign languages in your life. You'll mess everything up quickly, and end up learning nothing. Last but not least, you can do everything you want. The point is - will it be efficient?

[KimCyunHi]

@xalesd2 Leaning two languages in the same family is no guarantee that you'll confuse them. You "might" confuse them, and it's safer and more advisable to choose languages that are very different.

[xalesd2]

@KimCyunHi For an unexperienced learner mistaking similar languages with one another is a very likely scenario ;)

[KimCyunHi]

@xalesd2 Well, I see your point, I just don't think it's as likely as people suggest. And I'd go as far as to say that it's only more likely to occur at the very beginning stages of learning, and only if you begin two languages from scratch at the same time. After you've been at it for a while, it gets easier to tell if a word "fits" (for want of a better term) or not. I can only comment from my own experience, and being a relatively inexperienced learner this has never happened to me.

[xalesd2]

@KimCyunHi Sure, well the best choice for inexperienced learners is just go and try for themselves if they're able to learn 2 similar languages without mixing them up or not.

[xalesd2]

Great video, pretty much everything I've always been advising people is included here.

[rsloma71]

Thank you for this very interesting video. After listening to it some questions came to my mind: how maintaing languages you currently know affect your ability to learn new ones ? Is it possible to maintain, say, four languages and effectively learn another two ?

All the best,

Rysiek

[poliglotta80]

@rsloma71 Interesting question. I will make a video (and the corresponding article) on the topic. It is definitely possibile. I am learning two languages and maintaing 10 others :-) L

[rsloma71]

@poliglotta80 Thank you. So I'm looking forward to seeing this video.

[sprachbegeistert]

Great advice, thank you very much. I liked your "concept of a language core". It is so true, yet so difficult for me to put into practice because I'm usually so impatient I want to learn several languages at a time or one language way too fast which then results in me only achieving mediocre results unless I manage to get my impatience under control ;-) Thanks again for this excellent video.

[TheMartikaa]

What about learning English and French!??Könnte man lernen Französisch und Englisch gleichzeitig???

[jankablanka]

Thank you so much for sharing this video ! I´m Slovak and I´m learning English and French. I really love languages but what is my problem, even if I can understand the spoken and written language I don´t know to speak it. It´s like a have a block inside me who says : oh what if I´ll say something wrong or the other person will not understand what I´m saying :( ...do you have any ideas how to get rid of it ? :(

[thayungbuck16]

good job

[paris0000up]

Only a few people have inspired me in life and one of them is YOU! Me encantó el minuto 1:36 cuando mencionaste que "Una vez que elegías un idioma estabas tan interesado en el que los demás no te importaban" y es exactamente eso lo que me pasa a mí pues aunque me gusta aprender palabras básicas de cada idioma que me gusta pero si me concentro en sólo uno ya que de esa manera pudeo aprender también la cultura. Creo que la clave más importante para los idiomas es la pasión que tienes por ellos. :)

[Verabadthings]

Eres un verdadero crack. Es un placer escucharte.Te admiro muchísimo. Bueno, ya lo sabes...

[FluentCzech]

Thank you, as always, for the honesty of your videos. There are no false promises nor boasts, but rather a realistic and effective approach that has been proven to work time and again. Given the prevalence of "get fluent in a hurry" messages elsewhere, your videos remain a rare oasis of sanity.

[poliglotta80]

@FluentCzech Dear Anthony, that is the best comment I have gotten from you so far. Thank you so much. L

[fabriciocarraro]

Great video as always, Luca!

I'd already read your blog about the theme, but those are always very useful tips!

I'm Brazilian, and I'm currently learning Dutch and Russian. Since I feel comfortable with my English level, Dutch is being the "easy" one, though the word order has given me a bad time for some months, now it feels more natural.

I had been studyind Russian for already 1,5 years when I started with Dutch, and now I'm keeping up with both of them.

[blackarcher0912]

thanks for this video..i found it very useful to me..

[safronov1989]

great video as always! btw! what do you do professionally Luca, if i may ask? is your job related to languages?

[poliglotta80]

@safronov1989 I am currently working as a language teacher here in Paris (both on-line and face-to-face lessons), and attending an interpreting school. L

[SubjectAlpha100]

@poliglotta80 I am interested in working as a language teacher abroad and maybe working as an interpreter. How did you go about doing both yourself?

[safronov1989]

@poliglotta80 ah that's cool))

[LearningFrenchNow]

@poliglotta80 Did you enjoy working as an engineer previously?

[ChristosM1]

Very useful, grazie Luca.

I did this mistake once, trying to learn four languages in the same time, and of course it didn't work.....

[Vanadium555]

That was a very thoughtful video, plenty of handy tips and good suggestions. I was kind of wondering whether I should start learning another foreign language having acquired English and feeling pretty comfortable speaking and using it. I've seen the results and I decided to move on. That's how I started out with French. Your video actually proved that what I've been doing for the last 4 months wasn't a waste of time. I agree that it's better to concentrate on one language and try to enjoy it)

[MelancholyInLove]

Spanish people have a very strong accent, well also French and Italian people. I totally agree more than 2 is impossible, your brain just goes nuts XD

[ALEMT83]

Hi, thanks a lot for your video. I made a list at the beginning of the year of what languages I would like to learn/improve.

...so, since the beginning of the year I ve been trying to go along with: Italian, French, German and Russian. I am not satisfied with the results, I want to take your advice and go for Italian and German (my native language is Romanian). I have the Assimil courses, I ve been doing some lessons but no grammar and I am not used to this approach. Does Assimil method work?

[poliglotta80]

@ALEMT83 ASSIMIL is a great languages series, but as I always say, it is only a tool and what counts the most is the way you use it. L

[begruessungsgeld100]

Hey Luca! Excellent video! I'll start to study Italian in spring. Do you think my French (B2) will be helpful (vocabulary, grammar)?

And my second question: what's your profession?

[silent0watcher]

Excellent post. Here is a true expert learner.

[poliglotta80]

@silent0watcher Loved the comment, thanks so much! :-) L

[paholainen100]

i will make a response video relating to this topic. You have inspired me. grazie mille.

[poliglotta80]

@paholainen100 Looking forward to hearing your opinion. L

[paholainen100]

Good video. Buon video. Mi piace. Sono d'accordo con te. E vero tutto quello che dici. Pero c'e un problema piccola. Dopo 8;58 minuti non si puo guardare ancora. Si ferma. grazie. Volevo dire solo questo.

[vinayaka70]

A sensible post. I agree as far as the object of the learning is *speaking* the language(s) and practising it as soon as possible. It may be a different matter for one who is rather learning for passive use in the first place. Mario Pei's opinion was that in that case (but only then!) one might even tackle all the Romance languages simultaneously. In the other case however one might indeed mix up things, e.g. the pronunciation.

[poliglotta80]

@vinayaka70 Yes, I agree. As I said to qzchris, my strategy focuses on all aspects of a given foreign language. If the mail goal were only being able to read or understand a language passively, the overall learning strategy would be quite different. L

[pesahson]

I love your no-nonsense approach to learning languages. I always wanted to learn many languages and ended doing nothing. Now I'm concentrating on French only and now I see that if you start to learn a language properly, doing input, revisions, etc, there is little time left! Plus, it really is absorbing.

[paleisk5]

Brilliant video Luca! That's what I'm doing right now, learning 2 at the same time, swedish and italian..

[hendrixkixas]

Chinese and Portuguese are a good combination. My mother is from China and father is a Portuguese immigrant. haha

[tycinnamon]

'Fiend' good word

[chocolatedonut31]

Great video man. I was about to begin learning 3 languages I have no experience in at once! Thankfully you talked some sense into me. I'm going to work 5 months on each language and develop a base, and then I'll work from there. Thank you so much. :) Btw, I'm very jealous of your accent skills. :D

[chocolatedonut31]

I'm learning French, Latin, Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese, and Croatian all at once. I just take things in periods, spending 1-2 months on each one specifically, and then practicing as much as I can, and immersing myself as best I can. The thing is though, I had experience in each language (except for Latin) so I already had a "core" slightly build up. I only sometimes mix Spanish and Catalan sometimes, but the others I don't have muhc of a problem with. Great video man! :)

[bilingueanglais]

A few comments from experience:

- *Mastering* a foreign language actually helps you learn any new language... because you know the path and what it feels like to think and say anything you want in another language.

- As such, at least until you master a foreign language, it's a better use of your time to just focus on one until mastery. Multitasking is not the road to saving time.

- As soon as you start hurrying, you stop enjoying things. If you love languages, go one at a time...

My 2 cents.

[languagesavant]

Luca,

Great advice! I agree with you 100%... piano si impara. I've got two questions for you.

1. I have learned Italian to an advanced level, and now I am learning Portuguese using Assimil Italian to Portuguese. I find that I understand Portuguese better when thinking in Italian and at the same time, I am refining my Italian. What do you think about learning other languages from a second learned language( not mother tongue)?

2. Have you tried Mnemonics?

Appreciate your feedback..

Steve

[poliglotta80]

@languagesavant Grazie per il commento! Siccome stai imparando l'italiano, ti risponderò nella mia lingua, spero non ti dispiaccia. Per rispondere alle tue domande: 1) imparare una L3 attraverso una L2 è possibile. Ci sono vantaggi e svantaggi, ma se sai gestirli, l'apprendimento diventa più agevole. 2) Ho provato una tecnica di memorizzazione che si chiama "il metodo dei Loci" di Cicerone, ma è per un esercizio di interpretazione, non ho mai usato tecniche del genere per imparare una lingua. L.

[esirreal1]

can I really learn more than 2 languages at the same time? I've been asking to several people if that is possible but they always say no! but os course they don't speak more than two!

[qzchris]

Dear Luca, thank you for your wonderful and insightful videos. I read your article on this subject with great interest, as the issue of studying multiple languages is one I have given much consideration to. I have swung back and forth on the matter a number of times, but have ultimately settled on micro-managing a larger number of languages. I wanted to ask you: what do you think of Alexander Arguelles video "A polyglot's daily linguistic workout"?

[poliglotta80]

@qzchris Thanks for the lovely words! I find that video fascinating. Prof.A decided to dedicate his whole life to "polyglotism" and his main goal is to be able to read literature in many languages. Mine is to read books, watch movies and above all talk to native speakers, that is, enjoy the language in all its possible aspects. In order to do so, I need a lot of time and concentration on just one or 2 languages. I really think that it boils down to your goas, your interestes, and your time.

[poliglotta80]

@poliglotta80 If you are interested in a huge number of languages and love reading, then go for it. As I say in the video, nobody can keep you from doing what you love to do :) Luca

[qzchris]

@poliglotta80 Thank you for your reply! I wholeheartedly agree.

[poliglotta80]

@poliglotta80 goals*, interests*

[Scensum]

Grazie per questo video. Io sto imparando l'italiano e il norvegese. Dopo, voglio imparare il francese e il giapponese. La mia lingua natale è lo spagnolo e la mia seconda lingua è l'inglese.

[1004cheonsa]

I learn Korean and Japanese but they're literally my only hobbies :3.

[supermonk3y07]

@1004cheonsa its actually easier when the'yre your only hobbies. Also I am somewhat fluent in Japanese (well I know a bit more than the basics) and I have studied korean and some nice things, is that they have some strong similarities, especially grammar and chinese based vocabulary, but they aren't as similar as spanish and italian which is good too, because you wont get confused between the both.

[Imyirtshashem]

I agree with many of your points but I don't think that I'm either learner A nor B. I'm learner C. I'm working with 4 languages. 1 advanced, 1 early-intermediate, 1, high-beginner, 1 total beginner and I have 8 hours a day, roughly, to work with.

The first two of those are Dutch and Yiddish. I'm not finding any problems with doing that. Perhaps I'm an exception, I don't know.

When I'm 'done' with Dutch, I will just drop down to 3 languages from that point onwards.

Thanks for the vid.

[jacquisaysno]

@Imyirtshashem I do this too, and I find it a lot easier to study more than one language when they're all at different levels. I tend to focus on French, since that's the language I'm most advanced in and can, therefore, study in relaxing ways like reading and watching tv. With most of my extra time I study Japanese, and I attend an Italian class three times a week. Occassionally I'll study some Korean if I need a break from the others. All the same, I know I'd make more progress on just one.

[Imyirtshashem]

@jacquisaysno Surely we'd make more progress on just one. But, we're obviously the same in this, we have a wide interest in various languages and just focusing on feels boring. No matter how much we like that language. We seek new challenges all the time and studying multiple languages is the way to find this challenge.

[poliglotta80]

@Imyirtshashem Thanks for the comment. You don't need to be student A or B, you can be any kind of student. This is just a story to compare two kinds of students at the opposite side of the spectrum, both in terms of approach/strategy AND ability to go about languages. L

[pon00050]

Have you already made a video or wrote an article discussing this "core" you speak of in detail? Please send me the link. If not, I hope you make one to elaborate it.

Thanks for the tips

[poliglotta80]

@pon00050 I wrote extensively on "the language core", "linguistic path", and "Epiphany point", but ..I everything is still on paper (dear old hand-writing :-)). I have quite a few articles coming..a bit of patience :-) L

[hibothebibo]

Great advice! I hope to use this as I begin my multi-language journey soon. :)

[lejuicerr]

Hey Luca, thankyou for this video! I'm currently doing a degree in French + Chinese but aside from those I have been learning Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Russian as a hobby. My learning for those languages was kind of inconsistent (and as a result, my ability was lacking), so I think you're 100% right about sticking to just two languages. Although I very much want to learn them I'll take your advice and stick only to French and Chinese for the next three years. Grazie!

[supermonk3y07]

@lejuicerr yeah Chinese is a good choice, because I it will become easier to learn Korean and Japanese. Trust me its easier for a Chinese speaking person to learn Japanese or Korean than the other way around...so you're really in a way your doing 2 other languages while practicing Chinese. (a lot of Japanese and korean vocabulary is derived from Chinese) Also yeah french is good too. and you could also try and just practice spanish with me or some friends

[NaomiChambers]

Great video. I would like to put it in my blog, linking your channel and your blog. 

[poliglotta80]

@NaomiChambers Thanks Naomi. Feel free to post it wherever you want :-)