Studying two languages at the same time

[LaoLiang]

I've been trying to learn two languages these past few months, one of them being Mandarin. It seem though that each study session of one language would cause the second language proficiency to deteriorate. I'm down to wondering if this is a natural limitation which I have or perhaps there specific techniques for the efficient learning of more than one language...

[chaxiu]

What's the other language? How much time to you have to study them?

Are they similar?

I have been trying to learn a little Taiwanese on the side and have found it very difficult to separate the two. The tones in Taiwanese are especially important and they are/were just killing me. In fact for the moment, I have stopped trying speak Taiwanese and just focus on listening.

Chaxiu

[anon6969]

Yes it can be done. Obviously just means you'll have the amount of time to put into studying each language. One presumes that studying several languages will increase your understanding of how different languages work, and perhaps make it easier to learn both. For example it's commonly believed that once you have learned one foreign language, you can study others quicker.

[gougou]

See also here, here, here and here (among others, I'm sure).

[Lu]

It can be done just fine, in high school I learned 3 foreign languages at the same time, plus Latin and ancient Greek. I was told to not so my French homework right after my English, because then I'd mix them up. I think it helps when you don't do an hour of language A and then right after an hour of B, but for example some A today, and some B tomorrow, then A again, etc.

I think it also depends on how close to each other the languages are, but not sure if learning English and French, or Mandarin and Taiwanese, at the same time is easier, since a lot of things are the same, or more difficult, since they are easier to mix up.

Edited February 16, 2010 at 10:11 AM by Lu
wrong word

[MissSpiffy]

I'm a freshman in my third year of pre-AP Spanish....we are going to choose course selections soon, but I am not sure what languages I want to take. I have 2 open spots, so I KNOW I want to take Chinese 1 (its only regular though in our school till Chinese 3, and one of my parents can speak chinese), but then I don't know what I want to fill up on the other course. I kinda want to take Latin 1 Pre-AP (because I heard it will be pre-AP next year and Latin can help you with vocab and such like SAT, etc.) but then I still also want to continue with Spanish because I want to become fluent one day (and also perhaps do a foreign exchange or abroad program to study in Spain during a summer or for a year).

I've heard many different things about each course, Latin being easy, Spanish 4 being extremely hard; Latin too boring, you don't really learn much, and Spanish 4 actually not being that bad, you learn a lot of things. But I guess it really at depends on the student and the teacher. I guess I'm just kind of mostly self-doubting myself about my Spanish since I'm not a native speaker so I'm not that strong in it yet ....I'm just so afraid to loose the language though too ):

My problems that concern me are: is it a good idea to take 2 languages at once? and, if I do, should I take Latin pre-ap or continue on to Spanish 4 AP? Considering Chinese is completely opposite of both of those languages, I don't think it would be a problem in mixing Chinese up with the other language. But idk, is there anyone that has experienced this dilemma, is currently learning 2 languages at the same time, or is already fluent in both these languages (Spanish and Chinese)? Ha...my friends say I'm crazy to even try to learn two languages in High School. What do you guys recommend?

[Daan]

Like Lu and all other Dutch high school students, I had to take English, French and German in high school. I also took Latin and Ancient Greek. I seem to have survived without noticeable problems, though that I am now studying Chinese might seem to point towards the opposite, now that I think of it I would say, as long as you're willing to put in the hours and can accept a slower rate of progress than if you were to focus on one language, it shouldn't be a problem.

[Lu]

What Daan said. Studying 2 or more foreign languages in high school is absolutely fine.

If I were in your position I'd just study all three, but then I like languages and have trouble choosing, so YMMV.

Latin is at the root of many languages, including French and Spanish. I never learned Spanish, but can pretty much read it and understand some of it spoken because I studied Latin and French. Learning Latin is therefore not bad for your Spanish ability. Furthermore, you can take Spanish classes anywhere at any time, whereas Latin is something that is not taught much outside of high school.

Spanish is a living language spoken all over the world, Latin is a dead language of a culture that doesn't exist anymore. If you're interested in Roman culture and its arts, especially its literature, Latin is a great choice. But if you don't really care about Roman history and culture, in my opinion it's best to not pick Latin just because it would look good on your diploma.

All in all, my advice would be to pick the language you like and are interested in.

[LaoLiang]

Somewhat amusing seeing this post again. Eventually I did give up on learning the second language as it completely destroyed my Mandarin tones... perhaps it would have worked out 20 years ago

[renshanrenhai]

During my junior days in university, i took French as my second foreign language. At the very beginning i couldn't get myself used to the phonetic system of French. But after a period of intensive practice of French pronunciation i found myself had a tendency to pronounce English in French pronunciation without any hesitation.....

On the other hand, the logic of English help me a lot to follow the grammar of French. So, in my case, i have to say i see both sides of the coin.

[peg]

it is easy for young children to learn multiple languages

i think it is harder for adults because we have an established language pattern... so to learn new language means we have to also learn new language patterns and constructions. I was learning hebrew for a while and that language is very different to english.

[maybe]

I study english, chinese, french and speak italian (my common language) and a little bit of spanish. it's not easy but if you want you can study also ten languages, its more important speak (ever and ever, every day) in chinese, french or english not to forget

[Matty]

I found studying Korean in Chinese to be fun. You're studying Korean, your classmates are all Chinese, and there's no English in the equation at all.

You're getting natural, native Chinese from your classmates and teacher and also learning Korean through Chinese improving both.

[jono1001]

Studying two languages at once. This is interesting as there are several people in my current Uni. course doing this. These few are learning Japanese and Chinese. They seem to prefer one language over the other and as far as I know they cope. They are full time students and so have time and motivation to learn. This is also something that I have seen in Reddit posts. I have never tried this. In my case I struggle with devoting enough time to learn one language. Good luck with your studies.

[tim89]

The answer to this question probably really depends on the languages. I have found studying latin at the same time with french pretty useful, but I can imagine that if you go with chinese and spanish you might want to focus on one language first, before you get started with the other.

[lwstl4ke]

I used to study French Spanish and Russian at college but I've put aside French and Russian for now and I'm focusing on Chinese and Spanish. Since they are both from completely different linguistic families, I find it a lot easier to distinguish between them and not get confused with grammar/false friends etc.