Learning multiple languages simultaneously

[missbrokensmile]

Is there much of a hindrance when learning multiple languages at once when one/several languages are at a fairly advanced level? Apart from time, that is.

I want to learn Japanese (absolute beginner), while at the same time, maintaining and improving my Mandarin and Cantonese (both of which are advanced).

Any tips, thoughts?

[prateeksha]

I wanted to start Spanish when I was almost about to conclude my diploma in Chinese. But was advised against it. Major reason being, Chinese is a difficult language, or is at least considered to be. So I was advised to concentrate fully on Chinese.

Although I really wish to start Arabic or Spanish once I am a bit more comfortable with my spoken Chinese, which BTW is not very good right now. Here in India, first the number of quality schools giving education in Chinese language is less. And then, there is more emphasis on finishing the course than imparting practical knowledge.

I am really wishing one year of BLCU to work wonders for me

[反物质]

chinese and cantonese are from the same language while they have the same characters(simple and traditional) but just different accent~~cantonese is in fact an dialect of chinese``

and japanese does has some characters to use but completely different pronounciation and grammers,also u have to learn new hiragana,so i suggest u concentrate on one language``

BTW,a ancient chinese saying:cover all the bases means covering nothing

[Meng Lelan]

cover all the bases means covering nothing

?????!!!!

[Hofmann]

What's this? Another prank targeted at me?

[OneEye]

Learning two or more languages simultaneously is done all the time. For some reason online there's this mystique built up around doing it, but it isn't that big of a deal. I personally am learning Chinese and French. I'm moving to Taiwan this fall to study Chinese there, but I plan to continue with French while I'm there. During grad school I'll also have to learn Japanese.

Now, certainly you can't study each language as intensively as you could if you were just studying one, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. It's just a matter of arranging your schedule to include time for each language daily, or almost daily at least.

[Tiana]

Quote

cover all the bases means covering nothing

?????!!!!

I think it means that being fully dressed and completely naked are basically the same (and the implication is the wiser should go half naked).

[rezaf]

Many years ago when I was learning both Arabic and English at school I could really feel that they affected my progress in both languages however at that time I was a beginner in both. I remember that a few years ago when I was a beginner in Mandarin I tried to start Shanghainese and it got me very confused but recently I have started learning Shanghainese again and I don't feel any problem as my brain can easily separate it from my Mandarin. So I think if you have a strong base in Chinese then it's possible to start Japanese.

[amandagmu]

I don't see any harm in doing it. Everyone's different of course, but I can tell you that in my personal experience I have been unable to retain much from the beginner's level of German (when I moved from Berlin to Beijing in November) because 1) my Chinese was already much more advanced than German and 2) who uses German outside German-speaking places, especially in a place like Beijing! I will take up German classes once again when I move back to Berlin permanently in November. The question is how to keep up two languages at once, especially if one of them is not as good as the other. Any advice for doing that? My spoken Chinese will likely suffer when I go back to Germany (that's almost a given since I only have a few --very busy--friends in Berlin who speak Chinese) but I don't think I'll have as much trouble keeping up comprehension and reading, as long as I keep doing this PhD research thing entirely in Chinese (no choice). Meanwhile I hope I'll be able to communicate with people in German since I get weird looks when people in Berlin begin in German and I say politely "Entschuldigen... mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut.... do you speak English? Or French or Chinese?" :blink: (I've got Germany ancestry, so blue eyes/blonde hair and on the tall side...)

[kala]

Japanese goes especially well with Mandarin, go for it! I've found there's synergy; it's not double the trouble but rather something like 1.7 times the amount of work ;)

Also, learning different languages exposes u with different ways of thinking or at least different linguistic ways of expressing things which helps developing your overall approach to language study.

Regarding Japanese & Chinese, often a certain character has exactly the same meaning in both but on the other hand, the meanings and usage might be only similar or related to each other. Anyway, I feel the familiarity helps remembering and understanding. And I don't agree with Sherlock Holmes: human memory capacity won't reach its limits too easily; there's no need to prioritize languages - u can put them all in there ;)

[Silent]

Is there much of a hindrance? I don't know. Probably depends on the languages you know, you want to learn and your circumstances. In high school I had compulsory lessons in 4 languages (native + 3 foreign) and this is quite common. So I suspect there is not much scientific proof against it. But maybe other considerations influence the curriculum too. The younger you're exposed to a language the better the chance to become fluent without major accent.

In my perception languages are acquired best when used intensively. How many languages can you use intensively at the same time? I think 1 can already be a challenge when it's a language not 'common' in the area you live. In multilingual/international area's 3, 4 or more may be achievable.

[murrayjames]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the Laddering Method yet. Since your Chinese is advanced already, you're a good candidate for this approach.

Basically, instead of learning of L3 in English (or whatever your native language is) you learn it in L2 instead. So in your case, learn Japanese IN Chinese; do not learn Japanese in English. This means finding language learning materials directed at Chinese speakers. So: Japanese textbooks for Chinese high school students, Japanese language videos on Youku, Tudou, etc. The goal here is learning Japanese while reinforcing your Chinese. This is better than abandoning one language to learn the other, which you would be doing if your base language was English.

Khatz of All Japanese All The Time has used this to good effect. He wrote about it here:

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-to-learn-multiple-languages-without-getting-confused-the-laddering-method

[xiaoxiaocao]

Basically, instead of learning L3 in English (or whatever your native language is) you learn it in L2 instead.

I like the idea of this, going to give it a try later in the year.

[anonymoose]

I am learning Japanese using Chinese materials. My Chinese is good enough that I don't think it is appreciably more difficult for me than it would be to learn using English. Unfortunately, however, my time is quite seriously constrained so the Japanese isn't making much progress.

I think learning more than one language simultaneously is possible, but the problem with language learning is that achievement doesn't have a directly proportional relationship with time spent. I think there is an optimum amount of time that one needs to spend, each week say, which will maximise the result. Too much time and you're brain will not be able to keep up, making the extra time rather superfluous. And too little time will mean that you will have forgotten what you learned previously by the time you open up the books again. Now, exactly how much time you need to spend probably varies from person to person, but generally speaking, when learning more than one language, I think you need to make sure that for each langauge you are operating somewhere near your optimum efficiency. If you spread your time over too many languages, then you'll probably end up not making much progress in any of them.

[kala]

anonymoose, could you name the material you're using? I'd like to check it out. I've been considering finding Japanese materials on Chinese since my Japanese is way better than my C.

[anonymoose]

The main series I'm using is rather unimaginatively called にほんご日语教程, published by 华东理工大学出版社, and seems to be available in most bookshops in Shanghai, and probably the rest of China. I also have a book called 日本語 published by 武汉大学出版社.

[kala]

Thanks. I've seen some Nintendo DS applications for learning Chinese in Japanese but none of them go beyond the nihao level. Maybe that's because NDS doesn't really support Chinese characters (there's separate NDS hardware in Chinese I guess).

[Silent]

Hmm, did not know the laddering method though I'm using it for ages:) I do it however more because of practical reasons. With a fairly small native language the choice in quality study materials (liguistic and otherwise) is often limited. So it's obvious that it's better to study through L2. This is also one of the reasons that learning a new language/subject from L2 is not always smart. Does the use of both languages during study offset the disadvantage of lesser quality study materials and a lesser understanding of it? Also, the relation of the languages is relevant. A Chinese and a European will find different things challenging when learning Japanese. Consequently Chinese study books will focus on other issue's than a European book.

[doraemon]

Well, I'm currently learning Russian, Spanish and Japanese whilst trying to improve my proficiency in Mandarin, mainly writing and my comprehension of classical Chinese (I'm fluent, but probably short of advanced). I don't see any harm in doing it, although my main problem comes from learning Spanish and Russian simultaneously since I can get pronunciations and words mixed up all the time. I've been learning Japanese for quite some time, but I'm still not very good at it. I might let it go depending on how I cope with the others, because Spanish and Russian are definitely there to stay (although I'm a beginner in both lol).

[Pendragon]

I've also experienced foreign languages mixing up in my brain, but I think this is temporary. If I don't practise my German for a while it will be invaded by Chinese words, but when I pick it up again my brain starts to make the distinction clear again. The mix up seems to be limited to vocabulary only, I never noticed mixing up grammar or word order.

Did anyone experience a permanent mix up of languages?