I assume since you’re here – that you are probably interested in learning at least two foreign languages. Whether you have already begun, or you’re considering trying it – you are probably wondering if it is wise to even entertain this barbaric idea. Two languages at once?
Is it actually that crazy of an idea? There are children who grow up bilingual or trilingual and folks who can speak five languages! Well you might argue children learn languages better than adults – an entirely different debate which I am sure I will post about soon – but think about it, what do children do differently?
They are exposed to both languages AT THE SAME TIME! Do young children say ” Sorry mother I cannot learn your language because I am learning Daddy’s language today and for the next 5 years of my life, so please come back in 5 years and teach me your language” ? No, of course not! I think just like you wouldn’t wait to teach a child a second language you shouldn’t feel the need to wait either.
If you really really really don’t want to study two languages at the same time and you would rather wait – then by all means just do that! But I am guessing you came to this page to get a little validation for this crazy barbaric notion that you can study more than one language at a time.
I have broken down seven major things that you need to consider before studying two languages at the same time.
1. Time
It can take years and a lot of dedication to learn a new language. When you think about it in this perspective, it feels like our lives are just too short to learn more than a couple languages. If you are like me and you are way too passionate about way too many languages you probably did some math and realized if you study one language at a time you aren’t going to get to every language on your list before you die. I would say if this issue resonates with you then you should definitely give studying two languages at once a go.
If the question comes down to having enough time in your life to study the languages that interest you vs. waiting until the afterlife to tackle them then its a no-brainer you should probably give simultaneous study a chance or forever miss out on what you could have achieved.
2. Efficiency
One of the major counter-arguments for studying more than one language at a time is a loss of efficiency. I will admit if you have 10 hours a week to spend on language study, if you solely focus on one language then you have 10 hours spent on that one language, vs the 5:5 if you focus on two.
BUT! If you ever studied language before – and I mean really studied it to the point you have plateaued and got a little discouraged – you know there are moments on that long journey where you feel like you aren’t making as much progress as you used to or you are just a little tired and possibly burnt out. Studying more than one language at a time really helps to offset this feeling. If you get in a rhythm of studying 1 language for a few days or weeks at a time and find yourself losing momentum you can just move onto language 2! You can pretty much cycle back and forth between the 2 so you never have a dull moment, and you are actually building skills in both in the process. If you’re looking for some more efficient language learning tips check out my article 7 Tips to Begin Learning a Language
3. Discerning between different foreign languages
Storytime! When I was at university I majored in French. Once I got quite comfortable with the language I decided to take up some classes in Spanish – French and Spanish are both romance languages and I was under the impression I would pick up Spanish quite quickly. In reality, I continued to do fine in French but when it came to studying Spanish I found that my brain quickly switched into French mode, I often conjugated Spanish verbs into French or spoke with a French accent. I thought it was just confusing because they were in the same language family so I quit Spanish.
Flash forward to the future when I began to learn Korean. I learned Korean primarily in Korea and it has been my more dominant language in recent years due to the fact I live in Korea. Now, when I go to speak French I find myself using Korean pronunciation, or blurting out Korean words. These two languages have NOTHING in common so why am I still struggling?
Spoiler alert! It turns out that your brain stores your foreign language knowledge all in the same location. So when you go to recall that information it is actually quite easy to mix up languages – even languages that have absolutely nothing in common.
My point is that if you are going to study more than one language, you also need to discipline your mind so that when you go to speak one language you don’t get confused and end up mixing in words from another language. If you are studying more than one language at a time you are going back and forth between two foreign languages quite often, and you will build a better ability to discern one from the other.
4. Self discipline
I’m not going to lie to you, if you have no self discipline AT ALL, you really should not study two languages at the same time. It takes a lot of time and dedication to focus on one language, but if you are going to focus on two or more at the same time you need to be a little strict with yourself. You have less time in a month for any given language so you need to make sure you are setting enough time aside to focus on them equally.
If you are the kind of person who can stick to a schedule or routine pretty easily you should have no trouble making time. If you are lazy or just someone who is not good at sticking to a routine its probably going to be challenging. When you have 10 hours a week to study – so 40 hours a month that is a lot of time for just one language and you can easily take time off here and there. But, if you study two languages in a month you are only going to get about 20 hours for each. It seems like a lot but when you take days off from studying or you go out too much (not that this is a bad thing because I am totally guilty of this) you are probably losing at least 5 or more hours a week from your study time which is about half of your study time and effectively ALL the time you had for one language.
This leads to my next point:
5. Balancing Languages
It is crucial to balance the time you spend on either language. Personally I think its better to focus on one language for a few days or weeks at a time before switching to another because you don’t want to interrupt your flow. Studying two languages in one day is probably going to be too difficult because it takes time to get into a good thought space with a language, and you don’t want to interrupt that one hour later. That is going to stunt your progress. But then again, others swear that studying two languages a little bit each day is key. So it’s best to experiment with what works for you.
I personally think it is ideal to spend a couple weeks on one language and then a couple weeks on the other. This gives you a chance to work with the language for an extended period of time, and progress a decent amount before switching to the other. It is also short enough that it prevents you from forgetting everything you learned. If you study languages one after the other you might spend years on a language, stop, and then spend several years on another only to realize you lost a lot of what you knew in the first language you learned.
If you are living in another country where one of your second languages is spoken you may struggle with balance too. Do you focus more on the language that is used around you? Or, do you find that since you interact with this language more in your daily life you should focus more on a language that you aren’t able to use in your daily life?
If you’ve read everything so far and you are still feeling confident about studying more than one language at at time than be like a Nike add and just do it! It’s definitely going to be a little challenging but if you are motivated and enthusiastic about language studying I am sure you will make it work for you!
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