Learning Two Languages At Once

My stance has always been that you should concentrate on one language at a time. That said, right now I am at the early stage of my Arabic studies and am about to start in on Farsi too. I don't have the opportunity to use Arabic a lot in Vancouver, but there are many Iranian-Canadians for me to speak Farsi with.

What have been your experiences with learning two languages at once?

[ewansmith]

I enjoy learning multiple languages at once, but try as much as possible to create a mental distinction between them. I want to have a different mindset for each language, which I achieve through a few means:

a) I study each language at different times in the day
b) If I can, I use different coloured pens/different font colour when I write
c) I try only study languages simultaneously if I have different levels in each - meaning that I study material of differing complexity in each language
d) I imitate a native speaker/celebrity in each language and try mimic their mannerisms and personality

In this way, I can have different mindsets for each language and avoid mixing them up

[paulhowlett]

I learn multiple languages. It is a matter of priority for me. First language French 70% of my time, Esperanto, 20%, and Spanish 10%. I keep them separated in my language learning places and times. All these languages "feed" into each other with lots of cognates etc. I have lots of time, like you, to pursue many hours per day with language learning.

[JohnNoZ]

I have been learning Spanish and Mandarin, while maintaining/improving my German. I use LingQ and love it. Thank you for all the information.

[dreamingoffluency]

I know it's an old video, but just watching you get excited about the amazing history of the entire middle east/central asia area made me really happy. I feel it as well when I am studying my Turkish :)

[giovanni]

As a tutor on LingQ, I'm so excited for the updates!

[annaleeblysse]

Sometimes I dabble with other languages, then quickly remember I don’t really have much extra time. So generally.... one language for me.

[victorstarly]

Im into this. I had six months learning french for self-study and now I began learning Farsi, and I have to say that I'm obssesed with that language. I could spend hours and hours decoding the farsi language without being tired of it.

[pablodealvarado]

Great video, Steve! Thank you for your guidance and wisdom. I'm learning Portuguese now after just studying Spanish very seriously for a year and a half. While I'm technically still perfecting my Spanish, it's at the point now where Portuguese isn't going to meddle into my Spanish because of the foundation that's already built. Good luck on your Farsi and Arabic journey!!

[jimmyutley]

You might be interested to know that for a long time, Persians and other people in the Middle East referred to Europeans as “Franks.” This got picked up by the Chinese, who called Europeans “Folangji” (佛朗機).

[chelcruz]

Sir, it's a pleasure to hear you talking a little about history, it seems like something that you really enjoy. I love history too, and i hope some day i can read a lot of books in the original language.

Right now i am learning just English, i don't think i can handle two language, but as soon as i get better, i will start with German.Thanks so much for your videos.

[lazthespaz]

I'm living in China. Of course I speak, read, write, and listen to Mandarin everyday, but there's just so many other Chinese languages to learn in China! I've learned my girlfriend's dialect (from Chibi: you guys might know the movie Red Cliff. It's the language from there), studied Minnan (or Hokkien, but that term's not really correct) for about 3 months (gave up, it's SUPER hard, but I might continue learning it in the future), and now learning Cantonese. I've found that learning dialects actually IMPROVES my Mandarin logic processing, but sometimes I end accidentally speaking in dialects with people if I've been speaking them for a long time. I would assume that the same would go for other similar languages.

[NetAndyCz]

Most people learn two languages at once - their native tongue (there is always room for improvement) and one another. So learning three languages at once should not be that stretch but I think it helps if those languages are not too related (but if they are somewhat related it makes learning easier). I would say as non English speaker I would have very hard time ignoring English completely. So the question for me really is can I handle four languages? Might try one day, but the truth is that spending most of the day in my native tongue, several hours in English, hour or two in French, there is not much time for fourth language.

[latzerbrad]

You actually started Farsi the same time as me... I just started yesterday and its amazing! I use HelloTalk to learn and ive made a few Iranian friends. Theyre so nice, and its a beautiful and historic language. Best of luck!

[belstar]

I like to learn the basics of one language for a few months and then i start to learn another one and i will study the previous one less

But i notice that some languages are way harder than others i was surprised that i could learn some basic spanish in a few months but then i did russian but i can't say anything that makes scene in russian after a year of learning its going to take many years.

[nazameadows]

You're right, good work Steve. I always see your videos. I think I'm planning to create a group with one person from diferent selected countries in order to meet each other, learn new languages and their cultures... It's my idea.

[lincolnabraham]

I’m spending most of my time on German and maintaining/slightly progressing in my Spanish.

[treewhite]

I'm learning multiple languages, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Turkish, and practice my English and French. When learning multiple language you need to focus first on grammar to know the structure beside you practice listening for the other language to get more familiar, then if there some similarities between the two languages you can work on that.

[JaredGimbel]

There's also the issue of travelling to bilingual places. In January of this year I found out that I would be needing Fijian for some rural travel. However Fiji Hindi is also frequently used in some business sectors. In order to really make the most of my venture I needed a firm grasp of both, hence learning both at the same time was...necessary. I leave in about ten days. Great video!

[rbrabi]

I am native in arabic and I speak fluently turkish, farsi, and hebrew. Turkish and farsi are so related but farsi has more in common with arabic than farsi.

[MUJTBA]

Sounds great Steve although I hope you do not lose interest and give up on your Arabic studies after being captivated by the novelty of something new. All the best!