When should you stop learning a language?

Patricio asks; "When is the right time to stop learning a language?"

My name is Olly Richards, and on this channel I document my experiments in foreign language acquisition:

• Rapid language learning
• Writing Chinese characters
• Languages and travel...on location!
• Daily study routines
• Advanced level tactics

To see some of my previous experiments, why not try...

• Learn Thai in 14 Days:

• Learn To Write Chinese (Traditional Characters)

• Daily Study Routines and Schedules

If you're interested in becoming a better language learner, and discovering the secrets to learning languages quickly, be sure to check out my podcast:

[elijahschnake]

I think it depends on what you mean by 'learning' a language. Once you are at the level when you can mostly understand native content and can express yourself reasonably well you don't need to take 'lessons' any more you just use it and assimilate new vocabulary. You are always learning your primary language (not necessarily native) since you are constantly using it.

[Eruptor]

I just like learning languages because I enjoy it, it feels good.

[andersongalvao]

And to approach the topic of the video, I think that even in our own language we never stop to learn so that we are always catching up new words and increasing our vocabulary.

[andymounthood]

I often get into situations that are a little bit similar to yours with Thai: I start learning a language and even fall in love with it, but am troubled by the fact that I'm unlikely to use it after I learn it, and also troubled by the lack of materials to learn it with.

For example, I dabbled in Hawaiian and really like it. My problem is that I like to start languages with certain kinds of courses such as Michel Thomas or Glossika, but at the beginning level, I'd have to use apps or textbooks I don't like, and that's demotivating. And then I couldn't find any tutors for conversation practice, either on italki or on the Internet. And after all that, I'd still have no one to speak it with.

Likewise, I dabbled in Indonesian in order to see if it's possible to learn a language from scratch via Glossika, and I also listened to Indonesian pop music and watched Indonesian TV. My experiment was a success, plus I had a really strong desire to continue. I think I could have brought it up to a B1 conversational skill fairly easily, and italki has a lot of tutors to practice conversation with. But from B1 to B2, I like to read novels (mostly translated from English, at least at first), and I haven't found very many yet. Even the Harry Potter series seems to be out of print. And then, I wouldn't have anyone locally to speak it with. Furthermore, I think I'll want to be a tour guide, and my city rarely has tourists from Indonesia.

So I've made conscious decisions not to continue these languages, despite my desire. I've been learning plenty of languages that I both love and can use, so I'll continue with those. Each language I add greatly cuts into my available time, especially as I reach the intermediate level and above.

[nendoakuma]

Japanese holds a special place in my heart and I have a lot of good memories from the 10 years I studied it which were an important time in my life. But now, with having three other languages I have a pressing need to study and the fact that I rarely run across people I could use it with, I don't really see the need to go back to it. When I first stopped studying it it was just supposed to be for a year, but it's been 16 years now and I've never gotten around to doing much with it since then.

[smileydaysss]

Agree!! There's no right or wrong to stop learning a language. Since we started learning it from heart, it already existed in our blood. No worries to stop.

[reptileclub]

I started learning Korean, to move to Korea... then I slowly started to love the language, I am still not good at it yet, but it's fun to learn

[jasminesmith]

I’ve run into this problem recently. I’m American, and I decided to learn Spanish for obvious reasons. However, I really just don’t like the language, so it makes it really difficult to learn. I decided to maybe to not focus on it as much and to start learning Korean. I really enjoy the Korean language, and I find its a lot easier for me to learn for that reason. If you just don’t really like the language and are learning it specifically because it is likely to be useful, you can run into this issue if it’s not necessarily a language you enjoy.

[spikeitfool]

I knew a woman who seemed very nice and had traveled extensively, including to far-flung locales where few tourists venture, so she was a skilled traveler. She had spent a couple of years in a country where she learned the language fairly well so as to use it in her everyday affairs. Apparently, her time in the nation was quite an unhappy one for her because she assured me she would not spend a minute keeping the language up and was glad to never have to speak it ever again.

[pietro]

My mother tongue is Italian and I also speak English, Spanish, German and Russian. By the time I started learning Swedish 2 years ago I already had this "I'm a polyglot" mentality engrained in my brain. As a consequence, I always felt a certain resistance every time, deep inside, I knew something was just not working and I'd better stop learning Swedish altogether.

Then I understood what it was: the main reason why I learn foreign languages is that I like the socio-cultural aspect of it. Learning new ways of living and seeing the world and communicating with people. And I just struggled way too much with Swedish in this sense, which was something that was not happening with all the other languages that I speak.

Long story short: I think that one should have a very clear idea about WHY he/she is learning a specific language and decide whether to keep learning it accordingly; at the same time, though, one should be aware of this thinking trap of "I can't stop learning this language because it's part of who I am". It's not.

[stepheng]

You make very valid points. Motivation is the key issue in any subject you are learning and the hard part can be to recognise that you don't have sufficient desire for something. I think it is always helpful to ask yourself whether you are interested in reading/ listening about the culture or history of the counties where the language is spoken. If not then it may not be a language you want to invest a lot of time on. It doesn't mean that you haven't gained from trying the language out.

[reptileclub]

I am very passionate about Korean... and haven't even thought about stopping it... though German I got to an A2 reading level, then kinda stopped, I still read it, and will look back on it once in a while, though I am really focusing on Korean, and enjoying every step of Korean

[paulwalther]

Old video but new to me. I studied a ton of German (10 years off and on) and was sort of studying Spanish with the intent of using it at work when needed. Then I found anime and got infatuated with Japanese. It was really hard though and I found that whenever I tried to speak it, German and sometimes Spanish would come to mind and Japanese not so much even after a year of trying my best and studying every day. I determined I had to quit Spanish and German if I were ever going to speak Japanese. I quit them for about ten years now and lived in Japan for a couple years too. I can speak Japanese at a high intermediate level about as well as I used to speak German. I’m still a bit afraid that if I went back to studying German I would lose the ability to speak Japanese. Crazy? Some people can juggle lots of languages in their head but I struggle with it. I occasionally watch a YouTube video in German or Spanish and passively the ability is still there. I sometimes regret cutting it out completely because now I just can’t seem to make it a part of my life again.

[mateos]

I stopped learning Korean (I lived there for over a year) shortly after returning to the US. I was thinking I might study it a bit more in the future, but not much. I planned on learning Mandarin because it was so much more widely spoken. After 6 months of very little progress, I realized that I wasn't enjoying Mandarin. Also, I felt a bit nostalgic every time I heard Korean. I switched back and haven't regretted it.

[peterlovstrom]

A very interesting and thought provoking video Olly...In my case, I’m just learning Spanish..and no other...I have flirted with learning other languages, specifically Danish ( my father was Danish) and French and Italian...but on reflection ...I think it was just that I liked the thought of being multi-lingual...and in the case of Danish...it’s my roots...and I would be talk to my Danish relatives-(even though they all speak flawless English anyway and various other languages too)- but after watching this video...I’ve reassessed exactly why I want to learn another language.
With Spanish...it’s simply case of me being completely enchanted by Spain..the people, the history, the culture, the geography..the food everything ..AND it’s the polar opposite of my English/Danish Northern European heritage..

The fact is..I am passionate about learning Spanish....I’m excited when I can understand it or when I can clearly express myself in it...I’m self taught...and self motivated ..and I find it easy to keep going with it.

So, I’ve decided just to stick with Spanish at the moment and not dilute my attention with other languages...at least until I’m extremely satisfied with my Spanish level... I guess I’m about somewhere between a high B2 and a low C1...as a distance student living in the UK.

This video has therefore made up my mind for me ...I’m just going to concentrate on improving and honing my Spanish.
Thanks Olly

[andersongalvao]

I think that there's a difference between a person who is English native speaker learning a new language and another person who's the mother tongue aren't English. I guess that English native speakers find more difficulties to get motivation to learn another language because English already is the universal language. Who are foreign has more reasons to learn up English and others languages.

[jahipalmer]

You're older than me!? Lord, you look so young. I mean, also good video, of course.

[zsoltszigetvari]

Does it make sense to you using flashcards even at intermediate/advanced level?

[highchamp]

My Levels Of Language Learning
5 Alphabets (basic theory and simple words, numbers) mnemonics
4 Basic vocabulary (100-250 words) yes, no, hungry, hands up (military DLI too complicated)

3 Tertiary (pocket phrasebook)
2 Secondary (dabble in) or (conversion) from a primary language
1 Primary (focus)