learning 2 or more languages simultanously

[Englishlanguage]

Hello everydoby,
I have some questions for you about multiple language learning.
Do you think it is possible to successfully learn two or more languages simultanously?
If you think it is, how do you think this may affect the process of language acquisition?
Do you think it will only slow you down or might it be an intelligent means for learning languages faster?

 

[Mohammed Abu Risha]

Why not? You can even be a master in both languages.

When I was a freshman, students were to learn another foreign language. Many students excelled in French, others in German.

 

[Anglika]

In the past in English school, pupils would be taught Latin, Greek and French, with no basic detriment [apart from the usual resistances]. I've known people learn French and German, or French and Russian. My nieces were brought up with two languages, English and German, and one has gone on to learn Swedish and French. And in Holland it is normal to learn three languages.

I think the answer is that it should not be a problem. It is of course easier if your languages are derived from the same origins. There is some evidence to show that learning two languages at once improves the learning ability.

 

[Englishlanguage]

Thank you for your replies.
Some people say that learning more langauges at once may slow down the process of language acquisition and get the learner to mix them up, especially if they are similar (similar to the learner's mother tounge and between them).
What do you think about this?
I think the similarity to one's mother tounge can only make one learn the language faster.
If that was true, it may be a good idea to start learning them simultanously only after you have learned the basis of the languages.
What if I as an Italian native speaker wanted to learn French and Spanish - which are very very similar to Italian - at once?

 

[Anglika]

You would progress rapidly in Spanish and less rapidly in French, but I wouldn't see any great problems for you

 

[Devil's tear]

Yes it can be. My italian friend speaks English, French, Spanish and italian fluently. And now, she learns chinese, arabic and Turkish because she has a Turkish boyfriend. Life is easy man.
Thanks. I hope to speak more than 6 languages. But it depends on our brains.
​

 

[keltouma_H]

No problem, spanish and italian are close languages, someone who speaks spanish can understand italian, and someone speaking italian can understand spanish.
As for frensh, it's not difficult, it just needs practice and almost dealy reading.
good luck

 

[Englishlanguage]

No problem, spanish and italian are close languages, someone who speaks spanish can understand italian, and someone speaking italian can understand spanish.
As for frensh, it's not difficult, it just needs practice and almost dealy reading.
good luck

Actually I do understand some Spanish since it's so similar to Italian that I think any Italian would. I think what I'll have to work a little harder on is speaking, writing and spelling. The rest will be pretty easy.
As for French, sometimes I can make out the meaning of some sentences but to an Italian ear it doesn't sound as easy as Spanish.
Obviously at the moment I have no knowledge of either.

 

[keltouma_H]

Actually I do understand some Spanish since it's so similar to Italian that I think any Italian would. I think what I'll have to work a little harder on is speaking, writing and spelling. The rest will be pretty easy.
As for French, sometimes I can make out the meaning of some sentences but to an Italian ear it doesn't sound as easy as Spanish.
Obviously at the moment I have no knowledge of either.

You know, f you take a lot of time thinking about what to do, you will do nothing.....:shock:
Go ahead, learn and don't lose time.:up:

 

[Englishlanguage]

You know, f you take a lot of time thinking about what to do, you will do nothing.....:shock:
Go ahead, learn and don't lose time.:up:

You're definitely right!! ;-)
But actually I was planning to start this summer. I don't have much time at the moment...

 

[chaibanu]

Hey!

The most efficient way to learn a language is through Internet. You can learn any by reading, watching and writing through online lessons. You can learn them at your own comfort through online lessons very easily.So I think learning 2 or more language is easy.



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languagelearning-hub.com

 

[naomimalan]

Hello everydoby,
I have some questions for you about multiple language learning.
Do you think it is possible to successfully learn two or more languages simultanously?
If you think it is, how do you think this may affect the process of language acquisition?
Do you think it will only slow you down or might it be an intelligent means for learning languages faster?

When I was at university, I signed up for French and German (both from scratch). The lady warden summoned me to her office and said it was unadvisable to start two languages from scratch and that I should rather start with French in my first year and only start German in my second year (finally I didn't take up German though.)

Later on I learnt Italian and now I'm learning Russian but very often when I'm trying to converse in Russian, it's the Italian words that come to me. I think this phenomenon is a pretty common problem. It happens to my English students when they speak or are learning another foreign language.

I know we're all giving you pretty conflicting advice but in the light of what I've just said, I personally wouldn't be inclined to learn two languages simultaneously. I also think that if for some reason I were obliged to, I wouldn't want to start learning two languages with the same origins e.g. Italian and French. I think one would tend to muddle them up.

I do agree though with the person (was it you?) who said that it helps if the language you are studying has the same origins as your mother tongue. :-D:-D

 

[Englishlanguage]

When I was at university, I signed up for French and German (both from scratch). The lady warden summoned me to her office and said it was unadvisable to start two languages from scratch and that I should rather start with French in my first year and only start German in my second year (finally I didn't take up German though.)

Later on I learnt Italian and now I'm learning Russian but very often when I'm trying to converse in Russian, it's the Italian words that come to me. I think this phenomenon is a pretty common problem. It happens to my English students when they speak or are learning another foreign language.

I know we're all giving you pretty conflicting advice but in the light of what I've just said, I personally wouldn't be inclined to learn two languages simultaneously. I also think that if for some reason I were obliged to, I wouldn't want to start learning two languages with the same origins e.g. Italian and French. I think one would tend to muddle them up.

I do agree though with the person (was it you?) who said that it helps if the language you are studying has the same origins as your mother tongue. :-D:-D

Well, actually I expected to find different opinions on this issue. Thank you for your advice. ;-)

 

[stuartnz]

Re: learning 2 or more languages simultaneously

Most of the replies saying how easy it is to learn two languages at the same time have focused on languages that are quite similar. For example, two Romance languages such as Italian and French, or two slightly more distant relatives such as German and French. I wold suggest that learning two languages from completely different language families, such as Hindi and Tamizh, or Chinese and Arabic, or Euskera and anything else, would be very much more difficult, especially if one is out of one's teens.

 

[Anglika]

Absolutely!

 

[beaverbeaver]

whatever it is we're learning, if we go for two things at the same time it will take longer to master all of them . It's within range, esp if you got language talent wired up in your brain. it just takes more more time to really master, you may end up 'knowing' both languages but in the end you're still gonna master one at a time , you know how difficult it is to master a language, esp making it fluent



http://www.beavercanal.net/index.php?referredby=1

 

[Taenia]

It could be hard learning 2 or more languages simultaneously, but I think it differs from person to person cos I have a friend who learnt chinese and Japanese together and speak them both fluently, and I have another friend who learnt Japanese and French at the same time and she only speaks Japanese fluently.....

So it could be different for each person and maybe it depends on if the ppl around u also speak the language u are learning...that way u probably improve more in the language....