Don't learn two languages at the same time | TROLL025
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2019
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Welcome to my new series "The Rules Of Language Learning".
In these videos, you'll learn my best tips and ideas for learning foreign languages... from the "obvious" to the "downright controversial"!
Do you agree or disagree with my conclusions?
Watch the video, then leave me a comment below and let me know!
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 Thai Mission
• Learn To Write Chinese (Traditional Characters)
• Playlist
• Daily Study Routines and Schedules
• Foreign Language Study...
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:
www.iwillteachyoualanguage.co...
Deep down I agree with you wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, I just don't have the discipline to set aside completely the other languages I want to learn. The best I've been able to do is dedicate 80% to my main language and 20% to dabbling in the others, merely to assuage my curiosity.
How is this going? I feel the same way. I have enough time for language-learning that learning just one language that whole time burns me out.
@@3_up_moon Its going as expected: slowly. But I've gotten more realistic about my language goals. Living in the US I rarely have the opportunity to speak to an Italian or German or Slovene or 1st century Christian (in the case of Biblical Greek), but I do enjoy reading or watching content in those languages. So I'm not going about language learning as many polyglots would. I'm not focusing on production, just input. The only language I'm making an effort to speak is Spanish, since I do have occasions every week to do that. As a result I'm not making progress as many would define it, but I can say I'm enjoying the process of learning the languages I'm learning and doing it in a way that's most practical to my situation.
I think that's totally fine, that's also how I do it more or less 🙂
@@brianponikvar9927 me & you both 🙂
It's nice to learn other languages on the side, I think it can help avoid burnout. It's like a nice side hobby to take stress off the main language you're learning. How is your main language going btw?
Saw ur update you posted a year ago, hope you're making the progress you wanted to see now :)
Learning more than one languages at a time can work for some people! It works great for me, as an Indian being exposed to multiple languages on a daily basis since childhood. It will depend on one's environment, and ofcourse aptitude.
From first hand experience, how do you handle this ?
@@nicoleraheem1195 I would say multiple 'tabs' form in your head, just like would happen to a bi/multilingual child. I work with languages for my career and deal with seven languages on a daily basis. I access all the existing ones and the new ones I'm learning through those tabs!
You could do it on a superficial level. You can't master multiple languages at the same time.
@@KikirikiSemenke357 or you could be Indian / someone who has constant exposure to multiple 😋
Hey, I'm curious how many languages do you consider as your native ones (are you a bi/multilingual)? Also I get what you mean by "tabs", I'm bilingual myself and studying English (now it's B1 - B2 I guess) and I want to start learning some new languages. Have you started learning more than one at a time and if so, how it turned out?
There was actually a study done on this with two sets of Chinese students. The first group studied strictly English, while the second were studying English and Russian. There was greater variance in scores at the early stages, but over time, the English/Russian learners caught up. So long as you're committed to studying frequently as much as you can, nothing can stop you. I've also read it's not the best to learn languages from the same family, as you can mix them up; nevertheless, I'm learning Swedish when I need a break from German lol.
I generally agree with you Olly. However, I think your rule doesn't apply if one has already reached B2/C1 level in the first language he is learning, because learning at that point is just a matter of increasing one's vocabulary. So starting to learn another language at that time is different, because there won't be much interference.
I definitely agree with this.
One thing that I think is very useful is using your second language to learn your new target language.
I agree with this, I'm B2 in German and now it's just a matter of listening.
Same I’m intermediate in Spanish and have started learning Japanese, it doesn’t interfere at all and if anything it actually seems to help
Yeah I agree. And I’m pretty sure he would agree too. Because C1 is already a level where you’re fluent, further “learning” is much less regarded as learning as it is more about interacting with it. The same way that in your native language you’re always learning vocabulary, yet a native speaker is not considered to be learning it.
So many people who misunderstood Olly's message here. He's obviously not saying it's not possible to learn two or more languages at the same time. He's arguing that you shouldn't. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
One language at a time is just boring.
Yes, I’m currently learning 3 languages, wanted to start with the 4th but I think I may be pushing it too much
@@epampoefmkfkefpeao4291lol did you managed to speak any of them correctly ?
Depends how much you want to achieve excellence
If you're not trying to get to a high level in any, 2 is definitely doable
If youre studying because for example you want to work or study in a language so you need an advanced level, youll find theres always something new to learn and that keeps you interested
And in that case, studying 2 is a pointless waste of your time
@@valentinasanchez5757i think we both know the answer to that😅
I've tried learning 2 languages at the same time and it was good. I was Intermediate in my first lang (Eng) and in the course of two years I also achieved a fair Pre-Intermediate in my second, starting from Beginner. Not only that, but I also had both language classes on the same days and they actually overlapped :D So I'd leave one class 15 mins earlier and come to the other 15 min late (they were in one building, just different floors). One of the greatest experiences in my life! I loved switching from one lang to the other while running down the stairs :D
I think it even helped me progress in some ways. More languages = more learning strategies and hacks :D!
I have a feeling that learning 2 lang simultaneously can actually be really beneficial to you. Double effort, double power!
That's another thing. What kind of categories are there for learning a language? Because an intermediate level does indicate there is room for improvement but a lot of that improvement can be somewhat passive so it allows much time for the other language where you may be a beginner.
I agree
Until you try the Hungarian-Xhosa language combo and find out it's not a good idea!
It's been 3 years. Did you actually become fluent in any of them?
I’m learning French and Portuguese at the same time and I’m not having any issues. The only downside is that I’m making progress at a slower pace
Children who grow up in bilingual / multilingual households they develop language slower to their classmates _initially_ . But their brains develop differently and have an advantage long term.
wow how is this going for you? I actually started Portuguese the European one 3 months ago and right now I'm up to 200 hrs in so I decided that I would take a break and give around 30 hrs to French I found that there are a lot of similarities but French pronunciation is a bit difficult compared to Portuguese, then all of that while having 1 day a week to brush up on Mandarin. So portugues is still my main language but having French as the break makes sense to me.
I fully disagree, I've been learning German, Hebrew for the last 4 years (currently on C1 and B1 respectively) and from one year russian (about to start A2 this summer), and no problem whatsoever (all this working long hours in finance) I devote one language a day, not only courses, but also radio while at work, and documentaries/film at night. I learned to switch between French, Chinese and English while living in Luxembourg, so may be its an skill that makes it easier.
I'm learning French and Italian at the same time. I've made mistakes as I'm just starting,but I've had no real issues. I am monolingual as many North Americans are,but I'm glad I started.
From personal experience, I can say that learning two languages at the same time can be beneficial, specifically because what I've learned in one language can help me to more fully comprehend what I might be currently learning in another language.
My own experience, getting into thai, the tones were really tough to really get, but then i would watch chinese shows, and now I'm getting into that language and its made the tones a lot easier to catch, and comprehend. So I agree.
Well I have a lot of free time so I can focus on three
I like how you give the straightforward answer to the question in the title haha
So many comments completely missed the point of the video.
Olly said that you should keep that focus on a single language in order to maximize the input you'll get from it. Learning another language will demotivate you by taking you a step back to a different level where the material you're using will be less interesting and compelling than the ones you're using from the main language. It'll break the FOCUS which he should be referring to as enjoyment.
There's definitely one mistake here that Olly made, and the rest of the comments didn't even understand that. The solution to all problems in language learning/acquisition is COMPELLING CONTENT.
You definitely can learn >1 languages at the same time, as long as what you're interested in is the content. And when you care about the content and you understand them then you'll acquire the language.
People shouldn't focus on the learning curve, not even on the process, not even on concentration/focus, people should be finding what they actually want to listen to or read to then concentrate on them (the content).
Biggest mistake here is acting on whim and frustrations, don't switch languages because of burn out, don't switch languages just because you feel like it because when you stop feeling like it then you're done for, instead switch languages only when you're interested ON a material from another language.
You are right. I have had cause to give up learning on Spanish but I didn't. I learnt to a comfortable intermediate level before I picked up German. Of course, both are from different families, and I'm on different levels in both and I have different schedules for them. I am progressing in both, maybe not as fast as I will if I am focusing on just one language, but I am okay with it. I don't intend learning another language for a while so, I'm fine.
As with many things in life, I would say it depends. Some things for example:
-The learner's temperament and study methodology?
-How similar the two languages are?
-What level the learner is at in both?
-Is the learner okay with learning each language slower than they would just studying one?
Giving my current study as an example. I am currently studying Spanish and Mandarin. I just started Mandarin a few months ago, so we'll say low A1, and Spanish I have lots of history with, and am rusty, but currently let's say high A2/low B1. I am benefited by the difference in the two languages and the level difference. I would highly caution against studying two similar languages (like Spanish/Italian/Portuguese) both from scratch. You will probably spend a decent amount of time mixing up the alphabet pronunciation or other foundational things more than necessary. Similar words (in sound or in spelling) will probably get mixed up more frequently, etc. Whereas with Spanish and Mandarin, or Arabic or Japanese or Thai, etc, it is harder to mix things up so easily. I also have such a strong foundation of basic Spanish, that mistakes at a beginner level I catch easier automatically.
My current study method also separates them. For example, this week, I have been doing Spanish audio lessons in the car in the mornings and more formal Mandarin lessons on a Mandarin-specific website in the evening. So the two are spaced out by time, study method, etc. Compared to doing a Rosetta Stone Spanish lesson, and then 1 hour later, doing a Mandarin Rosetta Stone Mandarin lesson, for instance.
Lastly, I am aware that, theoretically/ideally, if I focused on just one, I would learn that one faster. However, in reality/practice, we are human, and one is liable to get burned out, or disinterested eventually if they just focus on one subject and study it over and over and over again without anything breaking it up. It is a nice change of flavor to have the two, I would just recommend that you dedicate a respectable amount of time to both consistently. Like my method I described above, studying both everyday ideally, but at least every other day getting in study for each if you can't do every day. I personally wouldn't do, say, Mon-Thurs Mandarin and then Fri-Sun Spanish (for the record, I haven't tried this as much, but my limited experience with it tells me it wouldn't be nearly as effective).
Everybody is different, so there is no right answer for everyone, even though how much you emphasize not to learn two languages at same time...
It depends on your goals. If you are just exploring, do whatever is fun for you. If you, as an adult, want to become completely fluent in another language (work in that language), its going to take a massive amount of both study and immersion over a long period, so you have to ask yourself if you are actually just looking for a distraction. Perhaps changing your learning methods might provide the bit of relief from the monotony you are looking for.
I think it depends on how much time you have during the day. If you got the whole day, why not learn two languages, like one in the morning and the other one in the evening
I really like your channel so much!! You are awesome olly. I had a bad day and your videos cheer me up. And I want to learn more about your ideas of languages learning through stories.
Yeah, this is another "rule" that is simply not true. I've listened to two episodes ("Don't learn two languages at the same time" and "Don't move abroad to learn a Language") and both are completely untrue "rules."
You can study both French and Russian the same as you can study both chemistry and biology (in fact, you can learn tons of subjects, including languages, at the same time). No one would say you can't learn both chemistry and biology because you can't learn two "sciences" at the same time, so it simply makes no sense to say you cannot learn French and Russian simply because they are both "languages." You can very easily study chemistry for an hour and biology for an hour and learn them both. Sure, you could study chemistry for two hours and biology for zero, and you will do relatively better at chemistry, but you would learn zero biology. Similarly, you can spend an hour on French and an hour on Russian and definitely learn them both. Or, spend the full two hours on French and learn more French, but it's at the expense of Russian. What's clear is that you certainly can learn them both.
Now, if your time is limited, spending 5 minutes on French and 5 minutes on Russian is probably not going to get you anywhere. Better served to spend the full ten minutes on one or the other. This in no way makes a "rule," though.
And, it makes a big difference when you consider native language and target language. I speak English. Learning Swedish was very, very easy. French was relatively easy. Russian has been much more difficult. As a native English speaker, I could certainly study Swedish and Danish at the same time and learn them both. It would be relatively much more difficult to study Chinese and Japanese at the same time, however, because of the amount of effort it would take to learn those languages (from the perspective of an English speaker) relative to, say, Swedish and Danish. Also, consider the two target languages' relationship. Studying Italian and Spanish together would be much easier than, say, learning Swahili and Turkish. Again, these considerations, while relevant, do not make any "rule."
I can’t even learn one language at once.
Best video on the subject. Thank you, Olly!!
I learnt English (first language), Afrikaans(second language) and quite a bit of Zulu as a kid with no issues at the same time. Now I’m learning quite a bit of Italian. I try learn a bit of French at the same time but concentrate more on Italian because it’s where I am living now. Language learning is so much harder when you’re older.
I speak 2 languagues quite well, started learning French around 9 months ago (study it roughly 15 hours a week) and started really learning Japenese (not just looking up a phrase here and there) 4 months ago and it works for me.
With any new vocabulary I mentally check what the word is in the other languages and how I'd use it and it makes me really think about all these languages.
Sure, focusing on either French or Japanese would improve my skills a lot faster, but I'm okay with taking it slow and learning more things at the same time.
At what point can you or should you move onto another language?
Hi Olly. I just want to tell you that I truly appreciate your verbiage. I like the way you communicate general principles as well as your own personal ideas and agenda. I enjoy your videos greatly.
For my person I do agree with you. I am not a polyglott and sure not going to be one. Just learning my 4th language and I feel much better with going one by one. I learn one language until I can maintain it without really learning. Once I can read books and watch movies in my new language, I feel ready to move on to a new language.
4th language? you're already a polyglot, then.
@@mateo_ferranco Nope. There are lots of places in the world where speaking only 4 languages is nothing special.
@@ronaldonmg oh so it needs to be 'special', then?
@@mateo_ferranco No it doesn't. Here in the Netherlands you will find lots of people who had English, French and German through secondary school. Even if they add another, or two, they are not called polyglots. In places like Indonesia, India and Nigeria, lots of people need to know more than 4 languages. Countries like Switzerland and Singapore have 4 official languages, Luxemburg has three.
I have tried to find an official definition of "polyglot", but haven't found a clear number as criterion. It could be fluency in at least 6 languages, or 8. Serious polyglots know 10 or (sometimes dozens) more. Sometimes they are monks who don't have to worry about family or job, sometimes people with a convenient brain-anomaly
@@ronaldonmgpoly means = multiple. Do not confused polyglot and hyperpolyglot even if a hyper polyglot is a polyglot . A polyglot know 3 to x, while hyperpolyglot is more than 6.
I wanna be a polyglot of 5 languages. I hope you understand
I think I needed to hear this. Having studied Spanish and French side by side for the better part of two years, - I already knew some Spanish from years ago in school, but wanted to improve, and was learning French from scratch - there have been ups and downs. With them being romance languages, I do occasionally mix up words, and I've often thought I might advance more if I devoted all my learning to just one. On top of that I began to learn Japanese last summer (for a couple of months), and even tried my hand and German in the fall! Needless to say, this was too much, and I halted my learning altogether for several weeks due to sheer burnout. Finishing out the courses I'm on, and having reached fairly conversational fluency in my main two, I plan on circling back to Japanese very soon, and I was thinking about picking up where I left off with German as well. But maybe I'll see how I do prioritizing Japanese and nothing else (and sticking to more minimal content consumption and messaging friends in Spanish and French on the side). It's tough, because a new language has been the thing I itch for whenever I've felt depressed or wayward these past few years because I've developed such an interest and passion for it. Idk who's gonna read this, but I just needed to get that off my chest.
i think that learning two languages at the same time!!, is like you try to learn to play tvo instruments at the same time!!. it can be very succesfull like you practicing your vocal chops and besides that you try to learn accomping yourself with guitar or piano. both guitar and singing share the same vocabulary which are the notes!!. musicians will understand this...
I'm a Spanish speaker from Venezuela. If you want to practice your Spanish and help me practice my English let me know it.
You are right. I had similar situation. I wanted to learn another language but at the same time I wanted to simultaneously renew my knowledge in previous one which I had almost forgotten.
And finally I come to the conclusion that the first thing I need to do is to improve my knowledge of English.
i guess my question is, how far should i get with one language before it is okay to add another without problems?
Well- Does that include sign language?
Olly, thank you very much for your idea expressed in this video. As a teacher of English myself (my mother tongue is Russian), I generally agree with your opinion. Learning two languages at the same time can really distract your attention and this switch from Language A to Language B can't be beneficial for either of them. But don't you agree that language-learning is a constant process and your foreign language can be mastered throughout the whole life? Does it mean that we should NEVER start learning the second foreign language because we could possibly run the risk of losing our focus on the first one?
Thank you. I've been learning French (my first 2nd language) for 8 months, making good progress, and have spent the last 2 weeks trying to include a bit of Italian and Portuguese into my learning. It's completely stalled my French, to the point where I feel like I've regressed. I watched this movie a few days ago, knowing deep down that I'd distracted myself and that I needed to focus on French and put off any aspirations of becoming a polyglot - at least until the point where I've mastered (rock solid B2 in my mind) my first one and know I can scale the mountain. After 2 days of focus back on French exclusively, I feel like I'm back in my stride.
Well, it's not a good idea to learn a new language from the same family when you're not advanced in the first language.
French, Italian, and Portuguese at the same time...lol, you shot yourself in the leg.
Olly, one quick question, do you think as I'm learning my target language: if I fit in enough time just ten or 15 minutes a day for the alphabet the Cyrillic alphabet . As I plan to study Russian next. This is my first time learning another language than my own. I just thought of its just the alphabet it might really help when it comes to studying Russian. Anyway I look forward to you reply thank you Olly
Wasn't worded the best... basically would 15 mind a day impact my main language I'm learning if I just study the Russian alphabet?
I had this happen after ten years of trying to learn Irish to any real depth. It's incredibly hard to find high quality, consistent Irish language resources in the US, and practice opportunities are thin on the ground (and on the internet). So, I'd find something I could use as a resource, plumb every drop of information/practice out of it, and then spend what felt like forever looking for the next one. To be brutally honest, I spent much more time looking for the next thing to study Irish *with* (textbooks, video, audio, grammar explanations, readers, conversation partners, etc) than actually studying/using the language. Eventually I was on the point of thinking I must just be a "bad" language learner - something I knew couldn't be true, because as a child I spoke reasonably fluent Spanish (age level appropriate, anyway).
After quite a lot of thought, I realized what I needed was to start a majority language (so I wouldn't have the paucity of resources issue) completely from scratch. Something I could tackle from fresh, always know that a simple internet search would answer my questions or provide the next stepping stone, and know that any progress or lack thereof was down to me and my efforts. I've been studying Russian for four months now and having a blast. I'll get back to Irish some day - it's my first love, linguistically speaking. But Russian gave me my confidence back. That's worth losing a little of my Irish in the meantime. I fully intend to end up at least B1 in both... something I don't think it would have occurred to me to attempt if I'd just kept beating my head on what felt like an impenetrable wall re: getting past A1 Irish.
Just last night, I conducted a little experiment and opened one of my Irish textbooks to the infamous modh coinníollach (conditional tense)... something I have probably spent the better part of a year of my life trying to understand and use correctly... and it suddenly began to slot in and make sense. I'm far from skilled with it, but I understand how the nuts and bolts of it work, now - it's not just a random list of inscrutable endings and rules anymore. Did the Russian "unlock" something? Maybe. I've found different languages explain their grammar idiosyncrasies in different ways, probably related to the way we all learnt them in school (analogous to "long vowels say their own name" in English), so maybe being exposed to different types of grammar explanations has made things clearer.
Whatever the case, while I concede it's not possible to do justice to learning more than one language at a time, I've found sometimes it *can* be helpful to swap a minority language to the back burner and go at a majority language for a bit.
As always, thanks for your insight and wisdom (and for Short Stories in Russian - I await the same as Gaeilge!).
Gàidhlig learner here - I am seriously considering switching to Spanish for just that reason. I can watch Star Wars dubbed into Spanish.
When I started University in the mid 1990s, I studied three Romance languages such as Italian, Spanish, and French, and I did not miss them up too much. Speaking and understanding the language was not my strongest point ; grammar was.
Olly, are you a skill builder (learning, textbooks, like common core math) or a comprehensible input theory (Acquisition, Stephen Krashen)? Steve Kaufmann recently said that shuffling languages every week, helps him retain in memory new words faster. The novelty, variety, interleaving between different languages, helps create new neural pathways, to retain better input when he goes back to the main language. In Finland they have the no homework thing going on, make a video about this. Stephen Krashen loves Finland education.
Totally agree with this. I finally got really committed to Serbian for a few months and was able to make it to (I estimate) A2 level. Against my better judgement, I thought maybe it'd be alright if I started learning Japanese, since both languages are so different anyway, I wouldn't get them mixed up. Well, I enrolled in an expensive 10 week Japanese course and by week 3 I realised that I was completely overwhelmed and I could definitely NOT learn both these languages at the same time.
It may be fun initially to try to learn two languages at once, but if you're really serious about making progress in those languages, it's such a relief to drop one until you become advanced in the other first.
Yes makes sense. How is your Serbian going…have you still been doing it since you wrote this post?
I once tried to learn Esperanto, Vietnamese, Italian and Korean all at once. I tried to learn 4 languages at once.
I am currently learning five languages at the same time and I don't agree on this statement. If to accept this argument, then we would have to agree that all the educational system is not correct. In the school children are learning up to ten subjects at the same time, having about 5 different subjects every day. And they are progressing in that. So why not to learn few languages. Someone may be so busy, that he has to make a great effort to give 10 minutes a day to the foreign language. And this is effective. And these ten minutes is only a small part among lots of other different activities. Why then not to give ten minutes a day to more other languages?
Students have 10 subjects, but they dedicate 40 hours a week to it. Do you have 40 hours to a week to dedicate to different languages?
Your argument is a red herring fallacy.
@@patricioiglesias5346 40/10=4*5=20/5 = 4hours/day to learn five languages. Even if you consider languages learning as a job, then it would mean 1,5 rate of your everyday schedule. I do not know how in other countries, but in Ukraine it is legal, meaning that you can work 12 hours a day legally. Considering the fact that today the majority of young people have no job, if learning languages is all you do, you can learn up to 15 languages at the same time.
@@Ig2011ify You need to consider that the level of concentraron decreases throughout the day. When you learn the basic of various languages at the same time you get them mixed because the linguistic core gets mixed. There is no wonder why all of the polyglots that I know recommend learning one, maximum 2 languages at the same time.
@@patricioiglesias5346 I remember myself at a school, when I started to learn English. At that time, I as well as other pupils were mixing English words with the words of our native language, which is Ukrainian. But that problem disappeared with time.
I would agree that if we are learning absolutely new language from A0 level to A1 level it would be better to not to learn more than 2 languages at the same time. Because the mixing would really happen. And even so I think the mixing is not a problem on a way of language acquisition, as it would pass with the time, that may be very discouraging and may significantly decrease the motivation.
But in a case of knowing the languages at A1 level and higher it is possible to learn more than 2. For example, you can learn up to 2 languages, which you know at A0 level, and as many languages as you want at A1 and higher levels at the same time. Because A1 level means that the core of the language is mastered already.
@@Ig2011ify I disagree about the A1 level that you say, I think it is B1. If you are learning various languages that you have at B1, and you have enough time, it is achievable.
I decided to learn French now as well as my current main language Portuguese while brushing up on my Mandarin. In my elementary and high school years we had 3 languages daily and that's why I can speak 2 of them fluently (given both are official languages in my country) and the 3rd being Mandarin which I am brushing up on. I think the main take away for me is that giving time to the other language would take time away from the other so progress would be less for both so I understand managing expectations as well as not beating myself up for not knowing this or that in each of the languages. I lived 30 years using 5 different languages and I could spend the next 60 learning 2 or 15 more if I wanted to, I guess.
When can I start a 3rd and 4th language?
It happened 10 years ago that I was putting a lot effort into learning chinese, studying all the characters in depth, seeking connections to other charaters... This time was quite intense, but mainly half a year. There was a university course, but since I already had achieved quite some intermediate level after irregular self-studies over the course of 10 years, I was directly put into the highest level course. I could gain credits for my Bacherlor through that course (something outside my main subject), unfortunately, there was no follow up course. I still needed something for my university credits and started Korean. And I can tell you: This made totally sense. I was always checking out the hanza (Kanji) for sinokorean words and always related that what I learned in Korean class to that which I had already new in Chinese, and I extended my knowledge of Chinese - historical pronunciation, sound shifts and words out of use.
In the same way, starting to learn Japanese after 1.5 years of Korean could be seen as a continuation of my Chinese studies, but Korean and Japanese at the same time, both sounding similar, having similar grammar, but not yet really firm in korean, this is when troubles started and I dropped Korean after half a year - also there have not been any continuations 😀
Anyway, but knowing Chinese at a high level and keeping it alive there, and then learning some language that had experienced heavy Chinese influence, this is just learning 1.5 languages at the same time. There is noting wrong about it ;-)
I totally agree with this video, after a year of studying Persian I was at a low intermediate level and tried to add Arabic, but I started to get really confused between the two even though they are very different from each other.
I eventually decided to put Arabic aside for some time and give my persian enough time to "solidify". Nowadays and more than a year later I am probably B2 in Persian and started learning Arabic again, I don't confuse the words and I really feel like I can both continue improving my Persian through reading and conversation and work on my Arabic as a total beginner..
Life is just too short to learn only one language at a time.
Thank you very much for this advice , at the moment I'm doing excellent in French which is really important to me as it's gonna open up amazing opportunities like moving to a different country and integrating myself better once I'm there ... Anyway I'd been dabbling with Japanese for a few weeks and it felt amazing but as you said it's been distracting me from reaching an even higher level in French so for now I've decided to stop Japanese altogether until I am fully fluent in French then in the future I can start where I left off , I still think Japanese is an amazing language ( I love the Chinese characters and I'd be interested in using it as a foundation for learning mandarin or Korean in the future ) but for now you've helped increase my focus on French, which is the actual language that I've been wanting to master for a long time and it's the one that's gonna actually bring the most benefits to my life in more concrete terms
I’ve been learning Spanish and German for years. I try to focus on only one at a time and switch over after a year or two. But it never fails that when I’m in the middle of focusing on one language an opportunity for travel comes up in the OTHER language. Lol. Then I’m rusty and tongue tied when I get there gah.
I have a question! Then when is the best timing to move for 3rd language learning?
My mother tongue is Korean, I've been studying English for several years and now i feel kinda comfortable with English
I would like to try french, but i am worrying a little bit to give it a try after watching your video.
Looking forward to listen your opinion with it!:)
Just my opinion : if you are comfortable with English then start learning French...and also IF YOU CAN HANDLE you can learn few languages...and also you don't always need to wait for many years to learn a new language
What do you mean by don’t learn 2 languages at the same time? Is it like learn it simultaneously, or taking a pause and start to learn another language? When I was learning English I was getting bored of it and started to learn another language, and then I come back to learn it
What about learning an ancient language at the same time as a modern language, such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, Biblical Hebrew, Ancient Greek, at the same time as German or Norwegian?
Is olly saying to learn ONE New language at a time before you learn a northern new. But what about learning a new language and maintaining other languages you already know?
But I want to learn Portuguese...and Spanish!
Its fine as long as there not similar and your organised, learning russian and italian going well so sorry dont agree with that starement at all 😐
There was an article, "Learning an L2 and L3 at the same time: help or hinder?", published 20 June 2020 in International Journal of Multilingualism. The authors of the study were surprised by what they found. From the abstract: "In the current study, we traced the L2 English writing proficiency scores (both in terms of gains and variability) of two groups of L1 Chinese learners within one academic year. One group learnt English only (L2) and the other group learnt English and Russian simultaneously. Results show that the L2 + L3 learners did not develop their L2 to a lesser extent than the L2 learners did, but they showed more variability over time in one sub-area (fluency) of L2 writing proficiency." From the conclusion: "Our findings showed that there were no differences between L2 + L3 learners and L2 learners in holistic gain scores, not in the first year nor in the second year. These findings rejected our hypothesis that L2 + L3 learners would gain less, and indicated that learning an L2 and L3 simultaneously does not hinder the development in L2. The variability analysis, showed that L2 + L3 learners were more variable in L2 fluency scores, which suggests that learning an L3 makes the developing L2 system less stable, but it is not necessarily a negative sign, as other studies (Lowie & Verspoor, 2019) have shown that more variable learners tend to gain more." The study has limitations, so more studies are needed. Over time, working memory capacity increased more in L2+L3 than in L2 learners though they all started with similar capacity.
Would you be able provide the link to those studies? I'd love to read the whole report.
@@marikothecheetah9342 the full article is easily found on Google.
@@CK-eq6fr Really, would never have guessed. :/
I’d agree with you. What do you say to most school systems encouraging usually 2 sometimes 3 foreign languages at a time.
Hey, love your videos and I think you make a good point in saying that by choosing to study two languages at the same time you are slowing your progress. However, as someone who has grown up learning two languages (Born in England and raised in Spain), I would like to add my two cents. As I´ve grown up, I have learnt both English and Spanish at the same rate, starting from a very young age. Now at the age of twenty two, I am fluent in both. In addition, I´m studying a B1 in French and an A2 in German. I definitely agree that by taking on more, you are limiting your capabilities as we all have a set band-width, we can´t do everything. But I believe that if you adjust your expectations and play the long game, there is no reason you can´t study two languages at once. Obviously there are more factors involved, but I do believe it is possible to take on two languages provided you approach it the right way.
I plan to start learning more than ine language at the same time, because learning one language is boring and I feel discouraged. I need more diversity and different stimulation to my brain :D
You're right, recentely I've tried to learn french, because is interesting one to know, at same time I'm currentely trying to improve my english skills, and it's kinda frustrating to tried to learn french and improve my english at the same time. I've know it before, that learn two languages at the same is not a big deal, but I've wanted to learn french, which is a language that I haven't see too many difficult things and was quite easy to memorize their vocabulary and the way how they speak, but what was really annoying was that I realize that my skills in english have been dramaticaly stagnating and get worst. So then, I gave up and stop my desire to learn french and pay the price for it.
Agreed! I actually find it difficult to even properly maintain my previous languages when working intensively on a new language. I tend to want to do everything in my new language! My current situation is that I’m finally learning Hungarian in my sixties - both of my parents are Hungarian and we still have a family apartment in Budapest and I still have plenty of relatives there with whom I can only communicate in English or not at all. The fact is that my parents divorced when I was young and I and my sibblings never learned Hungarian. So learning it became my “pandemic project”. My other languages are French, Spanish and German which are all in C2 territory having been used for various practical purposes for large chunks of my life. I find that I can watch TH-cam videos in those languages or chat with friends in them, but I haven’t done anything serious in them (like writing a complex text or reading a novel) for a long time and they’re getting rusty! I’m going to havre to push myself a bit on all of them.
New languages are so darn absorbing! Learning two at once????….I just shake my head. I totally don’t get the eternal popularity of this question. My answer would be: never! Don’t be silly!!!
What if those languages fall under the same "umbrella" and are similar in different ways? Like French and Italian. I speak Spanish fluently already. Thanks.
It's better to learn different languages then similar languages so you don't get confused
Thanks I agree
Hey Olly, big fan! But what about people who are at an advanced level and want to add another language?
My thing is I’m studying Spanish for work but I would be moving to Japan in the next 2-3 yrs. Im a bit conflicted
one way I saw to study two languages was to get in the middle range of a language ( the point where you could read and understand a good chunk of what you were consuming) and then start learning the other language with the language you got to middle range with.
ex.
you're learning Japanese. you understand basics, and can understand the language fairly well.
you then want to learn Chinese. You get a book of how to learn Chinese(aka grammar, vocabulary, etc) but the book is in Japanese.
by doing this you are studying both at the same time because you will be using the language you were learning before whilist learning another and there will be words or other things you run into that you don't understand so you will then have to look it up and learn it.
so this way or learning new languages at the same time stimulates both languages at the same time.
it's not exactly learning at the same time but more leap frogging them
I think this helps. I'm trying to regain my French, it was my first language, but I stopped speaking it when I went to school, now as an adult, im playing catch up, whilst trying to learn German. I think I'll give German a rest until I move back to france at the end of the year...
If the one-language-at-a-time rule is so effective, why am I required to take 4 or 5 or 6 subjects simultaneously to complete a school curriculum? Does monotonic language loyalty apply to learning methods? May I use Pimsleur and Assimil and Glossika at different times of the same day? Is it OK if I still have enough energy left to read one of Ollie's story books at bedtime? Aah well, probably not if I have a math assignment and a computer program due, too.
For me the moment I learned a language fast, I was learning Dutch, and already spoke German, and English...so my German experience made my Dutch experience faster
I think this is a mileage-may-vary kind of thing. I recommend people try the additional language(s) if they REEALLY want, but be ready to put the newer ones on the backburner if they start to get in the way of what's already in progress. I was doing good with Spanish and Japanese then started Latin and Navajo and a few weeks in started feeling jumbled and decided to put the latter two to the side for the time being (I was really only more curious about them historically anyway, not as serious about getting conversational just yet).
Tell this to my Alma mater. I got a language scholarship for my French and part of the requirement to keep that scholarship was to take two semesters of my main language on top of two semesters of a new language (for me that was Spanish). So much interference between the two and it was quite the headache, though it would’ve been so much worse if I was new to both languages at the time.
I'm starting Spanish now, but will begin Japanese in April. Figure I will be far enough long in Spanish and Japanese is so different that it won't be a problem/distraction.
I had a bilingual couple as friends a long time ago. When they had a kid they only talked in their respective mother tongue with the kid. It took him longer than is common to start talking at all, but he never had any problems with either language.
Of course it doesn't follow that adult learners will have the same experience, but it seems reasonable to infer that learning two languages simultaneously works, it just takes longer.
For those that want's more details: theconversation.com/why-the-baby-brain-can-learn-two-languages-at-the-same-time-57470
Bien dicho Olly, llevo aprendiendo español muchos años y a veces me apetece aprender un nuevo idioma pero
me resisto por las razones que dio.
Yo en mi caso, pues voy a dominar el español aunque sea lo último que haga-lo mejor que pueda. Y punto 😂
Wow tu nivel de español es impresionante. Saludos desde Venezuela 🇻🇪
You can obsess about one subject and still keep up in others because they're required.
I already do use two langues at the same time (German native on the jobsite and English C1, freetime on the web), so learning Russian now will have to add up to that anyway. Remembering learning Spanish and English at highschool at the same time, I know how much vocab I lost each time switching between both of it. Not that much during normal everyday life but when we went to spain for a week, I couldn't remember any english no more afterwards. Still I would like to work on Spanish again, while studing russian. My mind tells me it's a bad idea but I can't focus on russian all the time anyway and maybe it still works out somehow. 😂
Well my friend! On one hand you’re absolutely right! On the other hand I’m going to play devils advocate for a moment. I do believe you can learn more than one language at the same time. Just the song is there Not from the same language family. For example, Japanese in Arabic for which I learned currently along with Hindi and they’re not even in the same language family at all and I’m able to not get them confused. But this is after learning several languages over the course of four years. I think if the person doesn’t want to be a hyper probably go out and I just want to learn multiple languages just for the hell of it. They need to do so! However is there who is to become proficient in the language then maybe they should study one at a time Dennis way they would have more time to focus on that particular language yet if they just feel so go to do so and they want to tackle two or more languages at the same time then I would advise that they do one in the morning and then one in the afternoon this way they can give them self a little bit of breathing space. For example, Japanese Monday Wednesday Arabic Monday Wednesday afternoon Hindi Tuesday Thursday morning Cantonese Tuesday Thursday afternoon this way they’re giving attention to all four languages but a different points of the day.Siri is they only can do a half an hour to an hour for each language that’s fine too as long as they’re giving attention to that particular language of that particularly cold and time of the day. This approach to work. The same approach as well. I forgot which video he have covered this topic throughout his collection of videos on TH-cam but he has spoken about this particular topic comes up. Love the video my friend then I gave you in regards to your 101 conversational German, Spanish, French, Italian and English short stories for beginner books.
If they are two completely different languages and you’re more Advanced in one than another i don’t see a problem. I’ve been doing Portuguese for 3 Years, Ive just started Croatian and i don’t get them mixed up at all.
I have a lot of time in the day to learn but I tried learning 2 at the same and it's hard to shift my focus daily. I can do one language for one month and then another for the next month and back again. I think this is the best method especially if both languages are at the beginning phase. Greek means so much to me but I started Mandarin and Im having a blast. Then I come back to Greek and I miss it so much. I love languages though.
OK, so basically I understand what you're saying, but I have ADHA and on the other a tendency to obsession, and then one of the two happens when I'm only learning one language, either I lose focus or I become obsessed and stressed to learn everything in one day, when I vary between languages It also allows me to get into my mind that the learning process takes time and that I need patience and less strees and obsession and also allows me to renew my enthusiasm every time and miss the second language
I agree. I spent a year on Spanish then tried to add French . It was not productive although I did learn it was not successful.
Interesting....in some schools, don't they teach and therefore the kids have to learn French, German and Spanish? I am fluent in English and Dutch....My German is very strong, and I am learning french, italian and spanish...mainly via Duolingo. I just don't have the discipline to let the languages go...deep down. I know I have too.....
What if you gave one language most of your attention for a few months, only practicing the other language sometimes. And then you just rotate.
I learnt French and German for 3 years at secondary school and they were my best subjects 😮
I reckon there is no problem provided the two languages are totally unrelated. I visited a bar , on holiday in Spain, the barman was flipping between 5 languages all day , every day. Its an excellent mental workout.
I'm going to begin learning six languages at a time, and obviously this is a very bold goal, unlikely really, and I probably limit myself when the situation becomes more clear, but I can't see myself not being able to manage more than one. I know myself, my energy, what I'm capable and what I'm not.
But I will come back here if it all falls apart-or if it doesn't.
How is it going?
You’ve done a video on ASL. I think you should focus on BSL with it’s beauty and grammar. 😮
Well as for me, I find it easier to learn 2 languages at the same time. It makes me jump to the advanced level faster rather than just learning 1 language at a time
Learning a language is for life. When should you stop learning the first target language to start learning the second? Once you start the second, you need to keep practicing the first one so as not to forget it. How you do that?
You can find time. Practicing like 20 or 30 minutes every day should be enough. It's harder to forget a language if you reached a B2 or C1/C2. In addition, you only need to learn a certain amount of words to speak, write, listening and reading. Not even native speakers know many advanced words. Most native speakers only have a B2 level. Those who have a C1 or C2 level have spent so much time reading or studying a lot. This is universal for every single language
@@mep6302 Thank you!
@@alonsoal6420 i think after you reach a certain point you can just read and watch shows in the language, perhaps learn new vocabulary. Then you can really focus studying the other language.
Learning Spanish now. I plan to start learning Brazilian Portuguese next year. I hope it doesn't get too confusing. My goal is to be able to communicate with all of Latin America
If you want to practice your Spanish and help me practice my English let me know. I'm from Venezuela 🇻🇪
How does one learn multiple languages then?
By learning them at the same time. There's likely something to the claim that if you already know one foreign language somewhat well, starting with a second one while continuing with the first is easier than starting with both at the same time would be. And to the claim that if you learn two languages at the same time, you should focus on differences if those two languages are closely related and on similarities if they are (rather) unrelated to each other. Personally, I would recommend focusing on different things (vocabulary vs. grammar, for example), different subjects (vocabulary on topic A vs. vocabulary on topic B) and learning the languages at different levels. For example improving your already very good German while starting out with French, instead of improving your rather bad Spanish while starting out with French.
I live in the German speaking part of Switzerland where a lot of pupils my age started learning French in fifth grade (mandatory), English in seventh grade (mandatory), and Spanish in tenth grade (main elective). When I heard someone who'd just started with their Spanish lessons four(!) weeks earlier speak Spanish, I was extremely surprised at how much they already knew. French, English and Spanish are all pretty closely related to each other and that person must have profited a lot from their French and English skills in those very first Spanish lessons. I also have two siblings who did that, and both of them had also started taking Latin lessons in eight grade. I once heard them talking to each other in decent Spanish after four and three years of Spanish lessons in school each - *if* that conversation indeed did take place as late as it possibly could have.
I disagree with the whole premise. When I go back to that time when I was learning language quickly, I was not focused, and I did not study. I was immersed and learned naturally with ease. Being a third culture kid myself now living in my tenth culture, learning another language while immersed in a different foreign language, it's normal and it's natural. I am currently learning Swedish in Sweden at a university while studying Russian from a private instructor so that I can join a Russian course later that is instructed in Swedish.
I think there is another situation: I'm currently in high school and I don't really have anything to do except learning Spanish. I really want to learn Spanish, it is fun and I've been motivated for some weeks now, tho at this point I'm kinda bored from learning the same language like 5 hours a day (I actually enjoy learning) and so I want to learn a second language, either Arabic or bulgarian, because I have really close friends, who speak those languages and I find them really beautiful. So I want to learn them too and in like a year I won't go to school anymore so want to learn them rather sooner than later
Te recomiendo que escuches música en español. Saludos desde Venezuela 🇻🇪
Olly, as a speaker of multiple languages yourself, what do you consider the functional level to achieve before permitting yourself to pivot to a new language?
I have usable proficiency of German, perhaps approximately B2 level, learned over 3 decades ago and allowed to rust a bit. I took 1 beginner college course in French and later one in Spanish. I dumped all goals of French but dabbled in Spanish sporadically for years.
Recently a friend who retired to Portugal as a U.S. expat was intensely studying the language on his own for 2 years before making the move just this past January. He is thriving there, making a slew of new friends. He has given me a bit of exposure and interest in getting some degree of comprehension and getting my ears used to continental Portuguese phonemes. But I have no clear goal of going there.
Similarly, "reckless" you tube viewing of linguists and polyglots has piqued my curiousity about Dutch, as the third main sister language of English and German among Western Germanic tongues. I don't feel a need to speak it, so much as I enjoy recognizing so many intersections it shares with English as well as German.
Similarly and finally, I may retire to the lower midwest of the U.S. in a few years and have been intrigued by the three branches of Pennsylvania Dutch still spoken in places from Pennsylvania to eastern Missouri. It is a nearly 300 year old form of German that has changed much much less than continental German dialects, mostly because Pennsylvania Dutch communities have tended to stay socially isolated.
German will remain my first foreign language focus, but I do want to also build on my bits and pieces of Spanish, because it is so useful in the Americas. The other languages, for me, are curiosities.
I think learning two languages in school is fine because the extra language is taking the place of another course, and not necessarily reducing the time you have available to study the first language.
Otherwise I agree. It’s funny there’s such an entrenched divide on this question between the big polyglots and aspiring ones. Cognitive dissonance?
Back before English became "more equal than others" and taught in elementary school, Dutch grammar schools (secondary schools that prepare you for university) taught teens 3, 4 or 5 languages...
Damn I found this video when googling if it's okay that I'm learning 5 languages at once :D
I agree 👍 IF the languages are similar.
BUT I learned French 🇫🇷 first. After 1st term of French, I started learning German 🇩🇪. I did not have a problem with both languages: B on French 1B and an A in German 1A. Note 📝 German is the harder language to learn especially for an English speaker like me.
I am 71. I don't know how much time I have left on this earth. If I just study 1 language, then that is all I may be able to learn. That means I might miss out on learning a 3rd or 4th language. I would rather take the risk of messing things up then missing out on a rich and varied cultural experience.
No doubt about it . One language learned well, before even thinking about another.
I kinda disagree with this. Having grown up in the USA and having spent now the second half of my life in Germany I obviously know two languages simply from where I've been living. However, eight years ago I said to myself "come hell or high water" I'm going to master Russian! It was only after mastering Russian to a good degree that I looked at Polish and realized that due to the similarities to Russian I'd have a leg up in learning this difficult language. So I'm learning Polish too. Moreover, I had decided to start looking into learning French and Spanish too. I quickly realized it was much easier for an English speaking person to learn these languages than for an English or German speaking person to learn a slavic language. I also realized however that the time I put into learning one language took away from learning another one. So I decided I would lineup my priorities into what languages I wanted to master most. Russian is the foreign language that I will master to the degree that can be expected from a non native speaker, but the other languages are also important to me. When my proficiency in French and Spanish has reached a degree of proficiency to where I can read almost any newspaper or magazine I pick up I will be more than satisfied. I will not spend the time I would need to "master" these languages in their full complexity - that would take to much time away from my mastering Russian (mastering is a relative term, even though I've spent more than 30 years now in Germany and have studied at university here in Berlin, Germany my German is still not quite as good as someone who has grown up here). It's all a matter of priorities for me determining the amount of time I'll put into learning these languages. Here's my lineup: first Russian then French then Polish and then Spanish. Lucky Spanish is the easiest to learn and thus does not take up most of my time, but I'm glad I've spent the time I have learning Spanish and I know I will reach the degree of proficiency that I am aiming for - in all four languages!
I want to hear this on iTunes podcast instead.