Thomas
What do you think of.......?

What do you think of learning three languages at once?

Aug 6, 2014 11:04 PM
Comments · 25
3

I'm learning 3 (4 if you count English which I still consider myself to be learning. I learn new words all the time still). 

 

Some people use the word "learning" to mean being new at a language. I'm not new to Spanish but I'm definitely still learning it. I have a good foundation, but new vocabulary is constantly coming in. Mandarin is so entirely different from Spanish that learning the alphabet and pronunciation does not interfere with Spanish even a tiny bit. I have my Mandarin exchange in the evening and watch Spanish programs during the day and study Spanish vocabulary. No problem. Sanskrit I am learning just one mantra a month, but actually I'm having the hardest time with that language because of a lack of resources and help. It should be the easiest since I already do the chanting and my goals are so modest, but it's actually the hardest! 

 

I might even add on a fourth. The 3 is a breeze. I have this time while cooking and cleaning the kitchen where I could listen to a half an hour Pimsleur course. Still debating that, but the three are working out stupendously so far. 

August 7, 2014
2

that sounds great, but it will take you a long time.  and sometimes I think you will be confuesed. anyway, it is a challenge, I believe. 

August 6, 2014
1

Thomas, that makes a great deal of sense on a certain level. The thing is though, I'll never be perfect! I'm still not perfect in English and I've been practicing that my entire life and I started Spanish in junior high school and I think it might take me years more of concentrated study just to get to the point where I have a truly adult vocabulary of at least 17,000 root words and I don't consider that perfection either. I'd have to know all the idioms and be able to be perfectly at ease in the language with no mistakes to call myself "perfect". If I wait until I'm perfect, I'll never learn even the basics of another language. Do you think you are perfect in English now so it's time to study Russian? I'm so self-critical I'm afraid that I will never label myself as perfect. 

 

I also tend to do things in big spurts. At the moment I've got the language bug. Two years from now I might be into... musical instruments or physics or gardening or some other thing. 

 

I've got to grab the bull by the horns while he's chasing me. ;) 

August 7, 2014
1

I was thinking of doing Spanish and Mandarin at the same time, which is less ambitious. However, what stopped me was that progress became very slow and there was a danger of losing interest. Now I'm back to one language and I enjoy the little bit of progress I see every week. Next year will be Mandarin.

August 7, 2014
1

It's not impossible. Just try studying different vocabulary topics at different times in each language. When I studied German, Russian and Spanish in one semester, the units on food in German and Spanish took place at the same time and I couldn't retain all the vocabulary from either language.

August 7, 2014
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