I find that I confuse a language with other languages early on, but there comes a point where it is solidified enough that it stops happening, and after that point the compare/contrast with other languages actually if anything has a reinforcing effect. You will also bring a set of linguistic skills that you learned with your second language forward to your third language.
When I studied German, French and Spanish all as a hobby when I was in college I didn’t mix them up at all. It was so nice but I was frustrated with the slower progress so ended up just focusing on German. To me the pronunciation of the three languages was really different and that was enough to keep them apart. Now I’m much older. I tried studying Japanese and Korean and I’m mixing them up quite a bit. More when I speak Korean because it’s a lot weaker. I wish I could find a mental trick to just not mix them up.
I was trying to juggle multiple languages, but dropped the others to focus on spainsh, im still learning italian, but I only do a little bit each day. I want to get good at my 2nd language first so I have the confidence in learning more. I actually talked to a guy from el Salvador that told me he had been here 17 years and had to relearn Spanish because he stopped using it, so it definitely happens.
Good food for thought. I know that immersion is the holy grail strategy for many, and dividing your efforts among languages dilutes the impact. However, to your point, children who grow up from birth in multilinguagal housholds typically demonstrate a significant delay in when they start to speak, but once they do, they easily think in both or all of them, so yes there are drawbacks to simultaneous study, but the payoff can be worth it. My own language learning situation is that I am an American who had 3 years of high school German, then spent a year as an exchange student to Germany age 18. Then I majored in German at university as my second major, (plus took 1 semester of French and promptly lost all interest in continuing French.) I then proceeded not to use my German for decades, apart from occasional movie viewing, while I dabbled sporatically with Spanish, taking just one evening Spanish course, but later dabbling sporadically in different self-study courses. My German is far better than my Spanish, currently about level B1-B2, whereas I doubt I could even pass a Spanish A1 profficiency exam. I have been distracted by the lure of other languages,....Dutch, continental Portugeuse, and Pennsylvania Dutch, even wanting to learn more history of English language dialects, and most recently, being intrigued by Indonesian as a widely spoken Asian language apparently far easier grammatically than most. I have already purchased, though not yet read, two books on comparitive grammar, one of Spanish and Portuguese, the other of German, Dutch, and Afrikans. I intend to use those primarily as supplemental tools for my German and Spanish studies, but hoping they will crack the door open wider for possible later study of those other related languages. All this scatters my energy for actual study, and I am recently re-examining my motivation and game plan for any of it. German remains my first language love and what I am by far most fluent in, but Latin American Spanish is the most useful domestically. Those two languages I want to prioritize, while I simply indulge my curiosity with the other languages. It remains to be seen how much time I ultimately budget for each. I think clarity of priorities can help prevent me getting discouraged, ....I hope. Your video is thought-provoking and motivating. I have just subscribed, so thanks!
I treat languages less like separate intentional study plans and more like I met French in middle school, Spanish in high school, so on. I have more familiarity with the ones I've known longer, even at a low level. I use that history to be able to study them all, just kind of when I run into the desire. I'm heavy into Japanese right now, but every few days I pcik up a new Spanish phrase and they don't interfere with each other at all.
Thanks for your videos. They are great! I love your quote about there not being a finish line. When I had learned my first foreign language to a high level (which decayed after no use and I had to pick it up again after years of neglect) I remember having the thought of if being like learning to play an instrument - when can someone really say for example I “play the piano fluently”? Maybe I learned to play decently but there is always more to learn. :)
Thank you for your great advice and letting us know about the book you published. Congrats 🎉 I ordered it a couple of hours ago right after I watched your video.
My plan is to approach three similar languages at the same time as a starting point. The languages will be French Spanish and Italian. The reason for this is I am a Ham Radio operator. I am planning to learn some basic phrases in these languages to communicate with stations in Europe concerning Ham Radio topics. I might also add German as a fourth language. Up until now I have not had a real purpose in mind for wanting to learn a language, but I think it would be fun to at least be able to conduct a short conversation on Ham Radio concerning Ham Radio topics in the native language of the person who I am talking to. That is my goal that is my story and I’m sticking to it
I also agree with you that if you plan to speak several languages you might as well go ahead and study several languages. I’d it’s too hard you can give up and do just one. But if you study several languages at once and make it work then you solve the problem most of us have in that it’s hard to actually use more than a couple languages regularly. At least for me. I used to study lots of German but now I almost never use it because I lost the habit of even thinking of myself as a German speaker.
Off the point, I know, I'm studying multiple languages,too Do you know anyone learning multiple musical instruments as well? I could do with some advice on how to learn and maintain several instruments. My languages are French, Bulgarian, Spanish,Latin and German. My instruments are fiddle, viola, ukulele, tin whistle but I also want to learn piano and singing. Loving your videos and all the insight you're passing on.
Hello! I am a musician and I’m also learning multiple languages. I play the piano, guitar, bass, drums, accordion and flute. And I’m studying Spanish, Bulgarian, French, Mandarin Chinese and Tagalog. I am always searching for methods to balance all of these different studies, but I do feel that learning a language is similar in many ways to learning a musical instrument. Do you find this to be true at all?
Practicing and playing music on any instrument will make you a better musician, which is valuable even if you do make slower progress on each individual instrument. I play ukulele, mandolin, and banjo. Also learning Mandarin, Japanese, Taiwanese, Greek, and want to learn Spanish, French, Latin, Ancient Greek, Classical Chinese.... Not enough hours in the day!
I was once studying multiple instruments (piano, violin, percussions, bass, guitar), now I'm only focused in piano but imo when learning instruments we are lucky we have the same "grammar", music theory, I'd advise to focus on it as it translates to all instruments. When I say basics I'm referring to Harmony Note reading Rhythm Pitch Perfect basic exercises like scales, arpeggios and variants while making your way into more advanced pieces, gradually. Then learn the specific basics to the instruments you're trying to learn For example in the viola could be developing muscle memory to get the pitch right without thinking about where you have to place the fingers, holding the bow correctly and so on, those basics will vary depending on the instruments and technique. Also remember that if you're struggling with a passage you don't have to start all over, just study that passage, and also that in order to play fast you have to study slow, use a metronome and change the tempo gradually +4bpm after you're sure you have conquered the current tempo. It might sound counterproductive but studying slow is the fastest way to do it.
The short answer to your music question, is music theory. I play guitar, banjo, Dobro, and Mandolin. They are all string instruments so I guess you could group them like a family. Dobro, taught me the major and minor scales better than any other instrument. Mandolin, taught me about relative minors better than any other instrument, guitar is where I learned the basics of what chords go with what keys. The sooner you learn what a major cord is, what a minor cord is what a scale of a key is the better offer you will be. With those three pieces of information you can play any instrument in a short amount of time. After that, it’s all muscle memory.
Good point about mother tongue getting worse if you don't use it (and cool story about that Japanese guy). I also did intense immersion for a couple years and it destroyed me. Keeping all those languages up take you how many hours a day? Languages are a full time career for you though it seems, really cool book! If I ever learn those languages I'll buy it. Nice job!
Any preference for jumping in and starting all languages at the same time, vs starting one at a time and getting the basics down before stsrting the next?
No need to answer. I just saw your reply to a similar question on your video about learning 8 languages for the summer. Since I also have previous experience studying languages, I think it's no problem to just jump in simultaneously with all of the new ones. Only problem is lack of time! Especially since I take the same approach to music (many instruments), reading books in English (many books at the same time) and pretty much everything I do. Everything is interesting and I want to learn it all!
The more languages you learn the more you’re spreading yourself thin. Jack of all trades master of none. However, there is an argument to be made on how focusing on another language after you get bored/tired from the one you were studying originally could be beneficial. At the end of the day depends on what works for you and what your goals are.
انت قلت افعل ذلك لأن الغد غير مضمون. ربما نموت إذا سألنا أنفسنا لماذا جئنا إلى الحياة. يمكن أن نموت غدا أو في أي يوم آخر. كل إنسان يموت. الهدف والغرض هو عبادة الله. لقد خلقنا الله لنعبده ونوحده بأن لا إله إلا الله
I know what you are saying can be philosophical and deep, yet simple. But If you might die in a day, what's the point then? lol If we knew that after death we will be judged for how much human-language-knowledge we acquired or that the knowledge somehow carries over to a better existence in our next life if reincarnation is a thing...then I would be much more motivated to learn more languages. A sense of accomplishment can also be temporary. What if you master every language on Earth, hypothetically speaking you become like a machine or merge with super advanced technology in 10-20 years from now (more advanced technology than we can predict comes out after AGI and ASI emerge. Look at neuralink, one guy can telepathically play chess by just thinking where he wants to move after that brain surgery and technology is only going to get better ), what would you do after that point in time? If you can never forget anything, and already know all languages on Earth. And maybe you can live hundreds of years. What would you do then? (I'm going to watch more of the video, I just wanted to mention this after the first few minutes, I'll update this comment later when I get a chance to finish it, or write another comment)
I agree this language acquisition quest raises, and is influenced by, philosophical questions. I think my philosophy is quite different from yours, though. I see no need to have to justify the learning of languages as to how useful you can be with them or what you might accomplish. I see only two main reasons to learn a new language: The first is that you need it, for a job, for example, or perhaps because of relatives or travel plans. The second valid reason is for the love of it. I am not concerned with afterlife, or reincarnation. All I know we have is the life we are in, and as Robert pointed out, tomorrow is not guaranteed. If we are to stick with learning language(s), enjoyment of the process is important to prevent burnout or loss of motivation to keep going. A third reason I think is a false reason would be to impress anyone other than oneself. Again, a lot depends on our philosophy. I do not believe in worrying about cosmic judgment. I believe instead in indulging personal curiousity and love of learning, love of discovery. That, along with nurturing connections with others, rather than self-isolation, are the spark of life.
I've heard that more than 4 starts to get tricky, I'm juggling 4 right now and in struggling a little with time, I think about an hour of study for each language is a reasonable amount to still feel like you're advancing in the language while not feeling overwhelmed
I’m learning 3 but I think it’s too much however I don’t wanna stop studying any of the 3 😂😂
I find that I confuse a language with other languages early on, but there comes a point where it is solidified enough that it stops happening, and after that point the compare/contrast with other languages actually if anything has a reinforcing effect. You will also bring a set of linguistic skills that you learned with your second language forward to your third language.
I wish I had enough time on my hands for that 😂
I know the feeling.
When I studied German, French and Spanish all as a hobby when I was in college I didn’t mix them up at all. It was so nice but I was frustrated with the slower progress so ended up just focusing on German. To me the pronunciation of the three languages was really different and that was enough to keep them apart.
Now I’m much older. I tried studying Japanese and Korean and I’m mixing them up quite a bit. More when I speak Korean because it’s a lot weaker. I wish I could find a mental trick to just not mix them up.
I was trying to juggle multiple languages, but dropped the others to focus on spainsh, im still learning italian, but I only do a little bit each day. I want to get good at my 2nd language first so I have the confidence in learning more.
I actually talked to a guy from el Salvador that told me he had been here 17 years and had to relearn Spanish because he stopped using it, so it definitely happens.
Good food for thought.
I know that immersion is the holy grail strategy for many, and dividing your efforts among languages dilutes the impact.
However, to your point, children who grow up from birth in multilinguagal housholds typically demonstrate a significant delay in when they start to speak, but once they do, they easily think in both or all of them, so yes there are drawbacks to simultaneous study, but the payoff can be worth it.
My own language learning situation is that I am an American who had 3 years of high school German, then spent a year as an exchange student to Germany age 18. Then I majored in German at university as my second major, (plus took 1 semester of French and promptly lost all interest in continuing French.) I then proceeded not to use my German for decades, apart from occasional movie viewing, while I dabbled sporatically with Spanish, taking just one evening Spanish course, but later dabbling sporadically in different self-study courses.
My German is far better than my Spanish, currently about level B1-B2, whereas I doubt I could even pass a Spanish A1 profficiency exam.
I have been distracted by the lure of other languages,....Dutch, continental Portugeuse, and Pennsylvania Dutch, even wanting to learn more history of English language dialects, and most recently, being intrigued by Indonesian as a widely spoken Asian language apparently far easier grammatically than most.
I have already purchased, though not yet read, two books on comparitive grammar, one of Spanish and Portuguese, the other of German, Dutch, and Afrikans. I intend to use those primarily as supplemental tools for my German and Spanish studies, but hoping they will crack the door open wider for possible later study of those other related languages.
All this scatters my energy for actual study, and I am recently re-examining my motivation and game plan for any of it.
German remains my first language love and what I am by far most fluent in, but Latin American Spanish is the most useful domestically. Those two languages I want to prioritize, while I simply indulge my curiosity with the other languages. It remains to be seen how much time I ultimately budget for each. I think clarity of priorities can help prevent me getting discouraged, ....I hope.
Your video is thought-provoking and motivating. I have just subscribed, so thanks!
I treat languages less like separate intentional study plans and more like I met French in middle school, Spanish in high school, so on. I have more familiarity with the ones I've known longer, even at a low level. I use that history to be able to study them all, just kind of when I run into the desire. I'm heavy into Japanese right now, but every few days I pcik up a new Spanish phrase and they don't interfere with each other at all.
Kunzさんの努力を応援します。日本語の勉強を楽しみながら、精一杯頑張ってください。
Thanks for your videos. They are great! I love your quote about there not being a finish line. When I had learned my first foreign language to a high level (which decayed after no use and I had to pick it up again after years of neglect) I remember having the thought of if being like learning to play an instrument - when can someone really say for example I “play the piano fluently”? Maybe I learned to play decently but there is always more to learn. :)
Thank you for your great advice and letting us know about the book you published. Congrats 🎉 I ordered it a couple of hours ago right after I watched your video.
The Japanese soldier you were talking about is Ishinosuke Uwano. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishinosuke_Uwano
My plan is to approach three similar languages at the same time as a starting point. The languages will be French Spanish and Italian.
The reason for this is I am a Ham Radio operator. I am planning to learn some basic phrases in these languages to communicate with stations in Europe concerning Ham Radio topics. I might also add German as a fourth language.
Up until now I have not had a real purpose in mind for wanting to learn a language, but I think it would be fun to at least be able to conduct a short conversation on Ham Radio concerning Ham Radio topics in the native language of the person who I am talking to.
That is my goal that is my story and I’m sticking to it
I also agree with you that if you plan to speak several languages you might as well go ahead and study several languages. I’d it’s too hard you can give up and do just one. But if you study several languages at once and make it work then you solve the problem most of us have in that it’s hard to actually use more than a couple languages regularly. At least for me. I used to study lots of German but now I almost never use it because I lost the habit of even thinking of myself as a German speaker.
As someone who survived a stroke I couldn’t agree with you more. Now I study each of the languages I want today instead of relying on tomorrow.
Off the point, I know, I'm studying multiple languages,too Do you know anyone learning multiple musical instruments as well? I could do with some advice on how to learn and maintain several instruments. My languages are French, Bulgarian, Spanish,Latin and German. My instruments are fiddle, viola, ukulele, tin whistle but I also want to learn piano and singing. Loving your videos and all the insight you're passing on.
Hello! I am a musician and I’m also learning multiple languages. I play the piano, guitar, bass, drums, accordion and flute. And I’m studying Spanish, Bulgarian, French, Mandarin Chinese and Tagalog. I am always searching for methods to balance all of these different studies, but I do feel that learning a language is similar in many ways to learning a musical instrument. Do you find this to be true at all?
Practicing and playing music on any instrument will make you a better musician, which is valuable even if you do make slower progress on each individual instrument. I play ukulele, mandolin, and banjo. Also learning Mandarin, Japanese, Taiwanese, Greek, and want to learn Spanish, French, Latin, Ancient Greek, Classical Chinese.... Not enough hours in the day!
Just wanted to recommend Hoffman Academy. My daughter is using it to learn piano and really likes it.
I was once studying multiple instruments (piano, violin, percussions, bass, guitar), now I'm only focused in piano but imo when learning instruments we are lucky we have the same "grammar", music theory, I'd advise to focus on it as it translates to all instruments.
When I say basics I'm referring to
Harmony
Note reading
Rhythm
Pitch
Perfect basic exercises like scales, arpeggios and variants while making your way into more advanced pieces, gradually.
Then learn the specific basics to the instruments you're trying to learn
For example in the viola could be developing muscle memory to get the pitch right without thinking about where you have to place the fingers, holding the bow correctly and so on, those basics will vary depending on the instruments and technique.
Also remember that if you're struggling with a passage you don't have to start all over, just study that passage, and also that in order to play fast you have to study slow, use a metronome and change the tempo gradually +4bpm after you're sure you have conquered the current tempo. It might sound counterproductive but studying slow is the fastest way to do it.
The short answer to your music question, is music theory.
I play guitar, banjo, Dobro, and Mandolin. They are all string instruments so I guess you could group them like a family.
Dobro, taught me the major and minor scales better than any other instrument. Mandolin, taught me about relative minors better than any other instrument, guitar is where I learned the basics of what chords go with what keys.
The sooner you learn what a major cord is, what a minor cord is what a scale of a key is the better offer you will be. With those three pieces of information you can play any instrument in a short amount of time. After that, it’s all muscle memory.
Good point about mother tongue getting worse if you don't use it (and cool story about that Japanese guy). I also did intense immersion for a couple years and it destroyed me. Keeping all those languages up take you how many hours a day? Languages are a full time career for you though it seems, really cool book! If I ever learn those languages I'll buy it. Nice job!
I learn Japanese, Finnish, Welsh, Lithuanian and continue to learn English, but every language in it's own pace.
I like to get partners to hold myself accountable to study all of my languages and equal amount of time.
Are you learning simplified or traditional chinese? Im trying to decide myself
Any preference for jumping in and starting all languages at the same time, vs starting one at a time and getting the basics down before stsrting the next?
No need to answer. I just saw your reply to a similar question on your video about learning 8 languages for the summer. Since I also have previous experience studying languages, I think it's no problem to just jump in simultaneously with all of the new ones. Only problem is lack of time! Especially since I take the same approach to music (many instruments), reading books in English (many books at the same time) and pretty much everything I do. Everything is interesting and I want to learn it all!
@@ukulelespacestation1562I can relate. Never seems to be enough time for all the interesting things.
I never knew there were so many language weirdos like me out there 😂
Is this a good idea? I'm learning Japanese at the moment (work purposes) but I'd love to learn Spanish (hobby, but useful).
Actually i am doing the same ;p
The more languages you learn the more you’re spreading yourself thin. Jack of all trades master of none. However, there is an argument to be made on how focusing on another language after you get bored/tired from the one you were studying originally could be beneficial. At the end of the day depends on what works for you and what your goals are.
انت قلت افعل ذلك لأن الغد غير مضمون. ربما نموت إذا سألنا أنفسنا لماذا جئنا إلى الحياة. يمكن أن نموت غدا أو في أي يوم آخر. كل إنسان يموت. الهدف والغرض هو عبادة الله. لقد خلقنا الله لنعبده ونوحده بأن لا إله إلا الله
... I like your accent ... where is it from (state/region or city) ... thank you
That escaleted quickly to Sam Harris level!!
What let you to study Teochow?
I know what you are saying can be philosophical and deep, yet simple. But If you might die in a day, what's the point then? lol
If we knew that after death we will be judged for how much human-language-knowledge we acquired or that the knowledge somehow carries over to a better existence in our next life if reincarnation is a thing...then I would be much more motivated to learn more languages. A sense of accomplishment can also be temporary. What if you master every language on Earth, hypothetically speaking you become like a machine or merge with super advanced technology in 10-20 years from now (more advanced technology than we can predict comes out after AGI and ASI emerge. Look at neuralink, one guy can telepathically play chess by just thinking where he wants to move after that brain surgery and technology is only going to get better ), what would you do after that point in time? If you can never forget anything, and already know all languages on Earth. And maybe you can live hundreds of years. What would you do then? (I'm going to watch more of the video, I just wanted to mention this after the first few minutes, I'll update this comment later when I get a chance to finish it, or write another comment)
I agree this language acquisition quest raises, and is influenced by, philosophical questions. I think my philosophy is quite different from yours, though.
I see no need to have to justify the learning of languages as to how useful you can be with them or what you might accomplish. I see only two main reasons to learn a new language:
The first is that you need it, for a job, for example, or perhaps because of relatives or travel plans.
The second valid reason is for the love of it. I am not concerned with afterlife, or reincarnation. All I know we have is the life we are in, and as Robert pointed out, tomorrow is not guaranteed. If we are to stick with learning language(s), enjoyment of the process is important to prevent burnout or loss of motivation to keep going.
A third reason I think is a false reason would be to impress anyone other than oneself.
Again, a lot depends on our philosophy. I do not believe in worrying about cosmic judgment. I believe instead in indulging personal curiousity and love of learning, love of discovery. That, along with nurturing connections with others, rather than self-isolation, are the spark of life.
I learn languages cuz it's fun
Is 15 too many? 😂😅
I've heard that more than 4 starts to get tricky, I'm juggling 4 right now and in struggling a little with time, I think about an hour of study for each language is a reasonable amount to still feel like you're advancing in the language while not feeling overwhelmed