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Studying two languages simultaneously. - bcrAn - 2011-07-02
Ever since I discovered the power of SRS and the sentences method in my Japanese studies, I have been tinkering with the idea of studying more languages. I am far away from conversational fluency in Japanese but I am definitely improving and already feel comfortable mining sentences for hours every day. Currently my main focus is still Japanese but I would really like to study another language, however, it worries me I could affect my Japanese learning by doing so. My plan is to keep studying Japanese at the same pace and 30 minutes SRSing another language. I am thinking about Portuguese or Italian to take advantage of its close relation to Spanish, my first language. What do you think? Any suggestions?
Studying two languages simultaneously. - Hashiriya - 2011-07-02
I don't think your brain will explode, but it will only slow down the pace of your Japanese studies..
Studying two languages simultaneously. - wccrawford - 2011-07-02
Actually, contrary to common sense, it apparently speeds up your L2 (Language 2) studies if you pick up an L3, provided that you study L2 more than L3.
It also doesn't seem to cross-wire your brain for the languages, like I had feared. That is, you don't mix up the languages, just like you don't mix up your native language and Japanese.
Unfortunately, I don't have links to where I read that (about 2 years ago, I think) and I can't find it.
Studying two languages simultaneously. - digitlhand - 2011-07-02
No need to worry about getting mixed up while studying multiple languages at a time. I am studying Japanese right now, so it takes up most of my day. Besides that, I study Latin, Polish/Czech and Finnish everyday. It helps me feel free from other things until I'm ready to go back to whatever I was doing in Japanese.
Studying two languages simultaneously. - hereticalrants - 2011-07-10
Learning too languages at once? :O
If you do that, you could end up like Asher Coady!
![[Image: revenge_of_the_cupcake_by_hereticalrants-d3lkiop.jpg]](http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/191/f/e/revenge_of_the_cupcake_by_hereticalrants-d3lkiop.jpg)
ASHER COADY!
You don't want that!
Studying two languages simultaneously. - bcrAn - 2011-07-10
Well, I've been SRSing 20~30 minutes a day of French (I couldn't find Anki decks in other languages with audio) and I've learned like 100 sentences so far without affecting my ability to study Japanese at all. I guess I just needed to try it out to see for myself.
Studying two languages simultaneously. - Shakunatz - 2011-07-11
wccrawford Wrote:Actually, contrary to common sense, it apparently speeds up your L2 (Language 2) studies if you pick up an L3, provided that you study L2 more than L3.I studied Japanese in English and now I'm watching Mandarin drama with Japanese subtitles. Unless you're studying Spanish and Italian or German and Dutch at the same time I think you should be fine. Sometimes I read hanzi in Japanese but sometimes I read English words in Italian. I suppose that happens just because they share the same symbols, not because I mixed up the languages...
It also doesn't seem to cross-wire your brain for the languages, like I had feared. That is, you don't mix up the languages, just like you don't mix up your native language and Japanese.
Fear not! Try and let us know what happened
Studying two languages simultaneously. - Jarvik7 - 2011-07-11
You will get them mixed up if you aren't careful.
I can no longer speak French without randomly inserting Japanese words/grammar/structure by accident.
..though it seems like no one has mentioned production, just studying and comprehension..
Studying two languages simultaneously. - iMat72 - 2011-07-11
Jarvik7 Wrote:You will get them mixed up if you aren't careful.Funny how the human brain works. The two languages are nothing alike :p
I can no longer speak French without randomly inserting Japanese words/grammar/structure by accident.
..though it seems like no one has mentioned production, just studying and comprehension..
Studying two languages simultaneously. - wccrawford - 2011-07-11
Jarvik7 Wrote:You will get them mixed up if you aren't careful.I actually did mean production when I said that. Can you elaborate on what you think you did to enable confusion of the languages? Were you SRS'ing both decks at the same time, or close, or... ? Were you watching French movies subbed in Japanese?
I can no longer speak French without randomly inserting Japanese words/grammar/structure by accident.
..though it seems like no one has mentioned production, just studying and comprehension..
I will admit I've noticed a tendency to want to use Japanese words or grammar occasionally when speaking English, but that's more the efficient programmer in me wanting to optimise than anything.
Studying two languages simultaneously. - bcrAn - 2011-07-11
Now that I think about it, I don't really understand what you mean by mixing up languages. Can you describe a typical situation?
Studying two languages simultaneously. - vonPeterhof - 2011-07-11
Jarvik7 Wrote:You will get them mixed up if you aren't careful.I experienced the same thing with Spanish. Even though I never studied it formally I knew enough of its vocabulary and grammar to produce simple sentences. Now whenever I try doing that I keep inserting Japanese particles all over the place (Esta noche は tu casa で vamos a estar ね). My German, which I am still formally studying, is better, but I usually need to pause for about ten seconds if I want to switch between German and Japanese, whereas I can switch between Russian and English mid-sentence.
I can no longer speak French without randomly inserting Japanese words/grammar/structure by accident.
..though it seems like no one has mentioned production, just studying and comprehension..
Studying two languages simultaneously. - Asriel - 2011-07-11
Having dual citizenship in the US and Switzerland, I really feel that I should learn German...and then rely on my relatives to help me transition into Swiss-German, so I've definitely considered adding on another language.
However, I think back to when I began learning Japanese, I found myself unable to make Spanish sentences without adding Japanese words. Which is why I held off learning anything else.
But then I read about laddering languages -- basically, you used your L1 as your base for learning L2...so in order to avoid mixing up L2/L3, why not make L2 the base for learning L3? I have yet to begin, but it seems to make sense, as long as your L2 is good enough.
Studying two languages simultaneously. - wccrawford - 2011-07-11
Asriel Wrote:But then I read about laddering languages -- basically, you used your L1 as your base for learning L2...so in order to avoid mixing up L2/L3, why not make L2 the base for learning L3? I have yet to begin, but it seems to make sense, as long as your L2 is good enough.I would be really worried about the L2 being good enough. There's a high probability that you'll end up learning some L2 words at the same time as L3 if you use that method. That puts them in the 'learning' category in your brain at the same time and ties them together, for good or ill.
At any rate, learning is almost always a good thing and if you find yourself mixing things up I'm sure you can fix it.
Studying two languages simultaneously. - Asriel - 2011-07-11
Yeah, I just read about it yesterday on IceCream's blog. Apparently there was a post about it on AJATT about 3/4 years ago.
And whatever language you base your L3 on, it's supposed to (somehow?) increase your L2. I don't know much about it, but at my current level, I feel that it's getting to be a good time to start picking up L3, however I decide to go about it.
Studying two languages simultaneously. - wccrawford - 2011-07-11
Asriel Wrote:Yeah, I just read about it yesterday on IceCream's blog. Apparently there was a post about it on AJATT about 3/4 years ago.I remember a post a few years ago talking about how studying an L3 will improve your studies of your L2, provided that your L2 gets more of your study time than your L3. There was a lot of hand-waving done and it apparently has something to do with how the brain processes information, and taking a break from your L2.
And whatever language you base your L3 on, it's supposed to (somehow?) increase your L2. I don't know much about it, but at my current level, I feel that it's getting to be a good time to start picking up L3, however I decide to go about it.
I really should get back to studying my L3.
Studying two languages simultaneously. - ta12121 - 2011-07-11
I want to start learning mandarin or arabic but something telling me to wait(guess I still feel I need to improve a lot in Jp before I can do into another language). Although for arabic I just want to be able to understand via listening/reading. So only reconnection skills. But mandarin I want both