Spanish and Latin at same time?

[lisabees]

Would it be wise or unwise to take Spanish and Latin at the same time - as a beginner to both?

 

DD13 is interested in both; if she has to choose, though, she says that she will choose Latin!

[maize]

Go for it!

 

Students often study more than one language at a time. Occasional language mix-ups might happen, but Spanish and Latin can also reinforce each other.

[lexi]

We are currently doing both. We are using Galore Park for Spanish and Latin for Children for Latin. My daughter does make occasional mixups but many of them she catches. It's been fun to see all the ways the languages overlap. And many of the grammar concepts are similar. I'm glad we're doing both. But now my dd wants to learn French and I'm not sure if I can handle 3 languages!!!

[lisabees]

We are currently doing both. We are using Galore Park for Spanish and Latin for Children for Latin. My daughter does make occasional mixups but many of them she catches. It's been fun to see all the ways the languages overlap. And many of the grammar concepts are similar. I'm glad we're doing both. But now my dd wants to learn French and I'm not sure if I can handle 3 languages!!!

 

I failed to mention that dd wants to learn French also.  Noooo!

 

Actually, If she wants French down the road, she would have people to speak with - her aunt/uncle/cousins are French and my close friend is a French teacher.  Maybe I'm going about this backwards!   :lol:

 

Question:  How should I schedule two languages?  Both on the same day?  One in morning; one in afternoon?  Just not sure of logistics.

 

 

Edited December 8, 2016 by lisabees

[Laura Corin]

I started one language then added the others in one by one after a year or two.  I don't know if that was necessary.  At various times I did them on different days of the week and at different times of the day.  It all seemed to work.

[lisabees]

Thanks Laura.  DD has been doing Spanish since the beginning of the year.  She has recently taken an interest in linguistics and that has inspired her to study more languages.

 

We'll see where it leads.

 

Hope your boys are doing well!

[maize]

One thing you might try is having her alternate review of the two languages in the evenings. There's some research indicating that what we are learning/thinking about in the hour or so before sleep is best processed and consolidated in the brain during the night. Language learning is pretty intensive, I'm thinking it might be beneficial if she studied/reviewed Latin before bed one night and Spanish before bed the next.

 

As for French, maybe give her some time to make progress with the other languages and then add it in if she wants; seems to me if she is self-motivated your involvement can be minimal.

[lisabees]

One thing you might try is having her alternate review of the two languages in the evenings. There's some research indicating that what we are learning/thinking about in the hour or so before sleep is best processed and consolidated in the brain during the night. Language learning is pretty intensive, I'm thinking it might be beneficial if she studied/reviewed Latin before bed one night and Spanish before bed the next.

 

As for French, maybe give her some time to make progress with the other languages and then add it in if she wants; seems to me if she is self-motivated your involvement can be minimal.

 

Woah!  I now know when I should be watching my Great Courses videos...

 

DD just told me that she has heard the same thing.  She is game!

[Miss Tick]

We do both (and German). We do every language every day; I try to separate them by another subject or two. This means we start the day with one, we do one at lunch, and we end the day with one. We approach different languages differently, which I think helps separate them. I live GSWL, but could never do that AND GSWS the same year. Our confusion tends to be mostly in pronunciation.

 

This year they are taking an online Spanish class. This is their first online class so I wanted it to be a subject they are familiar with. In previous years we have self-studied Spanish with random resources I cobbled together.

 

Latin we are following a home-study curriculum and we use Anki for vocabulary.

 

I think, with an interested student you won't have trouble with two languages. Three, though, really takes a lot of time out of your day. In a couple of years you might be able to shift one language to "maintenance" using casual reading and a bit of other (discussion or grammar work or...) to free up some time.

[lisabees]

We do both (and German). We do every language every day; I try to separate them by another subject or two. This means we start the day with one, we do one at lunch, and we end the day with one. We approach different languages differently, which I think helps separate them. I live GSWL, but could never do that AND GSWS the same year. Our confusion tends to be mostly in pronunciation.

 

This year they are taking an online Spanish class. This is their first online class so I wanted it to be a subject they are familiar with. In previous years we have self-studied Spanish with random resources I cobbled together.

 

Latin we are following a home-study curriculum and we use Anki for vocabulary.

 

I think, with an interested student you won't have trouble with two languages. Three, though, really takes a lot of time out of your day. In a couple of years you might be able to shift one language to "maintenance" using casual reading and a bit of other (discussion or grammar work or...) to free up some time.

 

Hmm...I do have both GSWL and GSWS.  

[Loesje22000]

We have started 2 languages at the same time several times.

But we have never used curriculum from the same publisher for several Languages.

One language per publisher.

[kentuckymom]

I tried this with my son this year and it was a total failure. We only lasted a week before he asked to stop Spanish and just focus on Latin. However, I think at least half of it was psychological. His little sister in a Spanish Immersion kindergarten and I think he wants a language that's his own thing so noone's comparing him to her.

 

I think if your child is motivated (which it seems she is) and you separate the subjects it should work just fine. I tried to do them one right after another and I'm sure that was part of what went wrong. They really can reinforce each other. Occasional confusion may happen, but it shouldn't be too bad.

 

When I was in high school I started out as a freshman taking both Spanish and Latin. My sophomore year I added French. Confusing the languages was never a problem for me, and they all reinforced each other in some ways.

 

If I were you, though, I'd seriously considering combining French and Latin instead of Spanish and Latin, because your DD has a natural source to practice French with native speakers.  Then you could add Spanish in a year or two if the interest remains.

 

Also, as a former Spanish teacher, I couldn't stand Getting Started With Spanish. The logic of how things are presented makes no sense to me.  I do mostly like Getting Started with Latin, which we're using. I just don't feel like the format lends itself nearly so well to a modern language.

[lisabees]

I tried this with my son this year and it was a total failure. We only lasted a week before he asked to stop Spanish and just focus on Latin. However, I think at least half of it was psychological. His little sister in a Spanish Immersion kindergarten and I think he wants a language that's his own thing so noone's comparing him to her.

 

I think if your child is motivated (which it seems she is) and you separate the subjects it should work just fine. I tried to do them one right after another and I'm sure that was part of what went wrong. They really can reinforce each other. Occasional confusion may happen, but it shouldn't be too bad.

 

When I was in high school I started out as a freshman taking both Spanish and Latin. My sophomore year I added French. Confusing the languages was never a problem for me, and they all reinforced each other in some ways.

 

If I were you, though, I'd seriously considering combining French and Latin instead of Spanish and Latin, because your DD has a natural source to practice French with native speakers.  Then you could add Spanish in a year or two if the interest remains.

 

Also, as a former Spanish teacher, I couldn't stand Getting Started With Spanish. The logic of how things are presented makes no sense to me.  I do mostly like Getting Started with Latin, which we're using. I just don't feel like the format lends itself nearly so well to a modern language.

 

Since the beginning of the year, DD has been using Madrigal's, along with duolingo for Spanish.  I am learning Spanish myself (I have a Live Lingua tutor three times a week, so I have felt very confident in teaching her.)

 

I was hoping to go through GSWL quickly and move on to something else.  She is on lesson 25.  

 

I cannot thank you all enough for providing your thoughts!

Edited December 8, 2016 by lisabees

[RootAnn]

Dd#1 does both Spanish and Latin, but she started Latin a couple of years earlier. There is a lot of overlap, and some things can be confusing (more in year 2 of Spanish, she found). Definitely separate publishers and different times of day!

 

Huge time suck. But dd loves languages and has asked to add more every year. I am letting her dabble in Greek this year as much as she likes. When we take a year off science,she will add another language next year. (Not enough time in the day otherwise.)

 

She likes Spanish better than Latin and has made more progress in it despite starting Latin earlier. Getting Started With Spanish was a good starter book and set her up well for Spanish 1 online class. (She was getting used to online classes that year, so having most of the grammar for half the year under her belt and some vocab already memorized was very helpful.)

[2_girls_mommy]

We've done both for several years (sometimes with one child and not the other.) But what we have found that works for us is to really focus on one, and do the other a bit more lightly for introduction.

 

So here, we do Latin as our main focus. But the Spanish complements it. Both of mine will eventually get a credit or two of Spanish after their Latin high school credits. So I figure some familiarity with it is a good thing.

 

DD12 is in Second Form Latin right now and is doing EasyPeasyallinone Spanish and the occasional lesson from Easy Step by Step Latin text and reading picture books with me. She took a languages class at co-op last year that did a semester of Spanish once a week while we did First Form and other latin work daily.

 

ODD did SFC A at one point alongside Latin at one point.

[kentuckymom]

It sounds like what you're doing is working for your child, OP. There's no reason to change things if they're working well and the student is motivated.

[lexi]

We have started 2 languages at the same time several times.

But we have never used curriculum from the same publisher for several Languages.

One language per publisher.

I think it's been helpful for us to use curriculum from different publishers. If we used the same publisher for each language then I think we'd be super confused.

I do both languages every day. But we don't do them back to back. I have a few subjects between them.

[Loesje22000]

I do both languages every day. But we don't do them back to back. I have a few subjects between them.

We do almost every language 4 days a week (M,T,T,F)

As we have several languages we do some back to back.

But we are not at the starting level anymore.

[raganfamily]

Hmm...I do have both GSWL and GSWS.  

 

Did you decide to do both of these?   I have not tried GSWS and was planning on using it.   We took a break from LFC A & B this past year and planned to start them up again using GSWL, but had thought of adding GSWS at the same time.

 

Curious what you decided and how you planned it out.

[lisabees]

Did you decide to do both of these?   I have not tried GSWS and was planning on using it.   We took a break from LFC A & B this past year and planned to start them up again using GSWL, but had thought of adding GSWS at the same time.

 

Curious what you decided and how you planned it out.

 

We are only using GSWL and it is going very well.  Spanish is the same (Madrigal's and duolingo), although we did add Language Transfer.  It is my absolute favorite Spanish, other than my Live Lingua tutor who totally rocks).  What did you decide?