Multiple languages at once

[SukiAlice]

I've read on here and other sites that you shouldn't start 2 languages at once, and that makes total sense to me. But when is the time to start a second language? I'm taking MSA on a block schedule this year, so I'll be done with 1 credit by early January, and I'll be starting the second credit late January. Would the second credit (normally year, but as it's block I can get a credit a semester) of a language be too early to add on another language? The second language would be French and I don't really see any chance of me getting those two confused, but I don't want to overload myself either. I know what I can handle might not be the same as what everyone else can, I'm just wondering about peoples experience with this. I do need to decide soon because I have to choose my Fall and Spring semester courses at the same time. 

[MiMi 4under3]

I wouldn't have a problem with starting a second language in the time frame you describe. 

[EndOfOrdinary]

My son is working on multiple languages. We have the rule if two years of foundational study and then add another language. With the two years down, you are much more likely to have a large bulk of memorizing done and be working more squarely on reading/vocabulary acquisition. The first two years are often the most intense.

[SnegurochkaL]

Hi, I think it will depend on a language pair. My daughter had 1.5 years of French when she started Spanish. She had enough confusion with words, so she replaced a lot of Spanish words with French when they sounded similar and meant the same. She was only 6 years old.:) I think you can easily study French and German at the same time or Japanese/ Chinese with another European language. They are completely different and you will not be confused at all.

[Ethel Mertz]

In grad school I started Spanish and German at the same time. They are enough different that I didn't confuse them. Only problem was the day I picked up a Spanish dictionary to translate a German passage.

[SuperCrissy]

I personally think it is easier to learn two languages at the same time if they are from the same language family, but French will probably seem like a piece of cake after learning MSA. Because there is so much brute force memorization required when beginning a new language, I think it depends on how motivated you are to learn them both. If you love languages, why not? In college I took Spanish, French, and Russian concurrently. Russian was beautiful, but too time consuming so I dropped it. I did end up fluent in both Spanish and French though I've lost so much of my vocabulary over the years!

[basketcase]

As a note from a linguist, the similarity or difference in the two languages won't change your likelihood of inserting words from one into the other. Your brain processes and retains all foreign language in the same area, so when you're trying to access a word for "cheese", you might pull up an MSA word or French one, depending on which one you know better or have used most recently. You will be more likely to self-correct if the languages are very different, but the substitution will still happen at first. Working on the two languages at the same time will actually help with this issue, because you'll be forced to make the distinction over and over again. The same holds true for differences in grammar.

[laughing lioness]

My kids are doing FFLatin and RS German at the same time. The approaches are quite different, as is the vocab. No confusion here. 

[Kareni]

 I'm taking MSA on a block schedule this year...

 

I'm drawing a blank. What is MSA?

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Corraleno]

MSA = Modern Standard Arabic

[Kareni]

MSA = Modern Standard Arabic

 

Thanks, Corraleno! 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Finnella]

As a note from a linguist, the similarity or difference in the two languages won't change your likelihood of inserting words from one into the other. Your brain processes and retains all foreign language in the same area, so when you're trying to access a word for "cheese", you might pull up an MSA word or French one, depending on which one you know better or have used most recently. You will be more likely to self-correct if the languages are very different, but the substitution will still happen at first. Working on the two languages at the same time will actually help with this issue, because you'll be forced to make the distinction over and over again. The same holds true for differences in grammar.

 

I did this frequently in college. At one point, I was continuing Latin while in the early stages of Ancient Greek and German. Getting to the correct bit of vocabulary was often interesting and included detours through one or more of the other languages. Occasionally, I'd even pull up the Italian word first before going on. (I had studied Italian briefly earlier on.)

 

I self-corrected reliably, but it made taking tests interesting. I spent loads of time with flash cards, which probably helped my survival.

[Laura Corin]

As a note from a linguist, the similarity or difference in the two languages won't change your likelihood of inserting words from one into the other. Your brain processes and retains all foreign language in the same area, so when you're trying to access a word for "cheese", you might pull up an MSA word or French one, depending on which one you know better or have used most recently. You will be more likely to self-correct if the languages are very different, but the substitution will still happen at first. Working on the two languages at the same time will actually help with this issue, because you'll be forced to make the distinction over and over again. The same holds true for differences in grammar.

 

Definitely.  At times when I was fluent in Chinese but suddenly had to speak (rusty) French, I would speak French but seamlessly insert Chinese words into the sentence, not realising that I had done it until I saw the puzzlement on the French person's face.  Only later, when I built my French back up, was I able to switch between the languages without this kind of error.

 

L