Is anyone trying to learn two languages at once?
If so, how is it going? I am wondering if I should attempt this or wait until I have learned Spanish better.
Does anyone have any input on this?
Thanks!
16 Answers
I think trying for fluency in Portuguese or Italian might be difficult if you are also trying to master Spanish (the 3 are so similar that I personally feel it could cause some confusion...but I could be wrong). Not saying it shouldn't be done, but, as LatinaPunkro points out, the vocabulary can be difficult to keep straight.
That said, I still study German a bit. It's no problem (German is a root of English but is unrelated to Spanish). Studying French might be easier after studying Spanish (I studied that as well, and i think it eased me into Spanish faster as it has some similarities in grammar...it has a lot of cognates to Spanish, but the spelling and pronunciation is different enough for me to keep straight.).
So, if you are wanting to dive into Gaelic or whatever, I don't think it will be a problem. You might even get a bit of synergy between the two languages. You might prolong fluency in either language a bit by dividing your attention...on the other hand, you might speed up the process a bit. But fluency is going to be a years-long process in either case.
The more languages you tackle, (I'm guessing) the less the brain will feel a need to always force non-English languages to relate (artificially at times) to English patterns (i.e., you'll have an easier time accepting the language on its own terms).
Sometimes, I find I actually improve by resting from Spanish for several days...like my mind gets tired of it in one way and possibly "chews the cud" so to speak. So, you might find alternating to be beneficial (as you can rest from one while studying the other).
Only one way to find out...jump in and see.
I was, there was a time I majored in Spanish & took Italian as minor. There were some similarities that are quite noticeable, like the sustantivos & the patterns of how verbs are conjugated. Like Latina, there are times where you mix up words when trying to speak & write in either language. However, my question is this: when will "til I have learned Spanish better" be? Pretty much subjective, & not a few fluent speakers of any language will tell you that they still are in the process of learning that particular language everyday. The learning process can take forever, literally. My point is, learn as much as you can today, & just enjoy the experience. I enjoyed Italian as much as I was enjoying Spanish, & I bet being a language lover that you are, you will appreciate other languages other than (& as much as) Spanish for their own unique beauty.
Well, I am not learning two languages at the same time, but I do think it is a good idea to focus on learning two things at the same time. With my personality, this seems to work best.
Right now, in addition to Spanish, I am trying to improve my knowledge of sound systems and equipment. This is information that is really necessary and useful to me at this time. I am not working on it to the same degree that I am practicing Spanish, but I do work on it almost daily.
I have found that learning two things at the same time is very helpful for me. When I am on overload from my first project, say Spanish, I will read something about graphic equalizers to mix it up a bit. Then, when I return to studying Spanish, my mind is fresh and somehow, I am able to understand and absorb more.
I have read about this phenomena somewhere and I know it works, at least for me. When I have a music student who is frustrated with learning a new song, I tell them to stop playing it and to work on something else. When they return to the first piece, many of the roadblocks and problems are removed and their playing is improved.
I think if you are highly motivated and have reasons for learning both languages, that you should go for it. 
Goodness no! Yikes!
Hi I am Lovely and I am trying to learn 4 languages at once (English) (Spanish)and(french) beside the hardest language in the world (Arabic)and I think that I am doing well in learning the three languages at once ignoring the Arabic that I already have to study it at school they should make a statue for me noticing that I still to young I am under 16 years can you believe that !!!!!!!! LOL.
From my point of view (having studied a fair number of languages) the answer is (the unhelpful), "it depends". There was a period when I knew some Latin and French and then started to study Spanish. The Latin and French certainly helped with Spanish(grammatical concepts and many cognates) but, in fact, I quickly became better in Spanish than I had ever been (or will ever be) in Spanish than in French or Latin. I then studied classical Greek (during that period I was not actively studying any other languages but Spanish remained a strong interest).
Next I took a single semester of German ( one semester is a mere "drop in the bucket" and certainly does not lead to competence). The Germanic roots of English were, of course, helpful as was the experience (from Latin, Spanish and French) of inflected verbs and grammatical gender.
I then moved on to Arabic (inflected verbs and grammatical gender) and Vietnamese (no gender [except for some pronouns] and no inflection (for person) or singular/plural). Finally I took up Japanese (except for loanwords, zero cognates wint English and quite different word order and grammatical constructions).
Oddly enough, the language conflicts that I have experienced have not been between similar languages (which is what most theorists predict) but between the the languages that I am most actively studying (in my case Spanish and Japanese).
I am trying to develop greater proficiency in Spanish and this langauge will, I hope, always remain my favourite of all languages! I LOVE the sound of the words.. it is a beautiful langauge: Lyrical and poetic and always full of surprises! Having said all that, I am developing my French alongside and writing to a girl,f rom time to time, in her native langauge of Brazilian Portuguese. Spanish and French are similar in many ways, having their foundation in their latin roots. One of the obvious similarities is evident: when two verbs follow each other the second is generally in the infinitive;
Quisiera reservar una mesa para cuatras personas,. por favor (Sp)
Je voudrais réserver un table pour quatre personne, s'il vous plait (aplogies to French purists lol but I don't have a circumflex to place above the i ) (Fr)
I would like to reserve a table for four people, please (Eng)
Since neither of these langauges illustrated above are entirely new to me I don't usually have a problem with separating them in my learning. ..unless words are spelt identically and pronounced differently (hononyms) in which case I have to work harder to learn their individual pronounciation.
I would stop short of recommending the learning of several languages simultaneoulsy to others as some people can manage the complexities involved and others undoutably cannot My only advice would be if you struggle with English work at that before you learn another language or if you can only just manage one extra laangauge don't take on two /more than you can cope with ! In simple terms: Walk before you can run
Originally my plan was to learn Spanish, then move on to Italian and then learn Portuguese, but after 5 years of trying to master Spanish I realized that it was going to take a long time to learn each language, and there was no guarantee I would ever be able to call myself fluent in any of them. Last year I began first taking on Portuguese, my background in Spanish has helped tremendously and about 6 months ago I begin to learn Italian. Although it is tough to learn 3 languages a once, my head start in Spanish has aided me in learning the other two more easily. The biggest problem is getting words from one language mixed up with words from another! It is difficult to do so, but if you can handle it, it is well worth your effort! 
People in other countries learn multiple languages all the time! I spent a year in Germany as an exchange student, and I had courses in English, French, and Russian, sometimes all in the same day.
Sometimes you have to get your brain into the right "groove" for whichever language you want to use ... for example, by reading a few pages, or reciting something memorized in that language. And the better you know the language, the less likely you are to mix the vocabulary (I believe this has been shown for kids growing up bi- or tri-lingual as well).
Have fun!
I am learning to be Spanish in school and I am trying to become fluent in Italian, German, and Latin. These are common languages for classical music, so it is very important that I understand what I am singing and pronounce the words correctly. I have found that if I devote about 1 hour per day to specifically learning something new about each language I can keep them all separate and don't get confused. Sometimes I work on writing German, speaking Spanish, and hearing Italian, so that I do not confuse the languages in a typical conversation with my bilingual friends.
I would say that if you have time to devote to learning more than one foreign language at a time, try it for a while and see how well it goes. If you are easily confused, focus on one language for maybe a week, and then switch to the other.
Well, to start with, the more you know (as far as languages), the more valuable you are in business, and even on some personal levels. I saw that webdunce was fluent in portuguese also (which is a sister language only a little more advanced of spanish) which would be a great place to start.
Now personally, I've recent taken an interest in French, however I plan on waiting till I master Spanish, and then i'll take on French. So I guess, my suggestion would be to master Spanish (if that's what you're learning now) and then venture on to learn the other language. This way, you're not losing focus on either one.
Also, just a suggestion for a good language that would be fairly easy because of it's strong resemblance to Spanish, Italian would be a great second language to learn, not to mention the beautiful sites in Italy that would mean even more after learning the language.
Anyways, hope that offers some help. Have fun whatever it is.
As I have started to study Chinese I have put my Polish on hold. I just don't feel like I can do both. However, it is important that I don't lose everything I have learned so some casual conversation or reading, listening to news or any other activity is helpful so that I don't lose it even though i am not pursuing it in detailed study.
Maybe I will give it a year or so then and see how I feel after that.
Thanks for the replies.
I'll try to answer using some structures I've just learnt from one of Paralee's lessons:
Si tuviera mucho tiempo libre, volvería a aprender francés o alemán (aunque no me gusta como suena el alemán).
I tried Spanish and American Sign Language at the same time. Funny thing was, I NEVER mixed them up. ....weird. I just can't learn sign language (my brain bone isn't connected to my hand bone--I'll keep trying though. It might help if I actually took a class.)
