Learning a Third Language

[HeyMarlana]

In a recent blog post from Duolingo Can you learn two languages at the same time? I couldn't help but notice that for people like me, there has always been a struggle with learning more than one language.

I have often had a hard time taking on a new language, often experiencing loss of progress from the previous language I was learning. I usually jump in both feet first when learning anything new, and language learning is no different. But this comes at a price. I find myself ignoring the other language completely as I focus to succeed in the new language.

This article gives some good tips on learning more than one language. One that was obvious was simply to not let the other language go while learning a new one, and to trust that our brains are equipped to learn two things at once.

Have you struggled with learning more than one language [at the same time]? What were your obstacles? What tips can you share that personally worked for you?

[Deleted User 15536]

Everybody is different, even you could use a quite opposite approach depending on the stage you are in your language learning, you often have to fine-tuning, but sometimes even an important change may be necessary in your methods.
When I was a young, in college, I succeed to learn several languages at the same time: French, Latin, Ancient Greek plus Medieval Spanish Literature. The classes were in Spanish except the French ones, but I usually spoke Galician.
So, yes, you can learn and use several languages at the same time.
Now, in my sixties, I only try to learn English.

[Explorer]

I don't just study several languages at the same time, I feel like I need to. There’s no doubt that if you want to make fast progress, the best thing to do is focus all your efforts on a single language. But when you’ve been studying the same one for years and have reached a certain level, I believe learning another language can be a refreshing experience. There are pros and cons to both approaches, and it really depends on the person.

[HeyMarlana]

When I was a young, in college, I succeed to learn several languages at the same time

This takes me back to a time when this was normal for young adults who were in a constant rhythm of learning all throughout their childhood/teens and then into college and university. (Personally, I did not take language courses in my post-education program. I regret that now.)

Some of my friends were taking more than one language for credits at university, and others were in programs and institutions where they could improve their academics before going on to university — also taking more than one language. They soared through their courses because they were already in learning-mode. It's all we/they ever did.

Could this be something that just diminishes over time? If an adult enters a phase of life where they do not include classroom learning, or taking courses, they may need to get reacquainted with how to learn.

[McGonnagle]

Since I started studying English, I’ve been researching word origins more often, and through that, I’ve developed an interest in Latin. I feel that learning Latin and English simultaneously strengthens my memory. Once I become more better in Latin, I’d like to study other Romance languages as well.

[Deleted User 15536]

[…]
Could this be something that just diminishes over time? If an adult enters a phase of life where they do not include classroom learning, or taking courses, they may need to get reacquainted with how to learn.

Probably not. An adult, even an old adult, can learn as well as a young child, but differently. Of course, if they don't suffer a mental disorder.
There are pros and cons of learning at an older age, the vocabulary is larger, for example.
But pronunciation needs more focus. It is not imposible to acquire it, but an incredible amount of time may be necessary.

[IceVajal]

Actually Russian is still a tough one for me, but I needed something easy to keep me going. So I started dabbling with Dutch about 1,5-2 years ago and now read novels. Now I dabble with Italian. I spend about 60-70% of my time with Russisch, ca 15-20% on Dutch and only a bit on Italian.

As soon as I have the chance to start reading I make progress faster. I'm not focusing on speaking, that just seems to happen when I start reading. But that's just me.

[SweNedGuy]

As a child I was force-fed Latin. The aim of learning Latin is not to speak the language, but to be able to understand literary texts in classic Latin. We also had French lessons (our second national language). We started learning English only two years later.
As adolescents, one hour a week German was added. (Actually knowing Latin: a language with declensions helps to understand German grammar.) But even a Dutch speaker does not get beyond the A1 level in German when finishing the sixth grade.

An English native speaker can generally find people with whom to communicate in English abroad. As a Dutch speaker, finding somebody speaking your native tongue is quite rare. This sets you up for learning multiple languages.

[Meli578588]

Wow !
•What a great way to grow up .
Not sure if this was your school or your parents / grandparents that had you learning multiple languages. (School-systems)

They didn’t hone in on the importance of languages in my Country.
Even in private schools it wasn’t thought of as important.

I was put in Catholic schools that just happened to be a Spanish and a Greek school , so I was taught those languages.
At my Greek school , we even had to go to church on Fridays . All in Greek, too.

•I think it makes a person very interesting to speak or at least understand /be able to read , more than one language.

I think that it should be mandatory to be taught at least one language in school at a very young age , if not more.

[IchbinLukasTDN]

I’m not fully mastered in English yet so I still have to learn it and I also learn German, Japanese and Chinese. I’m still learning them all at the same time so it’s quite a struggle for me lol but at least I enjoy it. Here are the rankings on how much I know in these languages:

1. English
2. German
3. Chinese
4. Japanese
   Also the hardest thing for me is the Chinese pronunciations (why am I struggling with writing pronunciation? Also why do I always say “pronounciation”

[MoniqueMaRie]

I think that it should be mandatory to be taught at least one language in school at a very young age , if not more.

Learning English is mandatory in most European countries at an early age.

Even in the years when I was in school we started with English when I was 10 (two years later Latin and after two more years French). Today it's earlier .
At grammar school you had and have to choose one second foreign language. Most of my class did a third one if Latin had been the second.
These aren't schools with a special focus on foreign languages. My main subjects at A-level were maths and physics.

I think you can tell from the answers here whose native language is not the current world language English. Most of those learn English at an early age. So they are into learning languages and it's getting easier with every languages from the same language family.

How not to forget one language if you start a new one? Quite easy: learn the new language from the one you already know.
Until recently, there wasn't even Chinese for German speakers in Duolingo.

[MoniqueMaRie]

But pronunciation needs more focus. It is not imposible to acquire it, but an incredible amount of time may be necessary.

Exactly.

I regret that I didn't get involved with a Slavic language earlier.
Now I realise that I have great difficulty with the pronunciation of Polish: repetition/ repetition/repetition = time/time/time

Perhaps I should aim for early retirement to have more time for languages.

[Meli578588]

Very interesting. I would have loved being able to pick a second language in grade school , etc.
• I haven’t tried or even looked at learning French from Italian or Vise versa. Thank you much for that helpful tip!
I did pick German for a pen pal in the second grade.
So, I did get to pick a language , but they didn’t continue teaching us our chosen language

@MoniqueMaRie , ( Above)
Other Countries were and are- much smarter in that area.

@duome Having trouble with my tag button. Any suggestions , please and thank you. It’s a hit and miss and takes me multiple times to use it.

[SweNedGuy]

From the southernmost shore of the North Sea down to the Dolomites, there is a kind of zipper through Europe, separating Germanic languages from Romance ones. It cuts through France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Switzerland and Northern Italy and it rarely follows a national border.

People along that 'language border' have historically been bilingual or have a very good command of the neighbour langauage as L2. It is not always evident, because the idiom spoken can differ quite a lot from the standard language.

In the late 1960's French was the first choice as second language in Flanders. Both the evolution to a federal state with authonomy for the Flemish region and the economic decline of Wallonia caused that to shift. Nearly 60 years later, the majority of pupils start learning English as a second language, both in Flanders and Wallonia. Only in Brussels (the 'bilingual city') the other national language is still compulsory in public schools. But for how long? In Brussels, you also find a lot of international schools teaching a different language. (Not only English).

In the federal administrations you still find a lot of bilingual persons speaking both Dutch and French very well. In society at large their number is dwindling.

[MoniqueMaRie]

• I haven’t tried or even looked at learning French from Italian or Vise versa. Thank you much for that helpful tip!

I believe that the two duolingo courses IT-FR and FR-IT are still in the form that the former volunteer team left behind. Partly you learn completely different vocabulary there than in EN-IT or EN-FR. It is still worth taking a look at them. Give them a try.

[Basler Biker]

@duome Having trouble with my tag button. Any suggestions , please and thank you. It’s a hit and miss and takes me multiple times to use it.

HI, what is "the tag button"?

[Meli578588]

@baslerbiker < ——-This….. Hi & thank you for your response.
It’s suppose to highlight and tag the person in the little bell at the top of the page.
•Didn’t work this time. ( Above)