Do you want to learn multiple languages at the same time? How do you do it? Are there tricks for learning multiple languages at once? What if they all interest you? Will it work? Is it possible?
These questions are really, really common, especially among polyglots. They want to speak all the languages, and they want to speak them all now. Right now.
Is it possible?
Yes, absolutely. But, my experience is that, if you actually want to get good at the languages, and not hamper your chances at either, I strongly, strongly advise choosing just one (for now) and sticking with it. If you try to learn two languages from scratch, you’ll bite off more than you can chew, and you’ll end up not being able to speak either.
So it’s possible.
But should you do it? Well, that’s for you to decide.
How can you learn multiple languages at the same time? Here are 7 rules.
But Rule 0? Proceed with caution.
However, you’ve not come here to be dismayed. Also, I’d be a total hypocrite if I told you not to, because I’m currently learning 3 foreign languages at once. So you absolutely can do it, but there are some tricks to help it not cause you problems. I’ve developed a system to help me do this, without making a mess, and thwarting all of my efforts. Today, I’ll share with you what I’ve learned, so that you can take advantage of it, too.
Rule 1: Make sure your abilities in the languages are at different levels.
What is the first rule for learning multiple languages at once? Don’t start from scratch with two at once. Don’t start learning two languages at once. Why? Because, in the beginning, you tend to learn very similar vocabulary: food, weather, basic greetings, simple emotions, hobbies. If you learn the few words that you have in these languages at the same time, without one set of vocabulary being firmly rooted in your long-term memory, your brain is going to going to have a really hard time separating out which word or expression belongs to which language. Most likely, you’ll end up trying to speak in one language, and the other one keeps jumping out.
Rule 2. Learn two dissimilar languages.
How else can you go about learning multiple languages simultaneously? If you’ve decided you really want to learn Portuguese and Japanese at the same time, you’re probably not going to mix them up quite so much, because they have very different grammatical systems, and the words are very different. However, if you start learning Spanish when you’ve already learned a bit of Portuguese, it’s going to be a lot harder not to mix them up.
Now, I speak Spanish and Portuguese, both to at least a comfortable conversational level, so this doesn’t mean that, as soon as you’ve started one, you can’t ever learn the other because you’ll mix them up: of course not. There are lots of people in the world who are fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese. But, if you try to learn both together you’ll probably end up more disheartened than ever, not able to speak either language and with a mediocre level of portugnol which is doing nothing but stopping you from getting fluent in either language.
Rule 3. 1 language, 1 person
What else will help you with learning several languages together? I speak at a fluent level three very similar languages: Spanish, Portuguese and Esperanto. And there is one rule that has really helped me to not muddle them up. The third rule: 1 language, 1 person. This means that you only ever speak to 1 person in 1 language. Never speak to the same person in 2 or more languages. Never. I never speak to the same person in two different languages. This means that, when I see or interact with a person, my brain knows which mode to use. It knows which sets of sounds, and words, to look for.
For example, I have a polyglot friend who spoke to a friend in Spanish and Esperanto. It sent her into temporary madness: she couldn’t distinguish between the two languages anymore. She couldn’t communicate with her friend in either language. Then, when she started speaking to me, and we only ever speak in Esperanto, almost all of the language-mixing languages melted away and she found her fluency again. With all the different contacts and languages in my life, my brain doesn’t have too much trouble mixing them up. Given that I have far fewer languages than I do friends (as it should be!) I can apply the 1 language, 1 person rule.
Now, a small side note:
Your native language (probably English) can be an exception. Unless you have a very high level in a different language and the words or grammatical structures are similar, you’re probably not going to mix it up with your native tongue (and if you do eventually have this problem, it’s the best, and funniest kind of problem to experience). So, this means exchanges are fine. Suppose you build a friendship with an exchange partner where you speak together for half an hour in Portuguese (their native language), then half an hour in English (your native language). If one of the two languages is your native tongue, you’ll probably be okay.
Rule 4. Expose yourself to both languages every day.
What’s another rule for learning multiple languages at the same time? If you practise one language, then practise the other the same day. A good way of doing this is to build a daily routine where you know you’ll definitely get exposure to both languages. Perhaps you watch a Netflix episode over breakfast, or you listen to a podcast on the way to work.
Rule 5. Put one of the languages on autopilot.
What’s a fifth rule to bear in mind for learning multiple languages at once?
I have a friend who started learning French, and then the next summer, started learning Catalan. He discovered that all the hard work he’d put into learning French got wrecked by his learning of Catalan, and the main problem was that he broke Rule 1 and Rule 2, but also that he didn’t maintain his French, so Catalan swamped it.
Do you want to avoid this happening to you? Then build yourself an environment in which you get exposure to, or practice in, one of the two languages. You could do this by, as I said in Rule 4, building a daily routine and habit. Another way is to have friends that only speak to you in your target language, or to live in the country, or study in the language.
For me, all of my languages are on autopilot. I have built solo daily habits and friendships that are exclusively in one of my target languages, and I study in a foreign language. So this means that, even if my focus is on a different language, I will always get exposure, at least on a weekly basis (usually most days) to all of my languages, because I’ve built an environment that means that it will happen, and so my brain is constantly being trained to separate the languages from each other and strengthen each muscle so that it can stand on its own when confronted with the other languages occupying space in my brain.
How you choose to do this will depend on your circumstances, of course. But, if you build yourself an environment in which you will definitely get exposure to, or practice in, one of the two languages, then you save yourself the pain of watching all of your language learning progress melt away because you dabbled with a different language before you were ready.
Rule 6. Find your “personality” in each of the two languages.
Each language has a different feel, and a different style. It sounds different, it looks different, and it will dress you differently. Even with languages as similar as Portuguese and Spanish, they are rooted in different histories and different cultures, so they have different personalities. And you have different personalities when you speak them. If you have a certain way of saying Portuguese words, then, when you try to say a Spanish word with your Portuguese voice, it’ll feel… wrong. Your brain knows that the word doesn’t belong. So, think about who you are in that language. Think about what kind of person the language brings out of you. And make sure they’re different. Because they are different.
If you like the idea that languages have different personalities, you might like to read this.
Rule 7. Be patient with yourself
I follow all of these rules, and I very rarely muddle up the languages I speak and am learning. It happens a little, but that’s part of the joy of the multilingual life, and it’s a bit of a laugh. If you learn multiple languages at the same time, you’re dividing your language learning time between two languages, so you’re not going to progress as quickly in either compared with if you’d devoted all of that time to learning one language. But, if you really must, and you follow these rules, be patient with yourself. Accept that it’s going to take longer to get fluent, and there probably will be a bit of mixing along the way. But the more proficient you get at each language, the less mixing there will be. Have patience, and keep going.
Do you want to learn more?
Rules for learning multiple languages at once, from the best:
Here are some of the best, most well-known polyglots talking about how they do it:
My favourite piece of advice and inspiration comes from Lydia Machova, founder of Language Mentoring. I follow the methods she explains here How to learn two languages at once? And should you do it?
Click here How to Learn 3 Languages at Once (My Personal Routine) for how Italian polyglot Luca Lampariello learns 3 languages at once.
This Learning Multiple Languages at the Same Time is how Steve Kaufmann does it.