7 expert tips for learning multiple languages

7 expert tips for learning multiple languages

I have always seen myself as an eager learner, someone who enjoys challenges and discovering new things. In truth, I am only eager when I have a choice in what I learn. Before our extended stay in France, I thought I would approach French with the same enthusiasm with which I learned Spanish.

In reality, I half-heartedly completed three (out of 78) levels in Duolingo and left it at that. It's not that I'm resistant to French, but I don't want to dilute my progress with Spanish.

With this in mind, I spoke to a number of polyglots and multilinguals to see how they acquired their many languages. They shared a wealth of information, the best of which is shared below.

Note: “First language” refers to the first foreign language you want to learn, not your native language.

1. Don't give up on your first choice

Most people choose their native language for a reason. This can be through a systematic review of the best language to learn, a desire to speak to locals while traveling, or an interest in a particular foreign culture. Abandoning your first language sets a priority and makes it easier to abandon later efforts.

“Instead of quitting, find what works for you,” says London-based Kiyeun Baek, who speaks English, Spanish, Korean, Japanese and French, sometimes on a daily basis, in her role as head of business development at global publisher DK. “For me, it’s starting to read real novels in the language as quickly as possible.”

Judith Meyer, who runs Learnlangs.com and organizes an annual multilingual meeting, speaks nine languages ​​(with another four at beginner or intermediate level).

She advises, "Try a different method or different materials first. If you're bored with a course or can't understand it, just do something else for a while: a different course or even some fun activities like surfing the Internet or watching funny videos."

Meyer advises native English speakers to choose a European language first before moving on to more difficult languages ​​further afield: "Any European language is a good first choice, and it makes little sense if, for example, you switch from French to Spanish and get into trouble because you lose your progress, only to run into exactly the same difficulties again."

2. Understand the components of “natural talent”

Our experts agree that motivation is the most important ingredient when learning multiple languages. Interestingly, they challenge us to question the term “natural talent.” Rather than a unique trait that some people have and others don't, natural talent can be broken down into components.

Julia Saperia, a London-based statistician who speaks five languages, told us: “I think there are several different talents - if you have them all then you're lucky.

I'm good at grammar because I can think logically, and my hearing is good because I'm musical. Some people are able to pick up languages ​​by immersing themselves in them, others are not afraid to make mistakes and learn without knowing or caring much about the rules. That’s a talent I’m not blessed with!”

Meyer explains: "I think there are talents for different aspects that are important in language learning. For example, there are people who have the gift of imitating accents: they hear very well and can reproduce sounds more faithfully than the rest of us.

There are also people who have particularly good memories. Daniel Tammet, who made headlines for learning Icelandic in a week, earlier took fourth place at the World Memory Championships. [His memory] definitely helped. Synesthesia helps too. However, I don’t believe in a separate language gene.”

Framing natural talent in this way makes it less daunting. You may not have a good memory, but you may be good at talking to people without worrying about making mistakes. Likewise, you may not be good at grammar, but your accent could be perfect.

3. Layer your learning by following the 70/30 rule

A question every aspiring polyglot asks is: Should I learn my languages ​​in parallel or one after the other? Our considered answer is neither.

Lora Green from 2Polyglot speaks four languages ​​and explains:

"Don't start learning two languages ​​at the same time because all the rules and definitions will get mixed up in your head, but don't wait until you're fluent in one language before taking courses in the second, because there's no hard limit at which you can say you're fluent in one language. You'll just be wasting time. If you can express your opinion in your native language, understand the basics of grammar, and follow the action in a TV series, use that as a sign that you can start learning another language."

Green adds: "I use a 70/30 ratio. I spend 70% of my language learning time on the new language and 30% on the language I know at an intermediate level." This allows her to build her languages ​​in layers.

Meyer uses a similar approach: "The approach that works best for me is to have only one beginner language that I'm actively learning, and one intermediate or advanced language that I also focus on. For the intermediate/advanced languages, I sometimes focus on more than one, but not for the beginner languages. That's always turned into a disaster!"

4. Develop personas for each language

Once you've made progress in multiple languages, it can be difficult to break them down, especially if they're similar.

Natasha Asghar, a London-based Zee TV presenter, speaks three Indo-Aryan languages ​​and three European languages ​​- four of which she uses daily in her work.

She tells us: "I learned English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi at the same time and later studied French and German. A useful tip for new learners is to develop 'personas' for each language. This will help keep them separate in your mind.”

So for French, your personality could be a quirky waitress like Amélie, who smiles and gestures a lot. For German it may be a stern scientist who speaks in clipped tones. Adopting their mannerisms, tone of voice, and way of speaking will help you keep the languages ​​separate.

If you stratify your languages ​​using the 70/30 rule, it can also be helpful to change your environment for each language and study them on different days.

5. Be systematic

If you're serious about learning multiple languages, consider tracking the hours you spend on each language.

Meyer tells us, "I get impatient when I don't see results quickly, so I keep a log of when I study and how long I study. I use a spreadsheet for this because daily updates shouldn't take time. My current main project is Hebrew and I can accurately say that I have studied 136 hours of Hebrew since January 1st, which is on average just over half an hour per day."

Tracking your study in this way will encourage you to celebrate small successes, motivate you to keep putting in the hours, and provide you with solid metrics against which to measure future language efforts.

6. Understand that learning a language is more long than difficult

Most of us believe that learning languages ​​is hard. No doubt it can be frustrating, challenging and unsatisfactory over long periods of time, but it is not as hard as astrophysics or advanced mathematics.

Learning multiple languages ​​– or even just one – takes more time than it does. Even the simplest languages ​​require 600 hours of learning to master. Staying focused and motivated is clearly key.

San Francisco-based designer Shannon Del Vecchio speaks English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese. She tells us: "When I first met my wife Gina, I already spoke four languages. I learned Italian partly because her family is Italian and I now have an Italian last name. She always said to everyone, 'Shannon is so good at languages! She's wonderful! She speaks four of them like it's nothing.' After watching me learn Italian, she now says, "You wouldn't believe Shannon's ability to concentrate when learning a language. She can sit down and work on it for two hours and nothing distracts her concentration. It's crazy."

7. Don't worry about keeping them all in your head

One of my concerns about learning French is that it will somehow “overwrite” my progress in Spanish, either diluting it or pushing it aside, a misconception most likely related to the discredited “separate underlying knowledge” (SUP) hypothesis.

Academic Nayr Ibrahim explains: "This theory suggests that languages ​​are stored in separate compartments or bins, which represent half the capacity of the monolingual brain. These 'bins' have limited storage space, and since the brain cannot store as much information, it 'bends out' the other language."

Ibrahim adds that SUP has been discredited by decades of research on bilingualism and multilingualism. In short, your brain has room for numerous languages. Just don't worry about keeping them all in your head at the same time.

Baek tells us: “In my experience, the languages ​​I use most often are easily ‘accessible’ and the others I need to ‘activate’.” Meyer adds that “it's difficult to keep all languages ​​equally accessible,” but that she can reactivate inactive ones with a few hours of study.

Don't let the fear of losing a language get the better of you before you even start.

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