Is it possible to study two languages at once in one day or is it better to alternate them? It all depends on your daily routine, on your work or study load, on personal preferences. Both options are correct, but each has its own characteristics. Let’s look at an example of an English-German pair, how to deal with each of the options.
Option 1. One day – One Language
The advantage is that you can concentrate well on one language. This option is more suitable for those who like to “plunge” into business with their heads.
- Give the tongue 45-60 minutes a day. It is not necessary to engage in an entire hour continuously, you can engage in 2 times a day for 30 minutes or 3 times a day for 20 minutes.
- Alternate languages. For example, on Monday and Thursday you can study English, on Tuesday and Friday – German. If you study English only in the first half of the week and German only in the second half, then most likely you will forget all that you learned in English by the end of the week.
- Pick up voluminous topics that include learning new words and training grammatical constructions.
- Try to use all your speech skills in your classes: talk a little, listen a little, write a little and read a little. If all 4 skills are difficult to master in 1 day, break them: today – speak and read, tomorrow – listen and write.
Option 2. Two Languages in One day
Advantage – you switch your attention from one language to another, and languages do not have time to bother you. This option is effective for those who prefer to study in “small portions.”
- The activity should not be too long. Give each language 20-30 minutes a day.
- To prevent languages from interfering with each other, be sure to take breaks in learning, for example, learn English in the morning and German in the evening. If it’s not possible to practice in the mornings and evenings, choose the time that suits your schedule. The main thing is to leave a certain period of time between languages. For example, you studied English, then you took the time to do personal things, then you started German.
- Break up big topics for a few days. For example, today – the study of new words, reading texts and dialogues, tomorrow – the study of grammatical rules, their use in speech.
- Practice one speech skill for two languages on the same day: today – reading, tomorrow – speaking, the day after tomorrow – writing, on the fourth day – listening. Two skills in two languages at once will be difficult to master in one day. Even if you succeed, then there will be disastrously little time for sufficient training of skills, and you will not achieve the desired result.
Useful Tips For Your Classes.
- Do not rush to grab everything at once. The Latin proverb says: “Festina lente” – hurry up slowly. No one forces you to memorize hundreds of words a day and memorize an infinite number of rules. New material should flow evenly.
- Make a schedule that is convenient only for you. If you do not have 30 minutes a day, it’s okay, let it be 10-15 minutes, but they will be productive. If hours are short, do more. It all depends on your strengths and capabilities.
- Learn the same words in both languages; go through the same topic in grammar. So you can find common and different features of the two languages. Compare the word “come” in German and Spanish: venir / venier / – venir / benir /. When learning European languages, many words will be repeated only with a difference in pronunciation.
- Look for similar words. For example, in English there are a lot of French borrowings: beautiful, city, restaurant, and literature, resume. So you potentially already know a lot of French words thanks to English. This trick will bring double benefits: you will remember the words in German and repeat them in English.
- Pay special attention to the basic knowledge of both languages, work out the entire new rules well. If any words or constructions are forgotten, go back and repeat them again. Otherwise, you risk getting “porridge” in the head.
- The pace of learning for a second language should increase gradually. Do not be afraid that the new language is learning slowly. A very important point at the initial stage of learning is to understand how the language works, what its structure is. Therefore, you need more time to remember the new rules.
- Keep yourself updated in learning new phrases and terms of languages with the help of internet especially trendy slang words that new generation use to communicate with now days.
- Learning a language independently is always difficult, someone must always tell where to move. If you feel that learning two languages yourself is too difficult, contact your teacher for help. He will help to “put everything on the shelves.”
- Learning two languages is a long and laborious process. But you need to rest too. Make 1-2 days a week on weekend.
- Choose the languages that you like, and then no similarities or differences will become an obstacle. If desired, everything becomes possible. If you want to learn more than two languages, you can use visual and multilingual dictionaries.
Summing up, we can confidently say that the answer to the question “how to learn two languages at the same time” was not so difficult to find. The most important thing is to choose those methods and techniques that suit you personally. If you follow our recommendations, then learning will turn into an exciting journey.
