How To Learn Multiple Languages At A Time

One of the most frequent questions that I get asked is: how can you keep seven different languages straight? Do you not get confused and mix them up? Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut, simple answer to this question, but there are some explanations that will hopefully explain why I am able to do so. I can assure you that is not only possible, but also very easy to study multiple languages at a time. You do not have to be enrolled in a language classroom, spend a lot of money, or even have native speakers of your target languages in your community in order to do so. In fact, you can do most, if not all of your language learning from the comfort of your home. This may sound hypercritical, considering that I have studied most languages in school; however, I have drastically improved my conversational, listening, and reading skills in my spare time. Below, I will give you a few tips on how you can learn more than one language at a time.

1. Do not overwhelm yourself

This tip may sound self-explanatory, and, in many ways, it is, but I will expand on it, so that you can see why I think that it is so important. Whenever you are learning more than one language at a time, the last thing that you want to do is make yourself feel frustrated, which oftentimes makes you want to stop learning a language altogether. You should never force yourself to review grammar for three different languages, or watch several foreign films without subtitles on the same day. Instead, I would recommend focusing on one language a time whenever you have spare time. This will help balance out your schedule, and will allow you to make more progress in a shorter amount of time.


2.   Create a schedule for language-learning and stick to it

Your brain works wonders when it focuses on one specific task a time. Keep in mind that if you did this, you should set specific goals for what you want to teach yourself, or review for each language throughout the week, and try to avoid not interacting with a language (especially one in which you are not advanced) for more than a week.

For example, you could set up a schedule, and study German on Mondays, French on Wednesdays, and Italian on Fridays. Your goal for German could be to watch a few YouTube videos for an hour, write down any new words, and then translate them into your mother tongue. On the other hand, you may want to focus on reviewing difficult grammar for French. What is key for you to remember is that you are not at the same level in each language. You should spend your free time wisely by primarily focusing on your weak spots, and by assuring that your language study is part of your daily, and weekly routine.

3. Do not start two languages from scratch at the same time

One mistake that many people make is that they try to juggle too much new information right away, and want to skip over what many would call the boring parts of language learning: the beginner stage. I can relate to that, now that I have studied four different Romance languages, and can easily give you grammatical explanations of how and why a language works the way that it does. However, I recommend that you rethink your thought-process and that you focus on mastering the basics of a language before moving on to a new language. 

After having had many years of study with French, I decided to start taking German as a sophomore in high-school. Since I had already taken French in school for three years, I had already surpassed the beginner stage, and was learning more difficult grammar and vocabulary. In other words, it was the perfect time for me to start learning a new language, because I could do more than just get by when speaking French. I waited another two years to start self-teaching Italian, and less than a year to start learning Russian, since Italian is close to my mother-tongue, which is Spanish (I had also self-studied it when I was eight).

Spacing each language out has made me more focused, and more excited to start picking up a new language. I have never overwhelmed myself to the point of wanting to give up, because I have waited to pass a certain level of each language before even seriously considering to start a new one. By never starting two languages from scratch at once, I have reached at least an advanced intermediate level in every language that I speak except for Russian. As many polyglots would say, there is no secret to the recipe. You simply have to act smart, and be smart when you decide to take on, what many would say, is a difficult task: language-learning.

4. Practice speaking as frequently as possible

In order to be able to say that you can speak multiple languages, you have to practice all of them. Although many claim that they speak Spanish, because they took it throughout high-school, oftentimes, this is not true. What separates exceptional language learners from others is that they are not afraid of making mistakes (feel free to read my post titled: "Being Afraid of Making Mistakes in Another Language" if you want to get tips on how to become less fearful when speaking another language). 

What I do is that I go to my college’s language tables, which are friendly and casual environments in which you can practice your conversational skills with professors of that language, with native speakers and teaching assistants, and with other students of all levels. I consistently go to Italian Table on Wednesdays, French Table on Tuesdays, and have also gone to German and to Russian Table on Tuesdays. Despite them only being once a week, I can now comfortably speak with native speakers, and can have complex conversations. I have gotten corrected in a respectful way, and can easily ask questions if I do not remember words in each language.

Aside from going to language tables, I attend many of our language departments’ film screenings, and have become closer with many international students who are native speakers of some of my target languages. Whenever I get the chance, I ask them if I can practice my speaking skills with them, and more than 99 percent of the time, they are willing to do so. If for some reason I cannot find someone with whom to practice, I speak to myself. This may sound odd, but many other polyglots have mentioned that this has helped them be consciously aware of what they know, and on what they can improve. Whichever words, or grammar you cannot remember when practicing, you can easily review and repeat as many times as you feel is necessary.

As you can probably tell, I continue to be amazed by my brain’s, as well as other polyglots’ brains’ capacities, but know that we are not geniuses. We were not born more capable or smarter than others, but we have learned how to continue to push our brains’ limits on a daily basis. Polyglots know how to effectively manage their time, and incorporate languages into their daily routines as much as possible. If you want to call yourself a polyglot, you should follow their footsteps, and follow their advice.