The default advice for multiple languages is to learn one language at a time. But I never learn one language at a time. Here’s why.

When I was a teenager, my parents ran a weekend session at the local leisure centre for kids only.

I loved going because it meant I got to try all the machines for free.

But my favourite thing was that the gym had Sky music channels – something we didn’t have at home.

One day, doing some very relaxed rowing on the rowing machine, I saw what I thought must be the new Britney Spears music video.

She was dancing around with some slow-mo horses, wearing leather pants, and shimmying her hips.

At the end of the song, the details appeared on the screen before moving onto the next early Noughties pop hit. I like to fill in the blank space in my memory here and imagine next up was 21 Seconds by So Solid Crew.

Anyway, on my next trip to the town’s independent music shop, I picked up the cassette for Whenever, Wherever by Shakira.

The extra tracks on the cassette were all in English. It wasn’t until I got the album that I discovered Shakira sung the song in Spanish!

And not just that one song – multiple songs!

I was in.

I’d sit and read the lyrics booklet, not understanding a word of what those songs were singing to me but loving it all the same.

This was the worldly Avril/Britney/Gwen combined into one I’d been looking for!

A birthday or two later, I asked for one of Shakira’s older ‘fully-in-Spanish’ albums.

I got ‘Dónde Están los Ladrones?’ and a Spanish Gem dictionary.

Now I’d found my Alanis in Spanish. I was all in.

And I spent the evening on my birthday sat at my grandparent’s kitchen table attempting to translate every single word.

My school didn’t teach Spanish. Just French.

For three years, I’d sat bored in repetitive French lessons, always with someone swinging on their chair chiming in with a “Why do we need to learn French anyway? I go on holiday to Costa Del Little Britain.” or “Why do we need to learn French anyway? Everyone speaks English.”

French sucked.

Spanish was mine.

But then, my school did something that changed my life.

They added Spanish and German as options for our GCSE exams.

But! There was a caveat!

To do Spanish or German, you had to do French.

This was a worthy sacrifice for me.

I wanted to do Spanish enough to sit through the slog of my French exams.

Studying 2 languages at once became second nature.

I thought nothing of it.

No “Must get to level X in French before I start Spanish”.

No “Only one at a time to avoid confusing yourself.”

Multiple languages became the norm.

As time went on, I consistently found myself studying more than one language at once.

From Japanese lessons happening at my Sixth Form to layering language courses for my Open University degree.

Life feels better multilingual.

I’ve tried ‘one at a time’, of course I have.

I’m only human, and the message of “This is the way!” gets under my skin too.

But I become bored.

I become impatient.

And I become inefficient when learning one language at a time.

For some people, that will be “the way”. But I know from years of experience and multiple attempts, that for me, it’s not.

I know that I thrive, stay motivated, and learn languages better when I’m learning more than one at once.

If you’re drawn to multiple languages, allow it.

If you prefer to study one at a time, that’s good too.

All of this to say, there’s no one right way to become multilingual.

One of the most common question topics I get is about how to learn multiple languages.

I know what works for me. But I know that’s just my experience.

That’s why in Language Life, I don’t give you my prescriptive ‘one-size-fits-all’ system for you to squeeze into.

Instead, I show you the 5 Models of Multilingual Learning. So you can pick the one that’s right for you right now.

That reassurance that you’re doing it your way, and knowing that’s just one way is essential.

Because there’ll be times (just like I’ve had too), when that way isn’t right for you anymore.

And when you’ve seen the full picture, you can instantly switch to the Model that is better for you in that moment.

No need to waste time trying to keep squashing everything into the same neat box as before when it no longer fits.

I think back often to picking my GCSE choices, and how different my life might have been if Spanish hadn’t been an option, if Shakira hadn’t transitioned to the English-language music market, if my school had only let me pick one language.

For me it was pivotal.

It showed me that I can learn more than one language at once, that I enjoy that challenge, and that I love when I have the knowledge to compare languages.

I’ve sometimes wondered if ‘this is it’, if that new language will be the last one, become the strongest one, become my new Spanish.

But then I’m quick to remember that there’s not much time on this Earth, certainly not enough time to learn 7000 languages, but just about enough to try as many as take your fancy.

As Shakira would say, albeit as an animated gazelle, try everything.

If you want to learn multiple languages, we can work to make that as easy as possible inside Language Life.

Find out more and get started here.