Wondering how to learn more than one language at the same time? Becoming a polyglot is easy when you’ve busted the myths about how to learn multiple languages. Read on to learn how.
Instead, I’ve almost always been learning multiple languages simultaneously. When I get into a new language, I dive in headfirst and try to learn as much as I can as quickly as possible. To me, learning one language is like eating just one chocolate from the box: you might start with just one, but something about them makes it hard not to keep going!
So if you’re curious about how to learn multiple languages at once, read on.
In this article, we’ll bust the myths around multilingual learning and see how negative self-talk can hinder your language skills. Then we’ll go over some tips for how to approach polyglot learning so that you can make the most of your time in each language you study.
Myth 1: It’s best to focus on one language at a time
The idea is that having multiple languages in your head at once will confuse you. But I know people who are fluent in five or six languages (or more!) and they manage just fine.
If you’re learning closer related languages like Spanish and Italian, there may be some similar vocab, but if you mix things up it doesn’t matter because you can often still be understood.
The fact is, you can usually tell when you’ve got two languages mixed up. And if you get them wrong, no-one’s going to die — it’s really not a big deal.
Besides, if you choose to focus only on one language, when do you add in another? You never finish learning a language. So what typically happens is people get stuck thinking they need to be “fluent” before adding another, but never reach a level that feels like “fluent”.
Myth 2: If you learn multiple languages, you’ll never be fluent
This myth is based on the idea that if you want to become really proficient in a language, you need to dedicate your life to it — but this isn’t true.
When learning languages, I tend to have one (maybe two) that are my core focus languages. These are the priority. The ones I study first in a day.
By giving them a little more focus and priority, you’re allowing them space to grow and improve. And you can still work on your other languages at a slower pace.
The trick is not to compare yourself with native speakers, or learners further along the line than you. Compare you current self with your past self. That’s the best way to see your own improvement in a language.
Myth 3: It’s better to be really fluent in one language than conversational in lots
I’m not going to say it’s better the other way round either. There is no better or worse, just different for different people and situations.
Sure, if you use one additional language for work, or you study through it, or you live surrounded by it, then it makes sense to really aim for high proficiency in one language.
But that doesn’t mean that there’s only disadvantages to knowing many languages to lower levels. Even just knowing a few words in a language can be impactful in certain situations.
Multilingual is the norm around the world for more people than we might first think. In fact, more than half the world’s population are estimated to be bilingual or multilingual! Monolingualism is not the default. And neither is perfectly balanced bilingualism.
So move fearlessly forward with multilingual as the default.
How To Learn More Than One Language At The Same Time
Time management
There are several key principles to learning multiple languages at once, but I find that the most important factor is time management.
Time management is key for learning multiple languages. You don’t need to have every single minute of the day earmarked for one language or another, but if you can develop your skills of actively using your time well, then you’ll be giving yourself a big advantage when it comes to learning multiple languages at once successfully.
First things first, let’s bust a little myth here: time management doesn’t exist! You can’t “manage” time. It will always happen. It is always happening. We can’t control that.
But, what we can control to some extent is what we do with our time.
Developing your prioritising skills and understanding your procrastination triggers so you can avoid them as much as possible will really help here. We go into lots more detail on how to do both of these things in Language Life.
Where you choose to do your learning can have a big impact on how effectively you learn.
Sometimes we have little control over this. For example, if you’re learning on the go in an airport, train station, or car. Or if you’re in the midst of moving house and there’s no desk space or quite study corner available to you.
But, we can still learn in any environment. Not all learning we do will always be the most effective, that’s ok. Everything counts.
Instead of putting off learning languages until you have the (non-existent) “perfect” environment, start now.
Consider what you can control and make the adjustments you can to enjoy your learning more.
If you enjoy audio lessons on your commute on the bus, would a pair of noise-cancelling headphones be a good investment?
If you’re not in a permanent home right now, would a trip to the library be worthwhile?
If you’ve been on a screen all day for work emails, would a book be better in the evening than some app time?
Break between languages
If you’ve got some time to study multiple languages in one go, take a moment to have a break in between to “glide” from on to the other a little more comfortably.
Take a 5 minute break between studying one language and another. Fetch a glass of water, go for a wee, do some starjumps!
It’s all good to move about a bit before settling back in to avoid fatigue and boredom in the second one.
Connected to the last one, it’s a good chance to use that time smartly to ease yourself in to the next language.
Say you have an hour. You could have 25 minutes with one language, doing some focused study time.
In that 5 minute break you take, you can listen to some music or talk radio.
I love Radio Garden for this. Or even a little Memrise or Drops session.
Maybe you try talking out loud to yourself or repeating what you hear on your break.
You can study multiple languages in the same place, but it can be good to intentionally break things up and ease yourself in from one to another.
Ladder – learn one through another
Perhaps you’re not studying multiple languages actively at the same level, but instead you have one or two you don’t want to lose completely whilst you learn a new one.
You can learn one language through another in this case.
For example, if you know Spanish pretty well and you want to learn Catalan, you use Spanish as your ‘base’ language to find resources in to learn Catalan.
This also has the advantage of potentially opening up new resources to you as well!
When I studied Guarani, there were hardly any resources available to me in English. However, when I started searching in Spanish, a few more things opened up to me.
Laddering is a great tool for when you are at a reasonable level in that first additional language, and you might even learn some new words in that language too!
Mix up resources so it’s not one becoming “fun” language and the other “dull”
There is a risk when learning multiple languages that one language ends up becoming the “fun” language and the other the “boring” one.
This can happen when you’re actively learning a new one and the older language, or even a new one that you’re learning much more casually ends up only being the fun and “easy” activities, leaving the poor new language stuck with grammar drills and vocab lists!
There’s no reason things have to be this way with multiple languages and you can definitely avoid it easily.
All you have to do is mix up your resources and activities for all languages you’re studying from time to time.
That doesn’t mean you need to switch every single week and never finish a chapter in a course book!
More so the additional activities can be made more playful and fun.
Set your balance
When learning multiple languages at once, the balance will always be different for everyone.
You’ll want to start by considering how much progress you want to make in each language, and how much time you can (and want to) devote to each language too.
If this balance is nearer 50/50, that’s cool.
If it’s 90/10, that works too.
And if it’s 40/40/20, that’s also fine.
Whatever your balance looks like of how you’ll spend your time on multiple languages, the important thing is that you recognise your progress will likely be slower when you learn multiple languages, especially if the balance is uneven. And this is ok.
Not all languages are the same, but there’s always some associations to be made.
I’ve found things that remind me of something in the other language in combinations as unusual as Guarani and Turkish, Russian and Dutch, and Japanese and German.
There’s always some connection to be found and it can go way beyond similar vocab!
Notice and acknowledge the language differences and similarities you find, perhaps even noting them in one place.
Don’t be afraid of ‘mixing’ your languages. When we try and keep languages individually boxed up seperately, we’re actively denying the natural formation of these connections, all of which can help us remember more in more languages down the line.
Join Dabblers’ Den
If you can’t decide which language to learn next, if you’re overwhelmed at where to begin learning a new language, or if you just love to dabble, Dabblers’ Den is for you.
Every single month inside Dabblers’ Den, you learn a new language in just 1 hour with me.
So you can satisfy your aspiring polyglot cravings & discover more about the languages of the world without the pressure to always commit to full fluency.
Dabblers’ Den is perfect for you if…
🌈 You’re ready to discover a proven way to start learning any language on demand
🌈 You want to learn multiple languages but feel overwhelmed to start
🌈 You’re endlessly curious about the world & use language as a lens to learn more
🌈 You’ve got fluency goals & recognise that dabbling in other languages can help you get there
Sign up for Dabblers’ Den once and I’ll keep you updated about all future sessions.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
How to Manage Daily Habits for Multiple Languages
How to Learn a Language When You’re Busy Saying “I Don’t Have Time!”
How To Restart Learning a Language
How to Personalise Any Language Resource
How to Speak Another Language Without An Accent (TL;DR: You Can’t.)
How to Teach Multiple Languages to One Student