Foreign Languages

wannabedamned · 9 Dec 2011 at 14:30

I'm currently learning Japanese and Polish, And I'm doing quite well with both. Polish is coming on strongly due to me working with a lot of polish people, and they've took an interest in helping me learn. Which is great.

Well my friend is wanting to learn German and Spanish, And he's paying for a private tutor. The more people who go, the cheaper it will be.

Now I love the idea of learning German and Spanish too, and a proper tutor will be great.

But Is learning 4 languages at once possible? My friend is saying that university students often learn multiple languages. But I dont know if I'm going to be damaging my fluency by taking on too much.

Jack of all trades, Master of None. Comes to mind. And Fluency is important to me.

.Lethal · 9 Dec 2011 at 14:32

Ask the private tutor for their opinion might be 1 idea.

Although it may be biased.

G-MAN2004 · 9 Dec 2011 at 14:36

Do you have sufficient time in the week for practicing two extra languages (at home, or elsewhere as you do with Polish), or would you be relying solely on the time spent with the personal tutor? If it's the latter, then maybe four isn't such a good idea.

D.P. · 9 Dec 2011 at 14:59

If you have the time and energy then it would be great, but I am struggling to learn 1 language at a time so I don't know how you will cope with 4.

.Lethal · 9 Dec 2011 at 15:02

I couldn't imagine doing 4 languages at once! My wife wants me to learn Bulgarian but I dread the idea of learning that, yet alone 4!

wannabedamned · 9 Dec 2011 at 15:17

Hmm I could be taking on too much.

I really want to learn japanese, But I may drop it for a while.

Then just learn 3. Polish as I'm immersed with polish people, so that should come on strong. And the other 2 lessons I can have the help of a tutor plus the others I'm learning with.

Japanese is the only one I'm fully studying by myself, using online texts, books and rosetta stone. But I can put it on hold for now.

i dont have that much spare time, Gym + Karate, Plus working nights and sleeping days. Means I do have a bit still left over. But life could get hectic

D.P. · 9 Dec 2011 at 15:26

Saying the above, some people a naturally very gifted with langauges and find it easy to learn. There is also strong evidence that ounce you are good at a few then learning enw langauges becomes much easier and faster, and gives you deeper insights into linguistics. Often learnign a 2n langauge at adulthood is very tough, a 3rd also difficult but not as hard, but then learning a 4th people find relatively easy. This especially applies to learning withing langauge groups. E.g., if you learn french, hen learning spansih and Italian is not so tough (or polish + russian).

I know lots of peole that speak 5 or more. My girlfriends speaks German natively, English almost as fluent as me, French very fluidly, and passabke Russian and Dutch. She never studied langauges/linguistics but just learnt whenever she moved to new places.

For me, I have struggled to learn French to a fluent level in 5 years of living in a french speaking area. My brain is just not so tuned into to langages. my main issue is listening (I do actually have a slight medical issue here, when younger I as diagnosed wih slight hearing problems, I also attended speach therapy for 5 years or more). I recently started learnign German and although the Grammer is complex I am finding the listening much easier in German due tot he strong constants, the fact that every letter is pronounced, the intonTION IS USUUALY CLEAR, THER IS NO LIASON THAT OMPLETELY CHANEGS THE WORD SOUND IN FRENCH, ETC.

Sorry for caps.

franco_22 · 9 Dec 2011 at 15:53

Can someone here tell me why would you learn Japanese as opposed to German, French or Spanish, heck even Italian or Dutch, any of those languages would undoubted be more useful to a British person leaving in the UK, why are so many people learning Japanese?

shootersam · 9 Dec 2011 at 16:04

I found it near impossible to learn 2 languages at below GCSE level. I guess it's just how good you are with languages. I'd much rather be fluent in 2 than ok in 4.

wannabedamned · 9 Dec 2011 at 16:07

franco_22 said:
Can someone here tell me why would you learn Japanese as opposed to German, French or Spanish, heck even Italian or Dutch, any of those languages would undoubted be more useful to a British person leaving in the UK, why are so many people learning Japanese?

I want to be able to speak it when I go to Japan. Also I'm into Anime and Japanese Games. Being able to get them before release over here is pretty nice. Also Anime in Raw format is much better than with subs, as 1. Sometimes translations aren't right, 2. It takes away from watching the show.

Also, I do seem pretty natural in learning them. I can remember everything I've studied pretty much. Without the need to repeat, repeat, repeat. Obviously because I'm teaching others the Japanese I've learnt, And I'm constantly getting tested with polish.

King Damager · 9 Dec 2011 at 16:22

franco_22 said:
Can someone here tell me why would you learn Japanese as opposed to German, French or Spanish, heck even Italian or Dutch, any of those languages would undoubted be more useful to a British person leaving in the UK, why are so many people learning Japanese?

And why would anyone in the UK learn any foreign language other than Chinese. Businesses will love people who can speak Chinese in twenty years time. Hell his Japanese probably means he'll be ahead if he tried to learn Chinese (god knows if it does, but I'd presume they're from similar base languages)...

To the OP though.
Most uni degrees tend to only be two languages. E.g. A friend of mine is doing German with Polish.
Saying that I do know plenty of people who can speak multiple languages, and we had a good few people at A Level who did French/German/Russian/Latin as subjects, so clearly it is possible to learn 4.

kd

Liampope · 9 Dec 2011 at 16:38

franco_22 said:
Can someone here tell me why would you learn Japanese as opposed to German, French or Spanish, heck even Italian or Dutch, any of those languages would undoubted be more useful to a British person leaving in the UK, why are so many people learning Japanese?

Because Japan is cool.