Last week I attended Polyglot Gathering online. When I’ve finished watching the talks I couldn’t watch live, I will post on the conference itself. (Also one on last year, which I attended as well.) But one of the talks I’ve seen was on learning multiple languages at a time, addressing some of the ‘rules’ about this and why the speaker does not agree with them.

Generally people are advised:

• Don’t learn more than one language as a total beginner to language learning
• Don’t learn more than one language at beginner level
• Don’t learn more than one language from the same language family at the same time.

I was very curious to hear this talk, and have to admit, was hoping it would make sense to me, as the first two were the reason I put French aside when I took up Ukrainian. But even before hearing the talk, I had a bit of an epiphany.

“Filling the Gaps”

Currently, my language routine consists mostly of dedicated time in the evening. But my brain can’t necessarily focus on one thing for that time, and often I need a short break or two in that hour. I decided to experiment with switching language, or at least switch type of input, rather than switching to a non-input activity.

I haven’t been doing this long, as I had several evenings off language input because I had a run of busy days and my brain was just exhausted by the evenings. But it’s been quite successful so far.

Languages and My Writing

When watching the talk, the reasons the speaker gave for learning multiple languages at a time really resonated with me. She approaches languages the way I’ve always approached writing projects—I really struggle to focus entirely on one for an extended period of time. I need variety!

Switching between projects, especially when I particularly need a break from one, is something I’ve found helpful. Although it means dividing my time between multiple projects, I’m still being productive in the writing area even when I’ve set whatever my primary project is aside.

I want to write multiple things. I want to acquire multiple languages. So why not make progress in one when I need a break from another?

I should note that I take on far too many writing projects at a time, and this is not out of choice. I can’t control when new ideas strike me. However I can control how many languages I take on at once, so as long as I don’t allow myself to get carried away, I can keep my acquisition journey fresh and pleasurable rather than a chore or a pressure.

In conclusion …

I am sticking with my plan to switch between Ukrainian and French. I would love to introduce Japanese as well—I already have a couple of beginner resources bookmarked and ready to go—but, bearing in mind about being realistic, I’m going to wait until I’ve successfully worked language input into other parts of my day before introducing a third language.