Come up with characters for each language. Create a new identity for yourself when you speak one of the languages. This will help you put things in order in your head. A great option is to use stereotypical phrases from each language. For example, if you are learning French, you might imagine that you are a very romantic person. Try making your lips look like a bow and imitate the French actors you see in movies.
Learn the same topic in all languages. If possible, try to focus on similar material at the same time. This will help your brain create stronger associations with words. For example, if you are learning animal naming in one language, focus on that topic in other languages as well.
Add all languages you learn to your language learning app or site. Some apps and websites like Duolingo, Memrise, Clozemaster, Anki, and Lingvist allow you to add multiple languages at once. Download the application, and then list all the languages you study, if available in this program or on this site. This way, if you're on the move, you'll have quick access to whatever language you're learning.
Color-code your learning materials. Buy multi-colored notebooks, pens, and markers so that each language is associated with certain shades. If you use online calendars such as Google Calendar to plan your learning schedule, mark each language with a different color.
How to effectively learn two or even three languages at the same time, told the manager of the online platform for finding tutors Preply Victoria Zhukova.
Learning several foreign languages at the same time is a very real task. The main condition is reasonable motivation.
Before you start learning, weigh not only your capabilities, but also your desires. Give yourself a clear answer to the question "why do I need this" - and if the answer came quickly and effortlessly, go for it.
To learn several languages, you will need willpower, sufficient time, and the ability to manage it effectively.
All tips are suitable for both adults and children.
Time distribution
To achieve the highest results, it is necessary to devote at least half an hour a day to each language. Daily classes will help you stay in good shape, consolidate the material covered earlier and literally “layer” knowledge on top of each other.
Decide which language is more difficult for you, and which one is easier. The complex should be given about 60-70% of the allotted time, and the easier - 30-40%. In this case, classes can be divided into several stages. For example, read and translate a text in the morning, listen to a podcast in the afternoon, write an essay or grammar exercise in the evening.
Similarity of topics To make the learning process more effective, “synchronize” the topics of the lessons. If in the first language you are learning vocabulary on the topic “Weather”, try to find the corresponding words in the second language as well. Associative thinking makes it easy to remember them all.
You can even make a correspondence table - your own dictionary, in which translations and transcriptions of the same word from Russian into all the languages \u200b\u200bthat you study will be recorded in a row.
The same goes for grammar. By finding differences and similarities in different languages, you will quickly remember the nuances and catch the essence, and the process will become even more interesting.
Variety of resources
Modern technologies help to make learning not only comfortable, but also interesting. Don't miss out on these opportunities. Immerse yourself in the languages you are learning. Use audio, video, social networks, messengers - any tools for this.
There are 24 hours in a day, and you can connect almost all of these hours with learning in one way or another.
For example, in the smartphone settings, you can change the interface language to the one you are learning.
After work, it's nice to relax watching a movie with subtitles. Listening skills are well trained if you make playlists with songs in the desired language. It is also useful to write shopping lists (to-do list) in the languages being studied.
The more diverse the learning process, the better.
Training different skills
When mastering several foreign languages at once, you need to remember that knowledge of a language is assessed by four main components: writing, reading, listening and speaking.
Be honest with yourself and do not avoid those exercises that are difficult for you.
Uniform development of all skills is rare, and this is normal. No need to scold yourself (and the child - even more so), just do not forget to pull up those "skills" that are less developed.
For example, if you have mastered reading perfectly, but still do not catch the language by ear, give up voluminous texts for a while and devote more time to listening, listening to songs and watching movies. Most likely, it will not be easy to force yourself, but it must be done.
Like all exemplary schoolchildren, in my childhood I subscribed to Pioneer Truth. Somewhere on the last page there was a popular section, something like "questions and answers." One day an unusual question catches your eye: “Dear editors, please tell me, are there any textbooks that can be used to learn several foreign languages at once?” This question is still in my head...
I already became interested in the German language. I was about 8-10 years old when I accidentally found a German textbook during the holidays. I even remember the year of publication - the 54th. The book was lying on the mound of the neighbors. No cover, part of the pages torn out. Before that, I had never seen foreign letters. It seemed so interesting. I grabbed this book and dragged it home. It's good that one of the first pages survived. It said "Deutsch". My father, who once served in Germany, translated the name for me. He didn't know any other words. And the textbook was for the 7th grade, that is, for advanced ones. But I'm just incredibly lucky. My father is a simple man. He worked as a driver on a milk truck and transported milk to the neighboring village of Yelykaevo. It was a large village (it still exists), there was even a bookstore. My father stopped by that small bookstore, bought and brought me a German textbook for the 5th grade. And I didn't even ask him! And he wasn't even in fifth grade. How he came up with it, I still don't know! In this textbook for beginners, everything was already clear, and how letters, words are pronounced, and how to build a sentence ... I could not tear myself away from the book. I carried it around with me like a bible. We are going to the mowing - she is with me. To the forest - with me... Read every minute... Why? Don't know. Over the summer, I learned the textbook almost by heart.
Excerpts from the post and from the related article:
“Simultaneous teaching of several languages: myth or reality?”
1. Is it necessary to know several languages if you already study or know English?
The coming century is characterized by the rapid development of information technologies, which provide modern man with the widest access to information and unprecedented opportunities for direct communication with people from different parts of our planet without having to leave home. These opportunities will become more significant if people speak not one, as a rule, English, but several languages. Humanity is entering an era of plurilingualism, an era when knowledge of one foreign language, which is most often English, becomes insufficient.
In Europe, EU officials are also concerned about the increase in costs for translation services (23 languages), as well as the fact that recently there has been a tendency to study only mainly English, which is not the best way for the process of communication between residents individual states of Europe. English as a means of international communication does not always help to establish effective intercultural communication between representatives of other, non-English speaking, linguistic communities.
2. Why study languages at the same time, if they can be studied sequentially, having mastered one language well, then move on to another?
The question of the possibility of learning several languages has been raised for a long time. The thought itself is interesting. Practically in the same time, not one, but two or three languages are comprehended.
This is where the proverb comes to mind: “If you chase two hares, you won’t catch one.” You can often hear that there will be confusion in the head, languages will overlap each other. Of course, a special teaching methodology is needed, based on the comparison of languages, with exercises to prevent interference.
3. What languages and how many languages can be studied at the same time?
Theoretically, any language can be studied at the same time, even Chinese and, say, German, although we will immediately say that this combination resembles a “mixture of a bulldog and a rhinoceros”. It is not only a matter of different types of languages, but even of the writing system.
The most effective, of course, this technique will be on the material of related languages.
Since Russia has the closest economic, social and cultural ties primarily with European countries, it is necessary to focus primarily on European languages.
The main European languages in terms of the number of speakers, in addition to Russian, include English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Dutch.
The traditional set of the most studied European languages in Russia and Europe includes 5 languages: English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. However, only three of them - English, French and Spanish - are among the so-called world languages. As you know, the number of speakers outside of Europe exceeds several times the number of their speakers in the Old World.
Of these 5 languages, French, Italian and Spanish are suitable for simultaneous teaching. Options like "German - Dutch - Swedish or Danish", "Polish - Czech - Slovak" or "Finnish - Estonian - Hungarian" could also be considered. Yes, the method of simultaneous teaching is possible with these combinations of languages. But it is necessary to take into account the pragmatic aspect in the study of languages, that is, to study not all languages in a row, but first of all the most popular ones. In the group of listed Germanic languages, for example, only German is such. English is widely spoken in Scandinavian countries.
Romance languages, more precisely, French, Italian and Spanish, are in a privileged position. The choice of the simultaneous study of French, Italian and Spanish as a subject is explained by their role in the international arena and the special interest of Russians in France, Italy and Spain. The flow of tourists and the number of business trips from Russia to these countries is constantly growing. Experience shows that hopes for the opportunity to communicate with the French, Italians and Spaniards in English are not always justified.
All three languages are included in the group of Romance languages formed from the Latin language. It is the common origin from one language that determines the proximity of the Romance languages to such an extent that it suggests the possibility of their parallel study. Identification of discrepancies against the general background of coincidences contributes to a more effective assimilation of the material, because everything is known in comparison ...
The languages we have chosen are traditionally considered beautiful. More M.V. Lomonosov spoke of the splendor of Guishpan, the liveliness of French, the tenderness of Italian. The beauty of Romance languages is directly related to their sound. This fact determines the importance of setting the correct pronunciation at the initial stage of learning languages.
4. Anyone can learn multiple languages at the same time?
This question arises because knowledge of several foreign languages is considered by many as a sign of the presence of special abilities, as something supernatural and seems to be a laborious task. It all depends on the degree of desire: Vouloir c'est pouvoir/ Volere è potere/ Querer es poder. Simultaneous learning/teaching of several languages is based on a special methodology designed primarily for people who are passionate about languages, for people who are inquisitive and find pleasure in learning languages. The simultaneous development of three languages is their study in a three-dimensional image. That is why, for greater volume, a third language, Italian, is included, that is, a language not as common as French and Spanish.
The method of simultaneous teaching is able to captivate even people who are initially critical of it or doubting, unsure of themselves. It just needs to start…
5. How realistic and to what level can you learn several languages at the same time?
Projects for the simultaneous study of several languages are being developed in Europe as well. They are based on the genetic relationship of the Romansh, Germanic and Slavic languages. Their goal is to teach a native speaker of one of the related languages to read texts and perceive oral speech of speakers of other related languages in a relatively short time. Training in conversational skills is not provided, because it is assumed that everyone will speak their native language when communicating. The main goal is mainly to teach only mutual understanding (intercompréhension réciproque) of written and oral speech by instilling receptive skills.
The goal of our methodology is the comprehensive mastery of foreign languages in a relatively short period (within 200 hours) with the assimilation of the basic skills and abilities of speech activity in everyday, social and cultural spheres of communication.
The task is to teach fluently and correctly, in compliance with phonetic, grammatical norms and on the basis of possession of a sufficient vocabulary, to speak and write in three foreign languages, to understand speech by ear, to read, to translate from one foreign language into Russian or into another foreign language, communicate orally and in writing via the Internet (electronic messages, chats), etc.
Foreign languages, and the same ones, can be studied all your life. The main thing is to get a solid foundation for further improvement of knowledge. Opportunities for improvement are sufficient today, but in the future there will be more and more. Internet resources provide them in huge quantities. Let's also hope that over time a visa-free travel regime in Europe will be established, which will contribute to active language practice directly in the countries of the languages being studied.
6. What is the method of simultaneous language learning?
The methodology is based on a comparison of French, Italian and Spanish languages. Its two fundamental principles are the principles “from the known to the new” and “from similarities to differences”. Since this method is aimed at the Russian-speaking audience, it is necessary to compare with the Russian language as well. By the way, it is very important to make references to both English and German. We can say that the methodology in the full sense of the word is aimed at the formation of multilingual personalities, polyglots.
Russian and Romance languages, belonging to the Indo-European family, reveal genetic similarities (French maternité motherhood, French fraternité brotherhood, Italian vedere to see, Italian sedere to sit, Italian stare to stand, Italian il mio, il tuo , il suo my, yours, mine). In the course of its development, the Russian language has absorbed a huge layer of international vocabulary, which is mostly Romance. It is known that in order to speak at a good level in a foreign language, about two and a half - three thousand words are enough. This is the so-called frequency or common vocabulary. One third of these three thousand words are already known to Russian speakers:
tradition, profession, design, illusion, university, faculty, mentality, laboratory, audience, trend, distance, document, moment, organism, tourism, optimism, energy, geography, photography, continent, president, director, professor, lawyer, classical, fantastic, political, theoretical, climatic, normal, special, active, reactive, propagate, rehearse, organize and others. Many Italian-Spanish words differ from Russian words only in the writing system: luna, forma, natura, poema, biblioteca, opera, problema, sistema, tema, rosa, figura, temperatura, foto, industria, corona, bar, metro, pantera, Asia , América, África, propaganda, politica.
Pre-selected well-known international and borrowed vocabulary of Romance origin can be used while teaching Romance languages at all levels, starting with phonetics.
Thus, the main thing in this technique, so to speak, know-how, is the careful selection of lexical and grammatical material and the sequence of their presentation, taking into account the results of the typological comparison of Russian and Romance languages at all stages of teaching.
The basis and impetus for the development of this method is the author's own experience, accumulated in the course of studying and teaching three languages for two decades. Teaching them separately, you catch yourself thinking that you have to repeat the same material. These languages resemble three similar drawings in which you need to find the difference. Why is it impossible to explain the material once for three languages and point out only the difference revealed against the background of similarities.
In addition, this method is based on the research of domestic and foreign researchers in the field of comparative typological study of Romance languages, work on the comparison of Russian and Romance languages, as well as on the existing educational and methodological literature on teaching Romance languages.
Simultaneous learning traditionally begins with phonetics. The author has created textbooks for the comparative study of the phonetics of three languages with audio accompaniment, practical comparative grammar, vocabulary, a manual for the development of conversational skills with exercises to overcome the interference of languages, etc. In the first two groups, students of different ages are engaged, starting with students in the 9th grade and up to people 45 years old.
Anastasia Kay is a popular video blogger who already speaks five languages and is not going to stop. We interviewed her to understand how she achieved such an impressive result.
Anastasia has been learning languages since childhood. At the age of 6, she began to learn Spanish at school, at 8 - after moving to Belgium - she began to learn French (not forgetting about Spanish). When Nastya was 13, her parents moved again, this time to Hungary, and in order to enter school, she had to master English from zero to the level of a ninth grader over the summer. At the age of 17, Nastya entered the university at the English-speaking faculty and improved her English for several more years. During my studies, I decided to learn Hungarian in order to understand what the locals say (before that, I managed only in Russian). In 2010 - a new country, this time Slovenia, and intensive Slovenian courses.
As a result, Nastya speaks five languages no less than at the C1 level, and English is perfect. In addition, she learns German, and also practices Russian in her video blog. In total, 7 languages are obtained.
How is this possible?
Approach to learning languages
To be honest, I do not use a single system, as approaches vary depending on the purpose of learning the language. When I learn something “for the soul”, I first of all use the tools of immersion in the environment. If the goal is a language certificate, I upgrade my knowledge of grammar. If the language is needed for work, I try to focus on the development of mastering professional vocabulary.
The most difficult thing for me is the gender of the noun, mainly because I speak many languages. In different languages, the same word has a different gender, so I often get confused.
It is difficult to say which language comes easier, as I learned them in very different, incomparable periods of my life (six-year-old child, teenager, adult). I think the most important thing is immersion in the language. And it, undoubtedly, is given the easiest way when you are in the environment itself and not only “consume the language”, but also actively use it.
Bilingual problems
Russian is my native language, but as my viewers know, very often English words come to my mind first, and for some reason this problem is much more acute in oral speech than in written. Researchers even say that the constant forced suppression of words in the "wrong" language is a great exercise for the brain. It's good, but to be honest, sometimes I wish I could speak pure Russian and English without mixing them. To practice the Russian language, I started a channel.
It seems to me that anyone is allowed to speak as it turns out. I always give an example for my viewers: “If you are embarrassed to speak bad French, then complete ignorance of Spanish, Italian, Chinese, etc. should just kill you!" As I said, priorities depend on your goals - the best thing to know is what most effectively solves your problems.
From cognitive science, I learned about the power of visualization and association when learning new words. That is, a word will be remembered much better if you learn it from a picture or an image (rather than a translation into your native language), and also if you connect this image with something personal. For example, when you say the word car, you will always think of your dad's green car!
I also tried to work with children's books. Although they suit my level, I was not interested in the content, and therefore did not want to continue reading them. So now I take only interesting books and magazines. It's great if there are adapted magazines in the language you are studying.
Self-paced learning is usually much more effective than group learning if - and this is important - you are the kind of person who is able to organize and stick to your own learning process. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a curriculum from the very beginning, perhaps even hire a teacher to help you develop it if you are not sure that you can do it yourself.
A month of intensive classes (2-3 hours a day) is usually enough to start talking a little on the street (provided that you are already familiar with the alphabet of the language you are learning). Work usually requires level B1-B2, that is, 3-4 steps, and each step usually requires 160 hours of classes.
The interview was taken by the experts of the Puzzle English online service. You can learn more about Anastasia's experience in learning foreign languages at
The days when we knew only one language are long gone. Everyone should know a second language, but what is the best language to learn? Five languages suitable for business, travel or life.
The world is changing and the days when we knew only one language are long gone. Everyone should know a second language, but how do you decide which is the best language to learn? Although many countries speak English, others have other official and non-state languages. Here are the five languages you need most for business, travel or living abroad.
5. Portuguese
While it may not seem like a very common language, Portuguese is the official language of Brazil's 200 million growing population. Brazil is a promising emerging market. Thanks to imperialism, Portuguese is also the official language of a number of African states, some of which may be of great market value in the long run (some of which China is already investing in). In addition, Portuguese, of course, is the official language of Portugal, where investors can obtain a second citizenship.
Where is Portuguese spoken? In Europe: Portugal, small communities in Spain, France and Luxembourg
In Africa: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe
In America: Brazil
In Asia: East Timor, Macau
4. Russian
While Russia is not exactly a fast-growing economic superpower (given its very slow population growth), it does have a number of wealthy oligarchs who spend a lot of money abroad. I have friends who have made a lot of money selling western real estate to Russians because they knew their language and understood how they do business. The first step to this is to speak Russian, which is a relatively easy language compared to some of the others on this list. Russian is a popular language in a number of emerging economies in the CIS and Eastern Europe.
Where do they speak Russian? Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, rebellious regions of Georgia; popular language in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
3. Spanish
Spanish has long been popular in North America as a language of instruction in schools. Spanish is the easiest language on our list and is useful for those who want to live or do business in the growing Hispanic world. Countries like Mexico are showing economic growth. Some South American countries are a promising emerging market, while countries such as Paraguay and Ecuador offer cheap agricultural land for those looking for business or subsistence farming opportunities. Expats live cheaply in both South and Central America.
Where is Spanish spoken? In Europe: Spain
In America: Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cuba, Bolivia, Honduras, Paraguay, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Equatorial Guinea, Puerto Rico, second language in the USA.
2. Arabic
Arabic is the main language in many promising countries, wealthy centers and frontier markets. The Middle East is becoming an important player in global finance and investment, and those who speak Arabic will have an advantage in this closed market. Places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi have become emerging international financial centers. In addition to the rich oil countries, Arabic is also the official language in Iraq and most of the states of North Africa. Countries such as Tunisia are examples of more developed markets where Arabic is spoken.
Where is Arabic spoken? Middle East: Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, Yemen
Africa: Algeria, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia
1. Chinese
It's no secret that China is invading the world market. Only 10 million Chinese speak English, which is very small compared to the 1.4 billion people living in mainland China. Chinese influence has spread to Africa and beyond, and the Chinese consumer needs energy and other resources - which will require communication with Chinese buyers and investors. Chinese businessmen are pragmatic and have made great progress in learning English, but I think that as their purchasing power grows, they will become more demanding. Whoever speaks their language will definitely have a competitive advantage.
Where is Chinese spoken? Mainland China, second dialect in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan
