Am I really learning 11 languages? At once? Yes, I am.
Crazy, right? Well, not really. Not for me, anyway.
I've been studying languages since I was a little kid, it's something I've always had a knack for. I was reading during naptime in daycare and kindergarten, and was writing poetry and short stories in 1st grade. I just love words! I got French study books from the library in elementary school for fun, and taught myself to write in Egyptian hieroglyphics in middle school. I taught myself ASL to be able to talk to my best friend in 6th grade who was deaf, and was eventually able to help her translator out in her school work. I took both Latin and Spanish in high school, and learned Greek in my spare time to write notes with my friends our teachers couldn't read if they took them.
Languages has always been a major passion for me, I pick up grammar and spelling quickly and I don't struggle with memory issues often. It isn't necessarily easy, but it's something well worth the effort because I'm passionate about it. It's my favorite way to spend my spare time, and four hours spent on language studies is an afternoon well spent to me.
So, why 11 languages? Why not focus on one and get fluent in it really quickly? Good question! Since I've been studying languages basically since before I started school, I know how I process learning. I get bored and can't focus if I have just one thing going. Right now for example, I've got music blaring while I write this, and have flashcards for Russian words going on in the back ground. I need multiple streams of information going to focus, otherwise I get distracted.
I've utilized this need into learning multiple languages at once. 11 is a good number for me. It's enough variety to not get bored with, and it's challenging enough keep me competitive with myself, as well as the other languages. So, when I'm doing well in a couple languages, I want the others to be at the same level, and it's a kind of inter-interest competition for me that keeps me involved. If it was one, two, or even three languages, it wouldn't be active or competitive enough for me to stay engaged, which has been my issue in the past.
I've done just about every method of learning people suggest, from just focusing on a learning plan for one language, to having tutors, but it gets stale and I have nothing to bounce to and come back from. I got so frustrated with trying to follow what other people told me I needed to do to learn, that I stopped doing anything with languages for several years, and it really sucked. I'd pine for the lessons, but immediately get so overwhelmed with trying to force my mind to fit other peoples' learning styles, that I'd just ignore it.
Everyone learns differently and that isn't a negative. We all have to find what works for us, and offering advice is awesome as you may have tips or methods that someone else could use too. The counter to that, is not to let yourself get boxed in by other peoples' methods or let other people tell you how your mind should work. Try out different methods if you don't know how you learn best, but once you know how your mind works, then let that flow and don't punish yourself for not working the same as someone else.
Learning 11 languages is how I like to learn. It works for me, and I am doing well in it. Will it take me longer to become fluent? Probably, but that's fine. Fluency is the end goal, but not the only point - the journey is far more important than the goal, at least for me. I love the process of learning and acquiring new things, I don't want to get fluent in 6 months and just rush through the learning journey. The journey is the meat, and that's what makes it all worth it. At least, it is for this linguaphile and rusty polyglot.
How do you learn best? Which languages are you learning? Drop a comment below! Also, if you'd like to know which languages I'm learning, let me know!
Thanks for reading! Keep moving forward, and keep learning!
