Polyglot stuff

Learning multiple languages

In the beginning, I only wanted to learn French so I could get a head start in French class in middle school...

Now I wanna learn and be fluent in like 8 languages y'all 😭

It's great but also making my head explode cuz I'm trying to find a new strategy to not fall behind on the ones I'm studying

Like for five seconds I'll be studying German and be like "ok I need to focus on this for a while because I am at a very beginner level" and then at like 3 am I'm like "hmmm..............how about I learn *insert random language here*" and then I remember I need to catch up on French and Japanese and it's like hahhdjsjdgjsjdjdk

I'm thinking if I really wanna get better in German (third lang I'm studying, not so good at it yet) then I'm gonna need to focus on it but my gosh is it just me or are the beginning stages of learning a language so boring? You can't read anything, listen to anything, or have any meaningful conversation in it until you get to a better level.

But anyway I've tried like a million thousand different methods for keeping up with multiple languages but I always end up breaking them because ya boi can't keep up with schedules oop

But I'm trying really hard at the moment to focus on studying German!!

What are your guys thoughts on studying multiple languages? Do you think it's better to do one at a time or simultaneously?

I know a lot of polyglots have conflicting opinions on this, for example Steve Kaufmann  (he speaks 20 languages, what a beast) prefers to study one at a time, saying "from my experience, the greater degree of concentration on that language, the better I will do. I spent five years learning Russian an hour a day and nine months learning Chinese seven hours a day. I did a better job with Chinese."

Idk if my attention span is just super short or something but at this point I find it quite difficult to focus on only one language xD

plus if I don't study French for like 2 days I'm like OMG IM GONNA LOSE MY PROgress I'm going to die I'm going to lose 4 years of studying I won't be able to read I'll be illiterate-

But I know that's irrational.

He also says, " I never worry about what I might have forgotten or lost in Korean, Romanian or Czech, because I know that in a day or two I can get it back. So when it is time to learn a new language, I just throw myself at it, and don't worry about maintaining my other languages. I can always come back to them later."

I think there's a lot of truth to this. For long periods of time during my studies in French I wouldn't touch Japanese at all. But I don't think I've lost very much, and now that recently I've really dived into studying it I'm doing better than ever.

I remember hearing somewhere, I don't know where, that neglecting a language for some time can actually help you remember it. Because each time you forget something, you'll have to learn it again. And the more you learn it, the more you remember it. (If I find where I heard this I'll let you know and add on to this chapter.)

Really I haven't tried immersing myself in only one foreign language in a really long time. So I'm gonna try it with German, and I'll let you guys know how it goes in a few entries later :P

If you guys are studying multiple languages, feel free to share your studying/experiences in the comments (idk why the font looks like this i just pressed something lol)