stephania

You can if you organise your brain, which is far more efficient than any computer.

Align your languages side by side, not stacked on each other.

Give your newly acquired information memory tags so that you have rapid recall.

Never try to think in your mother tongue when you're speaking another language.

If you can't do these things you'll never be a good interpreter and if you can't sway your students to this way of thinking, you'll

never be a good teacher either.

And the best advice of all - use it or lose it.

Hi Qwertz, how are you?

Hope everything is fine and okay. Your ideas is very much welcome and appreciated. Its nice to be part on this site. Members are very supportive to each and every one.

Hope to see you around every now and the.

I can speak two languages, English and Rubbish.

During a recent meeting with the august Thai institution named "EGAT", I was schooled in the simultaneous tongues of "Utter Gibberish" and "Total Bullsh!t" by their top man. It was a real education.

Awesome thread. I have been concerned about exactly the same thing. I learned Spanish slowly growing up, but have not used it in a long time so it needs some tuning up. I know some conversational Thai and Burmese, but would like to become fluent in both. I also have a love of Japanese aesthetic, and want to learn Japanese, and then there is that French guy whom I have my eye on ..... etc.

At any rate, I have various languages in various stages that I either want to tighten up, take to the next level, or start completely from scratch - all at the same time! Thanks for asking this question, and thanks for some great, reassuring answers. It's a little bit more challenging, and I kind of need that to keep me focused.

It is the exact same question that I have been walking around with in my head, so thanks! Onwards - I have my work cut out for me.

Hi Kat,

Thanks for reading my article and giving time on it. Your ideas and advices are very much welcome and appreciated.

Hope to see you every now and then.

Check out www.seat61.com You'll get all the information you need for worldwide rail travel on there.

Enjoy

Good day draggons,

Thanks for your sharing your information about railpass.

Have a wonderful day.

Hello at all travelers out there! My friend is currently on the first stop on her trip through Europe in the great capital of Germany – Berlin! She have already been there for about two weeks and in between all the exciting sight-seeing and adventures she experience their she finally found some time to write down her impressions.

This city is huge! She loves it their. Berlin has amazing buildings, the greatest variety of different cultures and interesting people. Every day she explore something new, there is so much going on there! She started her Europe trip in the biggest city of Germany because she is taking a German course Berlin their. This is definitely the perfect way to learn this language and for her a good way to get prepared for the subsequent journey. It also gives her the chance to get to know a lot of open-minded people from Germany and many other countries. She met this German girl who would like to go to Australia soon to improve her language skills. She has not started to plan anything yet though. Can anyone recommend me a particular school for a Sprachreise Sydney for her?

After her classes in Berlin a friend from the UK will join her for the rest of her trip. After Germany (of which we still have to explore Munich and Cologne together) they will go to France and Spain, they do not know which cities exactly yet though. For this they are going to take the Eurail to get from one place to another which she heard is really sufficient for flexible travelers like them. Can anyone tell me their experiences with that?

She is really excited about all the great things she is going to see on this trip. If anyone has any tips about a city which they have to see while traveling through Europe please let me know!

Hello all readers. I have a friend of mine who is an English student in Spain but her considering spending her summer teaching English in the Peru. It would only be a 6 week placement (She have to return to university and furthermore would miss her cats too much; She have to take her foto de gatitos with her for sure!). Her only worry is that her English may not be good enough to explain complex grammatical issues. She did do a curso de ingles extranjero in the States and have done some turismo social in South America before, mixing with a lot of visitors from the US and Canada so feel like she can communicate well – but perhaps a certificate in teaching would help her to be able to break down the more complex aspects to language learning. Also – what age/level would she be best to teach – beginners who only want to know the basics or those who are already very good and will just want conversational class? All advice welcome!

What's French and Italian got to do with Thailand? Although this is an interesting topic.

I think its definately the way to go, I used my second language to learn my third, re-enforcing the study of it. ie Learnt Japanese from English, studied Russian from Japanese texts etc.. Its all in the mind anyway, you want to do it you can.

I learned arabic and Mandarin at the same time, learning two languages is not a problem, the only problem I have found is that here I speak Thai every day and now my brain finds it hard not to use it. Thai has become the dominant language (apart from English) and when I try to think of a Chinese word, a lot of the time the Thai one will pop into my head. I guess like all languages, use it or lose it can be very true. Practice and usage are the keys.

Like you gymshark, I only speak Thai when at home, even dream in Thai sometimes. Living in the NE I've spent the last 2 years learning the isaan language, but when my gf and I go to Bangkok, she tells me only to speak Thai.

Why is that??

Regards.

I am a native speaker of Chicagoese and a transplanted speaker of Texan I was still learning Spanish and living in Mexico when I started working with natives who spoke batsi-kop. The same school offered classes in the native language, but it was too much for me. However, the only common vocab words in the two languages were the words donated by the Spaniards after the conquista. The two languages were so different that they would have occupied different compartments of my brain. When I unsuccessfully tried to learn Thai this year, Spanish did not interfere.

However, two Romance languages might get confused with one another, as I suspect Thai would confuse with Vietnamese, Khmer, or Lao.

However, two Romance languages might get confused with one another

true! when i try (the emphasis is on "try" to speak portuguese to my brazilian neighbour spanish dominates with the occasional italian subject or verb. but as these languages are closely related neither the speaker nor the addressee have problems. a different problem is that i address any Indian or Pakistani in arabic till i realize that their facial expressions say "no can understand nuttin of your gibberish".

Good day everyone!

Thanks for all your reply it helps this to me a lot, other said that if what you are using language at home then that language will be practice more and that's true.

But if we desire to learn different languages then the most important is study and more practice.

Thanks again and have a nice day to each and everyone of us.

I learned arabic and Mandarin at the same time, learning two languages is not a problem, the only problem I have found is that here I speak Thai every day and now my brain finds it hard not to use it. Thai has become the dominant language (apart from English) and when I try to think of a Chinese word, a lot of the time the Thai one will pop into my head. I guess like all languages, use it or lose it can be very true. Practice and usage are the keys.

Good day Gymshark!

Hope your doing fine, thanks for your advice that learning two languages is not a problem and your right if what language you using everyday then you learn more.

But the most important is more practice to learn both languages.

I've learned the following languages simultaneously:

1) Greek & Hebrew

2) Thai & Lao

3) Japanese & Spanish

4) Vietnamese and Chinese (Cantonese)

No added difficulty other than the added time requirement. In fact, I used them to work for each other, by using small flashcards with new language #1 on one side, and the equivalent in language #2 on the other side. In actual conversation, only occasionally would the word from the other language come to mind first. Not a huge problem.

I had the good fortune of having to learn language pairs which had significant similarities in key skills (the vowels of Japanese/Spanish, the tones of Thai/Lao, and the tones of Vietnamese/Cantonese). Only Greek and Hebrew were so dissimilar that there was no real advantage. I believe your attempt to learn Italian with French is a marriage made in linguistic heaven. Good luck!

Hi Toptuan good day!

Wow! Amazing you learns many languages, my desire and goal is to learn many languages as much as I can. Thanks for your tips and advice this help to me how to handle in learning languages simultaneously.

Thanks and see yah later.

I think most university language curricula are for 2 or more languages at the same time, so it is surely possible.

Similarity between French and Italian will have both a good side (as they are similar, many words the same or very much alike) and a bad side (using an Italian word during a French conversation or vice versa). I don't know which would 'weigh the heaviest', the pro's or the con's but interesting discussion i.m.o.

Personally I learned 3 simultaneously but this was in a very slow pace (over a total of 6 years), only 1 for professional use, the 2 others just to be able to get along and upto a level that a native speaker would think "Jee, this one has a weird accent".

Good luck in your search!

How day Chakatee!

Thanks for your advice, I really eager to learn different languages. Wow you learned 3 languages simultaneously; even if a very slow space the most significant you know how to speak different languages. Thanks again.

regards

Hello all, I'm looking for some advice and was wondering if there are any language learners out there who could help me…[/size][/font]

I have just returned from a French language course in France , a final part of my degree which has consolidated all what I learnt and left me more or less fluent. It has fired my passion for language learning so much so that I am not only considering languages as a career but also considering learning another language. But this is what worries me, I don't know whether it really is a good idea or not. I certainly don't want to lose my French level! Considering one of my main interests is Italy, I thought about learning Italian – but slowly and steadily, whilst keeping up the French too. For this I was considering taking a viaggi di studio Montreal which would basically be going to an Italian school but in a French speaking city. So though the main focus on my language learning trip would be Italian (given that it is the new, target language), I would be mixing with French people (and so practising French) outside of class hours. Furthermore, I was considering giving one to one English lesson to French (or Italian!) speaking people as a way to earn money and a way to meet and mix with people.

What worries me is that the two languages are relatively similar and so I don't know if this would be a help or a hindrance…

If anyone has experience of learning two languages simultaneously, please do let me know how you manage and differentiate between the two! I'd hate to try for both and end up with none!

Good day everyone!

Yes its true drinking alcohol can cause money and aside from that if you cannot control yourself when your drunk then that's the beginning of having an argue to your partner or your friends.

But if you know how to control yourself in everything then its okay to drink but not to much.

Good day Delia!

I'm new also in this forum and your right this site is interesting and informative one.

Regarding your problems about your husband, Malcolminthemiddle is right if your husband wants to smoke tell him to smoke outside and explain to him you and your daughter cannot take the smoke of the cigarettes. Tell him that you’re having a cough if you can breathe the smoke.

Yes try to tell him once to minimize taking cigarette until his willing to stop smoking.