Is it inadvisable to study two new languages at once?

Question

I have just started studying Spanish and am considering taking French too. Do you think it would get confusing to study two new languages at the same time?

Answer 1

Wait until you get Spanish down. French will be very easy then. once u learn a 2nd language... the 3rd one is easier. and since their both romance. you should be good. I'm going to do that when I'm fluent in French. I'm about to start French 3!!

Answer 2

Former Spanish teacher: I would not advise it for the exact reason you cite.

Answer 3

Not really advisable, I tried learning Spanish and Portuguese at the same time. The languages are so similar, when I went to the Dominican Republic on holiday I found myself speaking a mixture of both and getting funny looks. I dropped the Spanish and now am concentrating on Portuguese alone.

Answer 4

Standard advice would be no, however if you have nothing better to do and have lots of time to study both of them, I say why not. Kids in Europe study more than 1 language in school.

Answer 5

I wouldn't say it was 'inadvisable' at all, it's just a matter of whether you yourself could handle it as everyone is different when it comes to languages.

I study Spanish and French at Uni and yes they are both similar in many respects but as you become more fluent in them both, you don't really mix them up as much.

I also studied German from scratch whilst learning Spanish and French and it was great!

Good luck :]

Answer 6

There is a possibility that you could get the two languages mixed up, since they do seem to have many similarities, so in my opinion it would be inadvisable, but if you feel that you can handle learning two languages at once then try it, and if it doesn't work out, pick the one you like best, and learn that one first.

Good luck!

Answer 7

It can get a little confusing, but it's not that bad. I'm currently studying French, Spanish, and Arabic. It normally takes me about a minute or two to get into the right language mode, and then I'm good.

Answer 8

you should be fine, I studied Spanish, Italian and French at University together and because I was already good at Spanish, the Italian and French were easier to learn because all these languages are Romance languages and grammatically similiar. I would suggest getting Spanish under way first of all, then you'll find the French will be alot easier later on.

Answer 9

Personally I would say it's not inadvisable. I study French and Italian at university and also took Spanish for beginners in my first year. Although the languages have many similarities, I haven't found that I have a problem with mixing them up. To be honest I have found it useful sometimes that I do also speak the other languages as I may be able to think of a word or verb tense in French when trying to translate an Italian document and if the word is similar or the verb structure the same it helps me to remember how to say it in the right language

Answer 10

Maybe if you were taking languages that were really different from each other...