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Kindly person, help me, please!!

lonely3315

lonely3315

Taiwan

Can any kindly person give me some viewpoins or suggestions?
The effects of learning two different  languages at the same time?

mm…I am a Chinese-speaking girl.
This year, I will enter university and I want to major in Languages.
But the problem is that I don't know how to make a decision about what kinds of Language to major in.

what's the advantage and disadvantage about learning two different languages at the same time?
If I major in Latin such as French, Spanish, German; etc, will my English declines?

11:59 AM Jun 23 2008 |

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195854255

195854255

United States

既然我们都是中国人,我就用汉语吧  我现在在学习德语German。 但是我感觉会 和英语搞混 ~因为我们不是英语的native speakers,所以我觉得同时学习良种同类的语言比较困难!德语 和英语都属于日耳曼语系)。 如果你想学习语言,我建议你学习日语Japanese。因为至少我们不会和汉语搞混的~

04:04 AM Jun 28 2008 |

gil dera

Philippines

What are the effects of learning two different  languages at the same time?

Learning a language is like opening a whole new world of ideas, sensations, and experiences.  Learning a language broadens our horizons or experiential spheres.  The more languages you know, the better you can relate with the world, with people, with ideas, and with experiences.  Learning a language therefore is always advantageous.  However, if you try to learn two or more languages at the same time,  you might get confused and end up not learning any one of the languages effectively and meaningfully.

The trick is to learn languages one at a time.  Ideally, the best thing to do is to gain communicative proficiency with one before trying to learn another.  If you take up French and Spanish at the same time, you might end up not learning any one of the two.  But if you take them up one at a time, your knowledge of the former will help you understand and better appreciate the latter, and therefore become a better learner and user of both the two languages.

You don't know how to make a decision about what kinds of Language to major in.

Well, nobody can answer this question but you.  What languages do you really want to learn? What languages do you want to major in?

All I can do is give these considerations to ponder on:

-  

 

03:15 PM Jun 28 2008 |

gil dera

Philippines

Hello. Here is what I can share about your questions. 

What are the effects of learning two different  languages at the same time?

Learning a language is like opening a whole new world of ideas, sensations, and experiences.  Learning a language broadens our horizons or experiential spheres.  The more languages you know, the better you can relate with the world, with people, with ideas, and with experiences.  Learning a language therefore is always advantageous.  However, if you try to learn two or more languages at the same time,  you might get confused and end up not learning any one of the languages effectively and meaningfully.

The trick is to learn languages one at a time.  Ideally, the best thing to do is to gain communicative proficiency with one before trying to learn another.  If you take up French and Spanish at the same time, you might end up not learning any one of the two.  But if you take them up one at a time, your knowledge of the former will help you understand and better appreciate the latter, and therefore become a better learner and user of both the two languages.

You don't know how to make a decision about what kinds of Language to major in.

Well, nobody can answer this question but you.  What languages do you really want to learn? What languages do you want to major in?

All I can do is give these considerations to ponder on:

-  why do you want to learn languages?  is it because of cultural reasons, economic, social, personal, academic, or something else. this will guide you in making your decision.

If you major in the romance languages (the descendants of Latin) like French, Spanish, Italian, or Portugese, I don't think it would in any way cause your proficiency in English to decline.  Provided that you already have at least a conversational knowledge of English.  If handled properly, studying the romance languages can even help you learn and appreciate English better, because English has borrowed a lot of words and expressions from them.

I hope this helps.

 

03:25 PM Jun 28 2008 |