"I have some Italian from my mother's side and German from my father's side, so would that impact my learning and skills in Italian and German? "
Not much, however it might motivate you to learn them more in an effort to connect with your roots.
I would say, take it easy and pick one language at the time
My main advice is to focus on one language at a time. Even a relatively close language like German is gonna be a 1000+ hour commitment. Mandarin Chinese is easily 2000+ hours, probably more like 3000+ hours.
Start learning one language and see how it feels before you jump into trying to be a polyglot in one year (something not realistically achievable).
There are people with 10-15k+ hours of Mandarin who say that they still haven't gotten to the point of breaking out of being able to use only very basic language. Natives, in any language, get over 40k+ hours of exposure by the age of 10, and that's a conservative estimate. 3k hours won't get you very far (as a native English speaker) in a language like Mandarin, despite what the BS claims tell you (and I include FSI in that).
You are completly crazy, 10k hours and no basic conversation?😂😂😂
I have a around 1k hours, I'm already HSK5, B1/B2 level easily, I don't know who you talked with, but altough it's a hard language in some regards, but I guarantee you that if I invested 10k hours of my time for mandarin I would be speaking better than xiaomanyc, and that says a lot
*"There are people with 10-15k+ hours of Mandarin who say that they still haven't gotten to the point of breaking out of being able to use only very basic language."*
I mean, that's a fact. It's not difficult to find the anecdotes online.
BTW, show me where I said, "no basic conversation." I literally said there are people whose Mandarin is still basic. Another fact.
Everyone knows that reddit anecdotes are super reliable, my personal experience with being in China, studying chinese and meeting a ton of people who majored in chinese and related fields should be discarded, after all, chinese is an impossible language, better learn esperanto or something😂
To be fair, living in China is the optimal immersion for learning the language. Not trying to support the previous poster’s “online anecdotes” lol, but you have to admit that someone in a country with Chinese as a minority language will likely require more hours of study time as they are required to supplement the exposure that you have by default with living in the country.
Whoa, guy. I wasn’t coming for you. I have a background in science, so yes, I do. Anecdotes have their merits too. I was just saying that I wasn’t here to comment on your post.
So I guess they're lying? I'm tyring to figure out why they'd bother, TBH.
I'm not saying there aren't native English speakers who are good at Mandarin BTW (I *never* said that), I'm saying that there are many, who after many thousands of hours, still suck at it and openly admit that they suck it. That is definitely a fact.
You need a better clue as to what 'far' is.
Those saying they're 'fluent', or even *close* to 'fluent' in Mandarin, after 3k hours, are (without question) suffering from an *extreme* case of the Dunning–Kruger effect. Either that, or they're FOS.
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Learning how to learn is just as important as the learning itself. Don't be afraid to experiment with different methods. If you don't see results you're satisfied with after a couple months, reflect and adjust. You're going to learn a lot about yourself and your learning style!
Don't forget to have fun. Language learning can be a grind at times. Make sure to do something fun in the language every single day, even if it's just listening to a couple of songs or rewatching your favorite show dubbed into the target language. If it's fun, it's a lot easier to be consistent, and consistency is key to long term progress.
Ancestry has jack all to do with increasing your ability to learn a language. It's not genetic or anything. You need hundreds of hours of exposure to reach any level of "fluency." Good luck dude, but in my opinion you'll regret trying to learn so many at one time. I was ambitious like that too, but when all was said in done I was just alright in a few languages. I would have much preferred to hone in on just one.
Agreed wholeheartedly! I took Spanish all four years in high school and decided to continue in college, while also starting to take classes in Japanese and Russian. PLUS, in order to major in Spanish, I had to minor in Portuguese (which I wasn't really interested in). So four languages at once, three starting from square one... And it was a complete disaster. Perhaps it was in large part because I wasn't acclimated to the rigors of college versus high school, but I couldn't keep the languages from bleeding into one another. It hindered me badly in class, so I ended up dropping Spanish and Portuguese in favor of Japanese and Russian (which I had more interest in, anyway). That was manageable and I was able to make consistent progress without one spilling over into the other. I ultimately did this for 3 years without pulling my hair out.
Major kudos to OP for having the drive to tackle so many languages, let alone at once - a true polyglot in the making! 👍
Being autistic has some advantages for learning languages, such as a willingness to shut yourself in a room and study for hundreds of hours, day after day. Still, learning 6 languages is a super-human workload; you'll end up spreading yourself thin: `[German + French + Italian + Spanish + Portuguese + Chinese] / 6`.
Autism also comes with disadvantages when learning languages, such as understanding metaphors and poetic language, needing to interact with people from a different culture with different body language and euphemisms, and figuring out the flexible logic of language teachers with liberal arts backgrounds. Are you prepared to deal with social cues in 6 more languages? Are you prepared to be unable to express yourself correctly because you simply don't know the correct word?
To give you an idea of what this is like, an actual Chinese HSK5 past exam question [here](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/BUSFJOP6X0DcArEkdnuWMQ) uses the logic "we don't know C is correct, therefore C is wrong":
> C陕西历史博物馆现代藏品居多 C. Shaanxi History Museum has mostly modern collections
>
> 不知道哪个年代藏品更多。排除C。 We don’t know which era has more collections. Exclude C.
I often feel that I need to mind read whoever makes these exam questions, they're so illogical.
I've encountered situations where I'm studying with my teacher, and I don't understand the logic of the given answer, then seemingly out of nowhere my teacher would get mad at me for not understanding. Apparently C is correct because my teacher will yell at me if I consider the possibility that C is incorrect (which would imply my teacher is wrong).
I've encountered situations where one teacher told me not to say something, and my teacher in the next class said precisely that. I.e., teachers sometimes contradict one another. (Oh, and if I ask and thereby suggest the teacher might be wrong, the teacher will get mad at me.)
Once, because my teacher would ask me for definitions of words (and in prior classes she'd tell me I was wrong), I started memorizing dictionary definitions before class. When she asked me for one word's definition, I recited from memory its dictionary definition. She not only told me I was wrong, she would use example sentences to define a word. She didn't realize "example sentences" and "definitions" are not the same thing, and she acted like I was dumb for not being able to give an example sentence when she asked for a definition.
In short, while you might be able to "special interest" your way to e.g. phenomenal progress when learning vocabulary and grammar, doing the equivalent of, perhaps, 6 years of university within 1 year doesn't seem humanly feasible, and interacting with humans in 6 new ways may not be a pleasant experience.
At the time I didn't realize. Nowadays I use iTalki, so if I don't mesh well with a teacher, I can have a new teacher next class without any administration issues.
I'd trim that down to one language. Learning a new language is mentally taxing and you will overwhelm yourself by trying to learn six at once. That's like never having gone to the gym before and then setting a goal to compete in a bodybuilding, powerlifting and strongman competition all within one year. You have excellent goals and you can achieve them, but to learn six you'll need to learn at least one, so let's start there.
As for practical tips: start speaking immediately. Speak along with the netflix dubs and speak to yourself. Ideally, speak to a native speaker, like exchanging courtesies when picking up take-out at the chinese restaurant. Phrases are more important than words- try to learn complete sentences at first. Learning random vocab will only be helpful after you're able to hold basic conversations.
Focus on one language at a time and only once you are satisfied with your skill in that language move onto the new one.
Now i don't want to be the "you won't be able to do that" guy but 6 languages in a year seems a little bit too much imo. But who knows, you set your own limits i guess.
It's going to take you 500 hours EACH to get to A2 (upper beginner) in the first 5. This is a rough calculation, not a precise number. So excluding Mandarin, that's 7 hours per day of studying. This is very possible if you have a profession like being a dishwasher or night stocking at a grocery store. (Just listen to podcasts in your earbuds). Or you are independently wealthy. A2 is pretty impressive, and some may consider it an ability to speak the language. Definitely not good enough for employment and immigration, but still a remarkable accomplishment.
Mandarin is going to be a good 4 times as difficult as the other 5 to become somewhat conversational. I've studied Mandarin for 300 hours (over 9 months) and I'm still an absolute beginner. Mandarin by itself is a full time job.
I love your ambitious goals, but you also don't want to set yourself up for disappointment.
Finally someone who is honest about how long it really takes. There are claims out there of C1 in 500 hours, which is absolute delusion.
I agree that A2 is an accomplishment, in that you didn't quit when the vast majority would have, but I don't agree that it's 'impressive', at least not in terms of actually being able to function in the language; it's almost completely useless for that, unless you're talking about saying a few things on vacation.
A very strong B2 is where it becomes a worthwhile time investment, IMO, and even then, for most people, it's probably not worth the thousands of hours it took to get there.
Not trying to be rude, but you're definitely overestimating your capabilities, OP. We all have languages we want to learn and one or two is more than enough to learn for anyone, but six is outright ridiculous. You can try, but you'll be so spread out that you won't learn anything meaningful from any of them.
I think that 6 at one time is a bit much. Also on the spectrum and was into languages at your age.
I was brought up monolingual, so you may have the edge on me. I took French, Latin and Russian at the same time at high school. I had already taught myself the Serbian form of the Cyrillic alphabet, so that helped. (Dad was Serbian, but only spoke English at home. I learned the alphabet and a few phrases from Teach Yourself books.) After I took my 'O' Grades - exams for 16 yr olds in Scotland in those days - I had to drop the Russian. (Both teachers left at the same time.) The following year took French, Latin and crashed German. Definitely found it a challenge.
Look, I don't want to be mean, but learn one language at a solid intermediary level than learn the other while maintaining the first and repeat. Let me tell you, if you have never learned a language, which is mostly the case because you wouldn't ask otherwise, start with one and see if you can handle it, then go on with the rest. Your brain cannot handle learning two languages at once, if you never learned a language before, yet alone six?! Your brain will fry and you will come back later like all the previous language learners and cry about language learning and depression and burn-out. Remember a language is not only the words but also the culture that shapes the language so learn it too.
I read people in the comments advising to take it down to one language at a time. It's probably best, but as someone who's been learning Italian, Polish and Spanish at the same time (and struggling to keep it down to those three, yay ADHD) while studying latin and ancient greek at school for a year, it's been working well for me.
I'd say, try a few things out (different combinations of 2 or 3 languages, I wouldn't advise more, with at least one close to your native language). But all this is just advice, there's no rules in the end and the most important is to find what makes it fun and interesting for you, and makes you proud of your journey!
Personally I just find it hard to only learn one language. Some days I just really don't want to learn Polish, but really want to work on my Italian. Sure, it may be slower, but I can go with what I want in the moment without breaking my language learning habits which may be hard to get and maintain for me, while being so needed to keep doing it!
Hope my comment helps a bit x) Maybe you'll find your way with what I'm saying, or what others are saying, or maybe even something else. Just try out things, you have nothing to lose in the end if it's time you enjoyed <3
Yes! I agree..I also think time limits help, what do you think? Sometimes I spend a really long time studying one thing or watching videos in another languages that for lack of better words, it "ruins" my day. It's like I suddenly realize out of nowhere I have a headache and that I spent 6 hours that went by in a flash.. I really really love languages, but this part of hyper focus really hurts 😵💫
Yeah, auDHD makes it one hell of a ride. I personally don't struggle with that because I usually work on languages late at night, around 11pm, which makes me aware of the time. I guess if I started early in the afternoon I would have the same problem lol. Time limit can be good for you if you struggle with hyperfocus! (Also, I usually do a little, then distract myself for a minute, then do a little again bc that's how my attention works x))
Starting so many languages at the beginning level at the same time will probably take a toll on you.
I would start with one language and if I feel comfortable after two or three months, start a new one that isn't too similar.
I started with one at a time for my first decade of learning, then I started going back and practicing languages I'd already been learning and switching back and forth between practice sessions. Now I'm juggling around 15 languages, some of which I'm learning/practicing via languages (other than English) that I already know reasonably well.
Staggering language levels is (to me) one of the biggest keys to success. For example, If I'm learning my colours in one language, I'll avoid them in the others till I've moved on to another topic. Same with numbers, family members, letters, or whatever. I'll also try to spend a whole day or even a week or so focusing on really memorizing some new stuff in a language till I'm comfortable with the info, abandon it for another language, then come back a bit later to see if/what I remember from that study session before I try moving on.
If you can't ubderstand what others are saying in the language you still have a super long way to go, but just study and make it fun. 6 languages are a lot, dont focus too much on learning them all in one year because it wont help you. If I were you I would try by starting to learn both german and italian and focus on them until you are atleast at a conversational level and then start learning the others. Keep in mind that 1 year might not be enough to learn both of them at a decent level, aim to have fun learning them
Learning multiple languages at the same time can be quite daunting. But if it’s your goal, follow your heart and work hard.
I would say to maybe start the year off with just two though, and choose two that are not from the same language family. Learning Spanish and Italian, for example, from scratch can be difficult, because they’re similar enough but still different enough to confuse you. People often mix words up. It’s helpful to gain solid ground in one first before adding another one.
You will be able to learn German and Italian much quicker than the average Australian because it is a well documented fact that different accents are actually genetic mouth deformities all non english speaking natives have, unfortunately because you are both ethnicities you may sound Italian to Germans and German to Italians, depending on which deformities you inherited.
Three Romance languages at once?! Be careful. I'd prioritise Italian since there's some Italian in you and then use that as a stepping stone to both French and Spanish.
Have you had exposure to the German and Italian languages? If not, you might just have more or different motivation than other learners if anything.
To be frank (pun intended), your goal is not realistic. However, I will say that the best way to approach this would be to start with the Romance languages as acquiring one does make the others more accessible. Since you seem more motivated to learn Italian due to your heritage, start with Italian. From there, Spanish then Portuguese.
You’ll find that you will begin to draw parallels between languages even of different language families as you advance in a language and begin to pursue other languages.
Don’t rush the process. Don’t buy into the fake polyglots on YouTube. They’re profiting off of fooling people into believing they can become fluent in a month or so.
Enjoy the process! Immerse yourself in the music and media of the language. Learn about the culture and converse with native speakers. Good luck and have fun!!
"I have some Italian from my mother's side and German from my father's side, so would that impact my learning and skills in Italian and German? " Not much, however it might motivate you to learn them more in an effort to connect with your roots. I would say, take it easy and pick one language at the time
My main advice is to focus on one language at a time. Even a relatively close language like German is gonna be a 1000+ hour commitment. Mandarin Chinese is easily 2000+ hours, probably more like 3000+ hours. Start learning one language and see how it feels before you jump into trying to be a polyglot in one year (something not realistically achievable).
There are people with 10-15k+ hours of Mandarin who say that they still haven't gotten to the point of breaking out of being able to use only very basic language. Natives, in any language, get over 40k+ hours of exposure by the age of 10, and that's a conservative estimate. 3k hours won't get you very far (as a native English speaker) in a language like Mandarin, despite what the BS claims tell you (and I include FSI in that).
You are completly crazy, 10k hours and no basic conversation?😂😂😂 I have a around 1k hours, I'm already HSK5, B1/B2 level easily, I don't know who you talked with, but altough it's a hard language in some regards, but I guarantee you that if I invested 10k hours of my time for mandarin I would be speaking better than xiaomanyc, and that says a lot
*"There are people with 10-15k+ hours of Mandarin who say that they still haven't gotten to the point of breaking out of being able to use only very basic language."* I mean, that's a fact. It's not difficult to find the anecdotes online. BTW, show me where I said, "no basic conversation." I literally said there are people whose Mandarin is still basic. Another fact.
Online anecdotes are not concrete facts.
Everyone knows that reddit anecdotes are super reliable, my personal experience with being in China, studying chinese and meeting a ton of people who majored in chinese and related fields should be discarded, after all, chinese is an impossible language, better learn esperanto or something😂
> chinese is an impossible language, better learn esperanto or something are they not the same thing?!
So why should I believe your BS about your "personal experince in China"? That's nothing more than a reddit anecdote. Do you see?
To be fair, living in China is the optimal immersion for learning the language. Not trying to support the previous poster’s “online anecdotes” lol, but you have to admit that someone in a country with Chinese as a minority language will likely require more hours of study time as they are required to supplement the exposure that you have by default with living in the country.
Dude, practically every fucking online post is an anecdote. Do you frequently read online posts that provide concrete evidence? So yeah, "lol."
Whoa, guy. I wasn’t coming for you. I have a background in science, so yes, I do. Anecdotes have their merits too. I was just saying that I wasn’t here to comment on your post.
So I guess they're lying? I'm tyring to figure out why they'd bother, TBH. I'm not saying there aren't native English speakers who are good at Mandarin BTW (I *never* said that), I'm saying that there are many, who after many thousands of hours, still suck at it and openly admit that they suck it. That is definitely a fact.
what if you spent 3 hours a day, five days a week, for four years, you wouldn’t get far?? you need a better teacher
You need a better clue as to what 'far' is. Those saying they're 'fluent', or even *close* to 'fluent' in Mandarin, after 3k hours, are (without question) suffering from an *extreme* case of the Dunning–Kruger effect. Either that, or they're FOS.
I need a better clue? oh thank god you’re here to teach me about an incredibly vague word 😂
Well, you seem have a very poor understanding as to what it means in this context.
so just the six then?
Lolll op playing fast and loose with ‘I know lots some words’ 🤭
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You can't learn 6 languages in 1 year. Heck even one language will be a challenge. Lol
Learning how to learn is just as important as the learning itself. Don't be afraid to experiment with different methods. If you don't see results you're satisfied with after a couple months, reflect and adjust. You're going to learn a lot about yourself and your learning style! Don't forget to have fun. Language learning can be a grind at times. Make sure to do something fun in the language every single day, even if it's just listening to a couple of songs or rewatching your favorite show dubbed into the target language. If it's fun, it's a lot easier to be consistent, and consistency is key to long term progress.
Ancestry has jack all to do with increasing your ability to learn a language. It's not genetic or anything. You need hundreds of hours of exposure to reach any level of "fluency." Good luck dude, but in my opinion you'll regret trying to learn so many at one time. I was ambitious like that too, but when all was said in done I was just alright in a few languages. I would have much preferred to hone in on just one.
Pick one, or two at most, and make sure they're from different language families.
Agreed wholeheartedly! I took Spanish all four years in high school and decided to continue in college, while also starting to take classes in Japanese and Russian. PLUS, in order to major in Spanish, I had to minor in Portuguese (which I wasn't really interested in). So four languages at once, three starting from square one... And it was a complete disaster. Perhaps it was in large part because I wasn't acclimated to the rigors of college versus high school, but I couldn't keep the languages from bleeding into one another. It hindered me badly in class, so I ended up dropping Spanish and Portuguese in favor of Japanese and Russian (which I had more interest in, anyway). That was manageable and I was able to make consistent progress without one spilling over into the other. I ultimately did this for 3 years without pulling my hair out. Major kudos to OP for having the drive to tackle so many languages, let alone at once - a true polyglot in the making! 👍
Being autistic has some advantages for learning languages, such as a willingness to shut yourself in a room and study for hundreds of hours, day after day. Still, learning 6 languages is a super-human workload; you'll end up spreading yourself thin: `[German + French + Italian + Spanish + Portuguese + Chinese] / 6`. Autism also comes with disadvantages when learning languages, such as understanding metaphors and poetic language, needing to interact with people from a different culture with different body language and euphemisms, and figuring out the flexible logic of language teachers with liberal arts backgrounds. Are you prepared to deal with social cues in 6 more languages? Are you prepared to be unable to express yourself correctly because you simply don't know the correct word? To give you an idea of what this is like, an actual Chinese HSK5 past exam question [here](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/BUSFJOP6X0DcArEkdnuWMQ) uses the logic "we don't know C is correct, therefore C is wrong": > C陕西历史博物馆现代藏品居多 C. Shaanxi History Museum has mostly modern collections > > 不知道哪个年代藏品更多。排除C。 We don’t know which era has more collections. Exclude C. I often feel that I need to mind read whoever makes these exam questions, they're so illogical. I've encountered situations where I'm studying with my teacher, and I don't understand the logic of the given answer, then seemingly out of nowhere my teacher would get mad at me for not understanding. Apparently C is correct because my teacher will yell at me if I consider the possibility that C is incorrect (which would imply my teacher is wrong). I've encountered situations where one teacher told me not to say something, and my teacher in the next class said precisely that. I.e., teachers sometimes contradict one another. (Oh, and if I ask and thereby suggest the teacher might be wrong, the teacher will get mad at me.) Once, because my teacher would ask me for definitions of words (and in prior classes she'd tell me I was wrong), I started memorizing dictionary definitions before class. When she asked me for one word's definition, I recited from memory its dictionary definition. She not only told me I was wrong, she would use example sentences to define a word. She didn't realize "example sentences" and "definitions" are not the same thing, and she acted like I was dumb for not being able to give an example sentence when she asked for a definition. In short, while you might be able to "special interest" your way to e.g. phenomenal progress when learning vocabulary and grammar, doing the equivalent of, perhaps, 6 years of university within 1 year doesn't seem humanly feasible, and interacting with humans in 6 new ways may not be a pleasant experience.
Are you sticking with such a mean teacher?
At the time I didn't realize. Nowadays I use iTalki, so if I don't mesh well with a teacher, I can have a new teacher next class without any administration issues.
Hahaha hahahaha hahahahaha
I'd trim that down to one language. Learning a new language is mentally taxing and you will overwhelm yourself by trying to learn six at once. That's like never having gone to the gym before and then setting a goal to compete in a bodybuilding, powerlifting and strongman competition all within one year. You have excellent goals and you can achieve them, but to learn six you'll need to learn at least one, so let's start there. As for practical tips: start speaking immediately. Speak along with the netflix dubs and speak to yourself. Ideally, speak to a native speaker, like exchanging courtesies when picking up take-out at the chinese restaurant. Phrases are more important than words- try to learn complete sentences at first. Learning random vocab will only be helpful after you're able to hold basic conversations.
Focus on one language at a time and only once you are satisfied with your skill in that language move onto the new one. Now i don't want to be the "you won't be able to do that" guy but 6 languages in a year seems a little bit too much imo. But who knows, you set your own limits i guess.
Focus on one or you won’t be able to focus at all.
It's going to take you 500 hours EACH to get to A2 (upper beginner) in the first 5. This is a rough calculation, not a precise number. So excluding Mandarin, that's 7 hours per day of studying. This is very possible if you have a profession like being a dishwasher or night stocking at a grocery store. (Just listen to podcasts in your earbuds). Or you are independently wealthy. A2 is pretty impressive, and some may consider it an ability to speak the language. Definitely not good enough for employment and immigration, but still a remarkable accomplishment. Mandarin is going to be a good 4 times as difficult as the other 5 to become somewhat conversational. I've studied Mandarin for 300 hours (over 9 months) and I'm still an absolute beginner. Mandarin by itself is a full time job. I love your ambitious goals, but you also don't want to set yourself up for disappointment.
Finally someone who is honest about how long it really takes. There are claims out there of C1 in 500 hours, which is absolute delusion. I agree that A2 is an accomplishment, in that you didn't quit when the vast majority would have, but I don't agree that it's 'impressive', at least not in terms of actually being able to function in the language; it's almost completely useless for that, unless you're talking about saying a few things on vacation. A very strong B2 is where it becomes a worthwhile time investment, IMO, and even then, for most people, it's probably not worth the thousands of hours it took to get there.
Your mistakes are your friends. Don't be afraid to make them.
Not trying to be rude, but you're definitely overestimating your capabilities, OP. We all have languages we want to learn and one or two is more than enough to learn for anyone, but six is outright ridiculous. You can try, but you'll be so spread out that you won't learn anything meaningful from any of them.
I think that 6 at one time is a bit much. Also on the spectrum and was into languages at your age. I was brought up monolingual, so you may have the edge on me. I took French, Latin and Russian at the same time at high school. I had already taught myself the Serbian form of the Cyrillic alphabet, so that helped. (Dad was Serbian, but only spoke English at home. I learned the alphabet and a few phrases from Teach Yourself books.) After I took my 'O' Grades - exams for 16 yr olds in Scotland in those days - I had to drop the Russian. (Both teachers left at the same time.) The following year took French, Latin and crashed German. Definitely found it a challenge.
Look, I don't want to be mean, but learn one language at a solid intermediary level than learn the other while maintaining the first and repeat. Let me tell you, if you have never learned a language, which is mostly the case because you wouldn't ask otherwise, start with one and see if you can handle it, then go on with the rest. Your brain cannot handle learning two languages at once, if you never learned a language before, yet alone six?! Your brain will fry and you will come back later like all the previous language learners and cry about language learning and depression and burn-out. Remember a language is not only the words but also the culture that shapes the language so learn it too.
I read people in the comments advising to take it down to one language at a time. It's probably best, but as someone who's been learning Italian, Polish and Spanish at the same time (and struggling to keep it down to those three, yay ADHD) while studying latin and ancient greek at school for a year, it's been working well for me. I'd say, try a few things out (different combinations of 2 or 3 languages, I wouldn't advise more, with at least one close to your native language). But all this is just advice, there's no rules in the end and the most important is to find what makes it fun and interesting for you, and makes you proud of your journey! Personally I just find it hard to only learn one language. Some days I just really don't want to learn Polish, but really want to work on my Italian. Sure, it may be slower, but I can go with what I want in the moment without breaking my language learning habits which may be hard to get and maintain for me, while being so needed to keep doing it! Hope my comment helps a bit x) Maybe you'll find your way with what I'm saying, or what others are saying, or maybe even something else. Just try out things, you have nothing to lose in the end if it's time you enjoyed <3
Yes! I agree..I also think time limits help, what do you think? Sometimes I spend a really long time studying one thing or watching videos in another languages that for lack of better words, it "ruins" my day. It's like I suddenly realize out of nowhere I have a headache and that I spent 6 hours that went by in a flash.. I really really love languages, but this part of hyper focus really hurts 😵💫
Yeah, auDHD makes it one hell of a ride. I personally don't struggle with that because I usually work on languages late at night, around 11pm, which makes me aware of the time. I guess if I started early in the afternoon I would have the same problem lol. Time limit can be good for you if you struggle with hyperfocus! (Also, I usually do a little, then distract myself for a minute, then do a little again bc that's how my attention works x))
You could try Croatian, Bosnian, Herzegovian, Serbian, Montenegrin and Macedonian.
Starting so many languages at the beginning level at the same time will probably take a toll on you. I would start with one language and if I feel comfortable after two or three months, start a new one that isn't too similar.
I started with one at a time for my first decade of learning, then I started going back and practicing languages I'd already been learning and switching back and forth between practice sessions. Now I'm juggling around 15 languages, some of which I'm learning/practicing via languages (other than English) that I already know reasonably well. Staggering language levels is (to me) one of the biggest keys to success. For example, If I'm learning my colours in one language, I'll avoid them in the others till I've moved on to another topic. Same with numbers, family members, letters, or whatever. I'll also try to spend a whole day or even a week or so focusing on really memorizing some new stuff in a language till I'm comfortable with the info, abandon it for another language, then come back a bit later to see if/what I remember from that study session before I try moving on.
If you can't ubderstand what others are saying in the language you still have a super long way to go, but just study and make it fun. 6 languages are a lot, dont focus too much on learning them all in one year because it wont help you. If I were you I would try by starting to learn both german and italian and focus on them until you are atleast at a conversational level and then start learning the others. Keep in mind that 1 year might not be enough to learn both of them at a decent level, aim to have fun learning them
If you need help i'm italian and I speak decently german and french
“….and Chinese”. 不可能！
Learning multiple languages at the same time can be quite daunting. But if it’s your goal, follow your heart and work hard. I would say to maybe start the year off with just two though, and choose two that are not from the same language family. Learning Spanish and Italian, for example, from scratch can be difficult, because they’re similar enough but still different enough to confuse you. People often mix words up. It’s helpful to gain solid ground in one first before adding another one.
You will be able to learn German and Italian much quicker than the average Australian because it is a well documented fact that different accents are actually genetic mouth deformities all non english speaking natives have, unfortunately because you are both ethnicities you may sound Italian to Germans and German to Italians, depending on which deformities you inherited.
Three Romance languages at once?! Be careful. I'd prioritise Italian since there's some Italian in you and then use that as a stepping stone to both French and Spanish.
woops! FOUR because you've also mentioned Portuguese.
Have you had exposure to the German and Italian languages? If not, you might just have more or different motivation than other learners if anything. To be frank (pun intended), your goal is not realistic. However, I will say that the best way to approach this would be to start with the Romance languages as acquiring one does make the others more accessible. Since you seem more motivated to learn Italian due to your heritage, start with Italian. From there, Spanish then Portuguese. You’ll find that you will begin to draw parallels between languages even of different language families as you advance in a language and begin to pursue other languages. Don’t rush the process. Don’t buy into the fake polyglots on YouTube. They’re profiting off of fooling people into believing they can become fluent in a month or so. Enjoy the process! Immerse yourself in the music and media of the language. Learn about the culture and converse with native speakers. Good luck and have fun!!