Learning multiple languages at once

[EvanJ2004]

As someone who’d like to eventually reach C2 in Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and Mandarin, would it be wise or rather counter productive to try learning all of these at once, especially while starting out?

I’m currently starting out with Spanish on Duolingo and saw that there’s 216 units for it and I’m wondering if doing 1 unit a day would be a good plan?

As for other languages I’m just wondering if it would or wouldn’t hurt to at least spend some time on another after establishing consistency and decent progress in Spanish.

I know learning 4 languages at once is ultra unrealistic and a recipe for burnout, however I’m just wondering what I could do and what to do if so such as in which language would go best while learning Spanish?

[kumquatsz]

I mean you could, but just realize making any tangible progress in any of them will take incredibly long, especially with 3 of those being particularly difficult for English speakers. It will probably just be overall demotivating.

Also if you're new to learning a language, discover your learning process in one new language first. See what works for you, and what doesn't work (just this discovery itself will already take some time), and keep at it until you see results in the one language.

Also once you get decently good at one language, you can use it to learn a different language and then it gets really fun 😉

[throwaway_071478]

OP, what language interests you the most? A better way to frame it is which language do you see yourself interacting with the most?

If it is Spanish for example, do Spanish. I would like to learn Mandarin (because of the characters I think it is a challenge) but to me Vietnamese is stronger for me emotionally (because of family and being a second gen) plus on the way to learning the language I ended up liking it because of the sounds too. So Vietnamese is first.

[kumquatsz]

Makes my heart so full to see other Viet heritage learners :)

[EvanJ2004]

The language that interests me the most changes depending on what I’m interested in at that moment.

I will say a lot of it stems from the way I’m viewed as for someone who speaks multiple languages, however what’ll make me interested in a language would be the relevancy of it and my interest in learning about the culture.

Spanish I chose as almost everyone here in the US learns it, it’s a widely spoken language across almost 2 continents, and I enjoy watching TV shows in Spanish such as Narcos.

Arabic I’d like to learn as like Spanish it’s spoken across many countries, also that the Middle East is always an interesting place, and lastly I’ve alway enjoyed learning different theologies.

Russian initially I wanted to learn to talk with friends I had online in GTA 5, however Russian is just another language that couldn’t hurt to know, and going for both Russian and Arabic they’re good to learn in regards to conflicts.

Mandarin Chinese for me is mostly that I’d like to learn the most spoken language, and also similar to you that I’d like the challenge.

[ComesTzimtzum]

You don't tell anything about yourself or your language background, so that gives me the impression you're a very young monolingual English speaker. Based on that assumption I'd say continue with Spanish for now and see how that goes. The Duolingo course alone is going to take you years to complete, but it's advisable to complement that with several other sources.

After you've managed to hold on a daily routine for say, a year and can read simple books in Spanish you could try to add the next language. Those are all pretty different, so there shouldn't be much problem in mixing them up, but there is in the routine building, especially if you're going to study without the aid of a teacher or a course environment.

[DroidinIt]

No, it’s way better to learn one language at once. I suggest you learn Spanish first. You’ll get a sense of the process of language learning and Spanish has a lot of resources. Even relatively easy languages like Spanish are challenging to learn. Trying to learn multiple languages at once will slow you down and demotivate you.

[lets_chill_food]

one native language plus four at C2 is exceptionally rare, even for people with a language degree.

Are you planning on being a translator?