Maintaining One Language While Learning Another

This episode is a listener Question from Deborah in Sydney.

Deborah’s question - “I have been learning French for a number of years. I struggled with various means until I finally hit upon a combination of styles that worked for me. The class room environment just didn't suit me. I was one of those people who sat at the back and didn't answer, and there was always that one person who would constantly interrupt the lesson to argue a grammar point with the teacher. Once I discovered Italki things got better, I had the teacher all to myself, and I was encouraged to talk in French. But I discovered I missed the social aspect of language learning. So I joined various Facebook groups, and did different challenges until I found one that fit and now I have the best of both worlds. So much so that I've started learning Italian. The problem is, how do I maintain one language while learning a new one?”

Bec and Penny discuss how we’ve been here too - learning two languages at once and going through phases in our language learning, mixing up words and completing forgetting words. Learning one language already puts you in a great position to learn a new language, because you’ve had the chance to put into practice the methods and tools that work for you.

We ask is learning two languages from the same language family a help or a hindrance?

We also discuss time and how to allocate language learning time to both the language you’re maintaining and the new language.