hello guys welcome to my channel this is zoe how's your language learning going if you are learning several languages at once or want to do so today's video is for you I got a lot of questions from you like how to maintain the level of the languages while learning other languages some friends are not sure if they should start learning a new language because they are afraid that they might lose the level of other languages or they might mix them up other friends wrote to me like Zoé, I've decided to learn four languages because you
have inspired me to be honest I feel a bit worried about it because I don't want to mislead you I know we are indeed interested in different languages and is difficult to decide I know it's exciting to study several languages and discover different cultures still I need to make this video to tell you the reality It is super challenging and it requires a lot of energy passion and discipline so today I will be sharing with you in detail my journey of learning six foreign languages French English Arabic German Turkish and Persian you will see how
I gradually learned one language after another what difficulties I encountered how I dealt with these difficulties I will try to give you some handy and practical advice as always I hope this can give you some ideas and inspiration if you like this video don't forget to hit the like button and support me don't forget to subscribe to my channel is it possible to learn several languages simultaneously a big yes theoretically I'm learning six languages simultaneously but I didn't start learning then at the same time here is the timeline from September 2015 to September 201 6
I focused only on French I got a DALF C1 and studied my MA in sociology in France sometimes we had conferences in English and I realized that my English was very weak I could understand but I couldn't speak because I had never practiced before living France was my first experience abroad so I told myself that if I wanted to have an international academic career I had to improve my English so I started to work on my English and French simultaneously even though I could already speak French fluently in everyday life it was still difficult for
me to follow the courses read quickly we had to read a lot writing the dissertation or thesis in French was still a big challenge so for French I concentrated on the lectures listening recording checking in new keywords from articles and books for English I bought a grammar and an academic vocabulary book I watched a lot of online lectures in English lot of open classes in philosophy sociology and history and did a lot of shadowing exercises to improve my pronunciation at that time my French was much better than my English if there were words I didn't
know in English I checked it and wrote them down in French I still use this method a lot of today I mostly take notes in English and French for other languages I rarely take note in my native language Chinese it was not difficult to balance these two languages because most of the time I was studying and using French I just put learning English into my daily routine if you are in the same situation there is a dominant language like French devote most of a time and energy to it and another language put it in a
fixed routine 30min a day for example front 7:30 to 8 am for example with a clear plan that target your weakness like shadowing for my pronunciation grammar exercises for my grammar what I have learned from that period is that we should do things with a long term vision at that time it seemed more important to me to live in France to get my degree but my decision to improve my English and integrated into my daily life into my daily routine has changed my life three years later today I can lecture it in English I am
not afraid to attend any international conferences I can write articles in English and now the most of the contents of my channel is in English to reach a wider public I really got a lot of opportunities because of it at the end of my MA I decided to learn Arabic at that time the level of my French was already sufficient to manage my academy tasks so my goal became Arabic and English, the same principal Arabic was my dominant language English the routine as before but I reduced the time of studying English to only two three
times a week another tip when I watch movies series or videos on YouTube today in Arabic French and English even if I can understand everything I always turn on the CC subtitles to see new words and expressions this is how I learned new skills and at the same time many new words and terms about photography videography gym and makeup cooking that's how I maintain my level in these languages without a lot of additional studies a year after learning Arabic I decided to learn German because of my academy vision and I wanted to read sociology sociology
and philosophy books in German it was the first time I felt overwhelmed but I told myself the same strategy to focus on Arabic learning German stay in a basic daily level a basic daily routine I studied one lesson with DW DEUTSCH WELLE every day English and French I always watch videos and read books and sometimes talk to friends to maintain my level now doing videos in English is a good way to practice as well one of the challenges was that I started to mix Arabic and German even though they are so different especially as Arabic
was my priority language I used to think in Arabic and translate everything into Arabic so I set two separate study blocks I began study Arabic in the morning so I only started studying German after 4 PM another challenge was that I was frustrated because I didn't feel the same progress in German as Arabic but I thought the goal of each period was different at that moment what I needed in German was a good solid structure especially grammar my time energy and environment didn't allow me to do more so different periods different focuses after three months
in Egypt I went back to China to see my parents then came back to France and started my phd I was very interested in Turkish and Persian but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to balance everything I assumed I should learn these two languages after my phd now I'm not gonna touch them but I wanted to travel to Turkey during the Christmas holiday I was like why not starting learning some Turkish just for discovering so I just followed the lessons 15 to 30min a day in this video I explain in more details how I
study a language from scratch and I give many examples of learning Turkish after a month I decided to learn Persian I used the same strategy as for Turkish less by regularly sometimes I was too busy I studied Turkish on even days or persian on odd days guys it seems that I have experience in learning languages I'm pretty organized and disciplined but I still have difficulties in learning four languages simultaneously first of all the balance between them theoretically I know the hierarchy very well Arabic German Turkish and Persian but sometimes you feel more motivated to learn
a new language like Turkish and Persian I feel more progress in the beginning it was more enjoyable to learn to study I knew I was going to travel to the countries and practice with people but I couldn't find a motivation to learn German I have to be honest I didn't take lessons anymore sometimes I only talked to my language partner once a week it happened it happened to me sometimes you just couldn't find the motivation so I was a bit stressed I used to feel frustrated because of that but I've changed my vision of language
learning and set more realistic expectations no longer tracing progress in each language simultaneously but setting long term goals for example from last year when I started my channel November 2021 until November 2022 I set a general goal for each language I want to have progress in each language I split it into several shot term goals depending on the situation at a given time during a period I focus on one or two languages by maintaining level of others like this semester I studied more Arabic and now I've just finished my studies so my current focus is
Turkish and Persian because I will travel to Iran and T urkey again this summer I want to see more progress in these two languages and I will only maintain my level in Arabic and German by studying like two times a week you really have to do it two times a week from September I will concentrate on German and I will only keep my Arabic Persian Turkish level some friends are afraid to lost their level if they learn a new language but it depends if you already have an intermediate or advanced level you had a good
speaking skill before you won't lose your level quickly like my French English and Arabic even I don't practice for a while I have no problems switching to these languages and I can speak fluently but I suggest you you integrate some activities with these languages into your daily life like reading books watching videos to keep the level another difficulty is mixing languages I don't mix English French German and Arabic anymore but when I started to learn Turkish and Persian I used to mix them horribly because there are many many many similar words you can't imagine guys
walla I still remember I used to talk to my language exchange partner in Turkish from 7 to 8 pm and in Persian from 8 to 9pm because I only had time in evening and I wanted to study these two languages every day to progress at that time I thought it was a great plan but it was not a good idea at all I was mixing these two languages and it was so counterproductive so I decided to do Turkish on odd days and Persian on even days even now I can study Turkish and Persian every day
I will still try to set two study sessions with long intervals morning Turkish and evening Persian another helpful exercise in separating two languages is thinking and speaking in one target language for example now I'm out I'm going home I know that tonight I'm gonna study Persian I'm not gonna wait until I get home and sit at a table to learn Persian still I'm already going to force myself to think in Persian while I'm walking down the street it's like a warming up exercise it's not easy but when you look up a word in person it
will train your brain to react in that language it helped me a lot to separate the languages at the end of this video I want to say that if you are not sure whether you should learn another language or languages ask yourself why do you want to learn this language what is a goal you want to achieve in one year how much time should you invest in learning this language based on this goal can you do it don't forget to take into account the time you need to maintain the level of other languages pay attention
to difficulties such as the balance between languages the frustration of not progressing or progressing slowly and the risk of mixing languages I hope the tips in the video can help you I hope this video can inspire you if you have any questions and want to share your story write in the comments if you liked this video don't forget to give me a like see you guys bye
