How Many Languages Should You Learn At Once? Answer Revealed!

Many people have been asking me how I managed to learn 3 foreign languages fluently within the past 6 years. They wondered how many languages should they learn at once to achieve fluency in more languages within the time. Thanks to my experience learning several foreign languages, including German, English, Spanish, and French, I can now answer your question.

You Should Learn Only 1 Language At Once

So if you ask me, how many languages should you learn at once… my answer is, only one language. I suggest you focus on one language at a time. Once you master that language, you can start learning another foreign language. I don’t recommend learning more languages at once since it creates a lot of confusion. It might also hold you off from properly understanding the languages and achieving your goals.

Instead, what I suggest, is to learn one language after another. This way, you’ll trick your brain, and it will get easier to learn other languages. Then, once you master the first language, you can start learning another one. Translate words from the language you previously learned to the foreign language you’re learning now. That way, you’ll not forget the first language and will maintain a good level of it. This will also help you stop translating from your native language to the foreign language in your head. Because you’ve already incorporated more languages into the process.

Is It Good To Learn Multiple Languages At Once?

It isn’t good to learn multiple languages at once. Simply because you’ll easily lose motivation if you overload yourself with too many goals and languages. It is much better to focus on one language at a time and set clear reasons and goals to learn the language. The smaller goals you have, the easier it will be to learn a language. You’ll see progress faster. If you start learning multiple languages at once, you’ll easily get overwhelmed and leave your language learning behind. So don’t learn multiple languages at once.

So now that you know the answer to your question, let me go more into detail. In this article, I will reveal to you why you should learn only one language at once, how you should approach the learning, and when it’s time to start learning another foreign language from your list. Let’s get round to it.

Language Learning Is Not A Race; It’s A Marathon

One thing I want you to keep in mind is that language learning is not a race. It’s rather a marathon. The more you try to push and learn as quickly as possible, the more likely you’ll fail. Believe me, I’ve been there. When you start learning languages, you want to achieve it all at once. You see yourself talking to locals on your trip to Spain or just writing a message to your friends living abroad in their language. You want to feel the energy and satisfaction of speaking in a foreign language.

But having the goal and seeing yourself speaking the language is simply not enough. It is important you love the learning process. You not only have to see the result. First of all, you have to fall in love with learning the language. If you don’t like the simple fact, it will be much harder to learn it.

So the first thing you can do is to look forward to actually learning the language. You can do so by having a fun and enjoyable learning approach.

With Which Language Should You Start At First?

I definitely recommend starting with an easier foreign language to learn if you are new to language learning. There are some easier and some more difficult languages to learn. Choose easier languages at first, if you can.

These are some of the easiest languages you can learn:

• Spanish
• Italian
• Esperanto
• Portuguese
• Norwegian
• Swedish
• French

Also, check out my article about the best languages you can do together, or one after another. It will make your language learning a lot easier. And you’ll learn more languages if you choose the right language match.

When Should You Start Learning Second Foreign Language?

There is no specific time when you can start learning another language. But one thing is for sure. One indicator is to be comfortable with the current foreign language you’re learning. You have to be able to speak in all the situations you need to. Feel confident in speaking within these situations.

It also depends on the purpose of your language learning. For example, if you only want to speak it during your trip, you can learn a language within 6 months and then learn another language. But 6 months is not enough time to become confident in the language and understand it properly.

If you want to be fluent in a language, you need to learn it for 2 years. This is a great time to spend learning one language and achieving fluency. After, you can start with a different language.

Check out my guide for setting up achievable language goals. In the end, I talk about the language learning process and how much time it takes to gain your desired language level.

It Gets Easier to Learn Your Second Foreign Language

As I mentioned above, the more foreign languages you learn, the easier it gets to learn another language. Simple because your brain will get used to it. You’ll also become more confident in speaking. It will be easier to overcome fear of speaking foreign language. Because you’ve experienced it with your first language and managed to speak. Now you know you can do it, and it gets easier.

How To Maintain Good Language Level After You Start Learning Another Language

Once you learn one language and start with another one, here is what you should do.

When learning your second or third foreign language, keep up with the previous language. I love to translate new words from my new language to the language I learned previously. Or the other way around.

For instance, I’ve just finished learning German. As my new language, I am learning French. So what you can do is write all new words in German in your language notebook and then translate them into French. I barely use my native language (Slovak language) when learning other languages. For instance, I am learning Italian at the moment. I always write new words down in English or Spanish and then translate them into Italian. This will help you to keep up with previous languages and maintain them on a good level. You’ll basically not forget them.

I am learning Italian at the moment. I always write new words down in English or Spanish and then translate them into Italian. This helps me to keep up with previous language I learned (Spanish) and maintain it on a good level.

It also helps you to stop thinking in your native language and translating words in your head. If you switch from a foreign language to another language, you’ll train your brain to think in foreign languages rather than your native language. Believe me, it happened to me many times, and it works perfectly.

This is my answer to your question about whether you should learn multiple languages at once. Remember that you have to fall in love with the process of learning the language. Don’t just see yourself speaking it. See yourself learning it and enjoying it. I’ve given you many great resources to learn a language in a fun and easy way. Check them out and start learning your target language.

Let me know if you have any questions. How have you learned languages so far? Which languages can you speak? Let me know if it’s easier for you to learn another language once you master your first foreign language. Which languages do you think are the easiest to learn? And which ones are difficult?

I am looking forward to your comments, experience with language learning in the comments below.

Check out my section with Language Resources to help you start learning your favourite foreign language. Follow the best language learning methods for adults in 9 simple steps and learn languages in a fun and interesting way. 

If you cannot decide which language to learn, check out my article about the best language to learn to travel Europe. 

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