Question:
start Hawaiian classes in a few weeks. I've been proofreading for local
publishers and my limited Hawaiian was slowing me down.
I've also got a "teach yourself Arabic" book, which I started and then let
sit for too long. I've been thinking about getting back to it but ...
I'm wondering if it's a mistake to learn two new languages at once.
Wouldn't there be intereference? Have there been any scientific studies
done re language learning in adults that would cast any light on this?
I understand that children who grow up learning two languages at once may
have delayed learning in both ... seems to me that this would generalize,
but I'm not sure.
Answer:
Seems to me it depends on how different the languages are and how thoroughly
you're trying to learn them. If it's just a matter of some basic vocabulary
and grammar, I wouldn't worry.
Interference can happen even if you aren't learning languages
simultaneously, anyway. When I took 3 years of Japanese in college, it
scrambled the ability to speak Spanish I had built up in high school.
I can still *understand* Spanish as well as before, but I can't form
gramatically correct sentences off the top of my head anymore. One of
these days I'll get around to taking a refresher course
Probably, but I wouldn't know where to look for them.
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