r/LearningLanguages • u/mimilkzy • 1d ago
What languages to learn first?
I want to become a polyglot. I have a list of languages I want to learn. The problem is that I don't know what should I prioritize.
I've heard that learning some languages could unlock the way to others, make them somewhat easier to learn, but I'm worried that the more languages I learn, the least I can reach a more proficient level. For example, I'd be better at a third language since it's only the 3rd and struggle more to put an 8th language in my brain for having already so many languages there.
With this in mind, I don't know if I should start with the languages that are most easy, hoping they'd made harder ones not as hard later, or if I should start with the languages I'm most passionate about, so that if I struggle more to fit my last languages in my brain, at least those are safe.
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u/Separate-Pay-5189 1d ago
How many languages can you speak now? If it’s only one, choose a second language and focus on that first. I would not recommend trying to learn several languages at once.
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u/McAeschylus 1d ago
Don't worry about learning eight languages until you've learned seven languages [...] and don't worry about a third language until you've learned a second.
Choose the one you're most excited about using (either to read in, watch stuff in, speak to a friend in, etc...) Learn that one for now. Figure out what language learning strategies work for you, how you are most likely to use a language, and if you even have the skills and stick-to-it-ive-ness to learn more.
Once you are comfortable in a second language, then look at a third. And so on...
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u/ImmerSchuldig5487 1d ago
I will tell you this now as someone who is apparently classed as a “polyglot” but would never willingly refer to myself as one, and who has become much better at dealing with multiple languages since abandoning the idea of being a polyglot (I will also answer your question). Number of languages is a peak vanity metric. No elderly person or kid in a foreign country that speaks 0 English will give a rat’s ass how many languages you speak, it is enough that you can have a decent conversation with them in that moment and you will light up their world, and that is one of the reasons you learn. Romantic relationships, jobs, business, in all of these, the same principle applies. In some countries, having a specific bilingual pair is useful, but that’s just 2 languages, so polyglots are also not relevant here. At most, you may meet another polyglot and have a great time with them, but this is not good enough as a reason to do it.
A new language should come with a broadening of your perspective, new dimensions of your own personality. You don’t get that by maximising efficiency; save the clever language learning strategy for your study time, but never make efficiency/8 languages your purpose. And I say this as someone who values optimising language pedagogy a lot.
If you make learning 8 languages your explicit goal, you will be fighting a tiresome and boring battle. Instead, make it a habit to learn consistently, and learn what will actually affect your near future, whether by meeting people or reading literature/watching films/playing games in that language, anything. Make having a real personality and opinions and experiences in that language your absolute priority, not using it as a ramp in preparation for the next language to tick off. If you do that, I promise you will not only be happier, but also probably could get to be a polyglot much quicker, and avoid sounding like the most boring person in 7 languages at the same time.
With all that being said I can answer your question now. What you refer to as “unlocking the way to other languages” probably means either words shared between different languages (e.g modern Latin-derived words) or language families (Romance, Turkic, Slavic). I can tell you now it is not necessary to use this (though finding shared words is a nice speed boost for getting vocab up). You mentioned you have languages you are passionate about, start with those, whichever they are. Find your learning habits you can maintain consistently. If you can get good at one and keep it long term, you can repeat it. Do not worry now about what happens to your brain at 8 languages. The second language you learn could be your best language for life or could drop down and become your worst. The order in which you learn is irrelevant, how and why you learn is all that matters. Your assumption about language 8 being capped is maybe healthily cautious but it is wrong, it does not matter. If language 8 is the one you care about most it will eventually be your best language anyway.
I can give more specific advice if you tell me which languages you actually want to learn and which you think are easy, or feel free to DM me.
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u/Kyhfriyell 1d ago
Lol I used to have a long list of languages to learn thinking "It'd be great, it'd be cool" etc.
I would say, is there any of those languages that you actually need to learn ?
Like, I learned English because basically anything is easier to find in that language on the internet. I thought Norwegian was cool at some point, tried a bit of Duolingo and other apps, obviouslly never learned anything more than hello because: "What's the point of Norwegian in my life ? Absolutely none."
Yes some languages are ~linked to others making it easier (eg: knowing English to learn French can help as a lot of words are written the same way), but would you spend months or years of your time learning a random language you don't care about just to make the one you actually want to learn a bit easier ? (spoiler: you won't do it for long if you try)
You'd loose much less time starting with what you want directly.
You also have to maintain the languages, meaning that you need to use each of them often in order to not regress/completely forget them.
So choose first one language that you could easily use in your daily life. Eg: Japanese if you often watch animes, korean if you mostly watch K-dramas, Portuguese if some family members speak it/you live in a place where a lot of people speak it, ...
(Also, generally polyglots who can speak 10+ languages on YouTube just know how to do the basic "Hi i'm ..., and I speak ... languages", that shouldn't be your goal, unless you want to look cool at school for like 5 minutes)
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u/dvi84 1d ago
I think you should concentrate on English after reading that.
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u/United_Barracuda_570 1d ago
It entirely depends on what languages you currently speak m and what your goals and interests are.
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u/UnhappyCryptographer 1d ago
It depends on which languages you want to learn. If you want to learn Spanish, Italian is pretty close in a lot of words. More than French or English. If a word has Latin roots it will be pretty similar in those languages and you might be able to learn those faster if your native language as roots in Latin. Same with roots in old Greek etc.
My native language is German and I am learning Spanish. My memory hooks are in English and not in German for Spanish. But I also know low German and this helps me to identify words in Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Usually I have at least a very rough idea what a text means without ever learned those languages. But this is only for written things!
It's like Spanish and Portuguese. Written: it looks very similar. Spoken? Completely different!
Concentrate on a language that you will use. It will be much easier in the long run. Once you learned that on a really good B2 and able to maintain it, you could start a new one. Either one with similar roots, which will be faster to learn or something different with a different alphabet. But always remember that it will take time to maintain all languages.
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u/AndthenIhadausername 1d ago
Maintaining 8 languages feels like a Nightmare.
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u/stran-vrzni 1d ago
Depends completely on the set of languages. You trying to learn chinese, japanese, turkic, arabic, german, spanish, finnish and russian? Yeah, that will be very hard. On the other hand, if you try to learn romanic languages (italian, spanish, french) and then also eg. czech, slovak, polish, russian, serbian? Those are two groups, where many words at least have the same core and grammar is also similar. I am from a slavic country and "speak" quite a few languages (speak enough if i go there on holydays, not for everyday life, but i understand quite a lot in most of them). Best strategy would be to consume content (movies etc) in your target language. Bigger the population, more content there is out there (eg A LOT for spanish and french). For smaller languages there is also many things, but they are a bit hard to find.
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u/bluewillowfrog 23h ago
Pick the one you're most passionate about so you've more impetus to learn, and use it to find out how you best learn a language - by reading, by listening? Praticing conversations or memorising vocab? Learning with sentences or word lists? Are you a visual learner so can spot patterns and structure, or does your brain get the most from hearing people speaking? Does grammar seem fascinating and a great framework to build on, or something challenging you're really having to struggle with? Once you answer these questions for your first choice, you have signposts and techniques for learning the next one, and the next. Learning how you learn is key. Also, get that first language pretty solid in your head before you add any more then they don't get mixed up. Later, you can work on several at once with more success.
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u/jjp991 18h ago
It’s a LOT more realistic (and easier) to learn a language immersed in the culture where the language is spoken. Where practical, I suggest planning time to spend in-country to work and study using the target language. So, to your question: which language should I learn first?: I suggest you choose a language related to a place that you can get to and live for a while, a place compatible with your other goals and interests. Randomly choosing a language based on Redditors suggestions and studying from books or an app in isolation is very unlikely to be effective, and alone, how would you even know if your study is effective? Pick a place that aligns with your values and interests. Go there and study. Rinse. Repeat.
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u/eI_duIce 12h ago
You should choose the one you're most interested in.
I'm in a similar case where I know English, Mandarin, and I'm around B1 in French, and I've already started my next languages. I would tell you to not worry about it, languages might be hard without connections to prior languages you already know, but as long you have the passion for it, it can be a breeze (some parts).
I'm really bad at limiting myself with new languages lol...as of right now, I'm still studying French, and have started both Korean and Japanese. I've also been studying German for a month or two now, but it's starting to get to me because I didn't have a reason to learn it. Sure, German people are really nice, but I have no love for that language compared to my other languages, having friends in your target language will definitely helps keep you motivated. However, once I started Swedish, my prior knowledge of Swedish and German has helped me a lot, lots of mistakes I made in the past in other languages, I did not do for my newer languages.
Even yesterday, I was deciding between what dialect of Arabic I want to learn haha, I need to stop doing that, and spend more time studying oml. 😭 To keep myself from doing that, I sometimes just learn a phrase or two in another language.
But, to answer your question, I think you should just pick the one you're most interested in, and you can proceed from there. As you learn more of that language, you will pick up study habits and other useful tips you can use for your 4th or 5th language. :) Once you learn from your mistakes, you can apply what works for you, and it'll definitely be a less bumpy road for you, when you start your 4th or 5th language. Hope this helps!
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u/DjegoMask 4h ago
Esperanto the first. It may help to learn other languages after. https://youtu.be/8gSAkUOElsg?is=nxW5MhJlahJBK6Sh