What Are The Pros and Cons Of Learning Two Languages At The Same Time?

Learning two languages at the same time is possible, but it is worth doing?

Personally I think that if you focus on one language for a while, and then start the other it can be totally worth your time and an enjoyable experience. Trying to start both languages on the same day will be too intense and I think you will run into problems.

Regardless of what way you want to do it, I will go through some of the Pros and Cons that you may experience when learning two languages at the same time, which will hopefully help you decide what you want to do.    

(You can read more about – Can You Learning Two Languages At The Same Time?)

The Pros Of Learning Two Languages At The Same Time

Learning a language comes with a lot of positive benefits and the same is true for when you learn two at the same time, so let’s look at the pros for doing it.

You Have Access To More Cultures And People

One of the main reasons we start learning languages is to enjoy new cultures and make new friends. By learning two languages, you just simply double this access.

You now have TV shows, music and books that you can enjoy from two separate parts of the world and well as being able to talk to people from these places.

The sooner you start learning more languages, the sooner you can get to experience this.

You Get More Variety From Two Languages

Learning two languages allows you to have more variety, which really means you won’t get bored.

If we are being truthful there are times when you sort of lose interest in your language. You can’t find any good books or videos and you are not really having any good conversations with language partners …you are just kind of bored. 

This is totally normal, but when you are learning two languages, you can overcome this problem as you can simply focus on the other language, which hopefully you are not feeling the same way about.

I have found that the swapping back and forth between two languages actually stops this bored feeling happening in the first place. Usually the boredom comes from overexposure, which isn’t happening when you are splitting your time between two languages.  

Learning Languages Is Good For The Brain

Learning a language is good for your brain on many levels, and learning two just pushes this to the next level.

It can be intense and you may feel like you are being pushed to your limits, but this can be a good thing. Some of you out there will be looking for that mental challenge and you will want to see how far you can go. Learning two languages at once will allow you to do that.

You will be surprised how much you can actually do and you will feel like you are reaching your full mental potential when you focus on learning two languages at the same time.

(You can read more about – Why Learning A Language Is Good For Your Brain)

Leaning Two Languages Will Always Keep You Busy

I have sort of touched on this already, when I said you will get variety …basically you will always be busy when learning two languages, so you have no time to be bored.

If you feel like you could be doing more with your time, learning two languages will fill that void. There is always going to be something to do in either language, so you will always be occupied. 

You Can Spot Patterns In Language Better

A lot of language learning is about spotting patterns or differences. You can do this with your native language and one you are learning, but things become so much clearer when there is a 3^rd language involved.

You will start to notice common themes and differences a lot quicker, which can make them easier to grasp and remember. Basically the more languages you learn, the more reference points you have to analysis thing and it generally makes it easier.

You Will Have More Opportunities In Life When You Know More Languages

Learning languages can really open all sorts of different doors and you never know what sort of opportunities may arise. This is simply doubled when you start learning two languages.

You will never know what you might be missing out on, but learning that second language will certainly give you the chance to allow these opportunities to come. 

It’s More Fun To Learn Two Languages

I guess this is kind of subjective, but you clearly must be having fun otherwise you wouldn’t do it.

You will find that anyone who does learn multiple languages will say that they generally enjoy the process. There will of course be times they may hate everything, or there may be certain aspects they do not find as enjoyable, but in general, they find learning languages fun.

Learning a language is a big commitment and to see success it is helpful if you enjoy what you are doing and this is especially true if you are doing it with two languages. 

The Cons Of Learning Two Languages At The Same Time

While learning two languages at the same time can be great, it is far from perfect and there can be a lot of negatives, which I will go through now.

You Need To Study More If You are Learning Two Languages

The second you decide to learn two languages you are literally doubling your workload. It’s pretty logical; everything you do will need to be doubled across both languages. Finding the time for one language can be difficult enough, so can you really commit to two?

You need to consider that when you finish studying one language for the day …you will have to start all over again with the second language.

It Will Take You Longer To Learn Two Languages If You Learn Them At The Same Time  

The time it takes you to study will be effected in two different ways. You are either going to have to study twice as much, or study for twice as long.

Let’s say you want to spend 1 hour a day learning a language, well, if you suddenly add a second language then you need do 2 hours now. You have just doubled how long you need to work for each day.

However, your time could potentially be halved so it will take you longer over all, let’s say you can you can only commit to 1 hour of study a day …then you would need to split this between both languages, and therefore you are only doing 30 minutes for each every day.

It’s now going to take you twice as long to make the same amount of process, since you are only doing 30 minutes, rather than a full hour.

This really is something you need to weigh up before starting. Just sticking with one language and really putting your effort into this can make a lot of sense. The second language will always be there, so it may be more sensible to learn one language before moving on, so that you can just give it the appropriate attention that it needs. 

Learning Two Languages Requires More Effort

I think it should be fairly obvious that it is going to take more effort to learn two languages. If you have been learning one you will know how tough it can be …now double this.

You will be basically doing everything twice, and regardless of how fast or slow you go, the overall amount of effort you need will be higher.

It can be hard enough to study one language, so you really have to ask yourself if you can put this same amount of effort in again to learn a second one.

(You can read more about – Does Learning Multiple Languages Increase The Risk Of Language Learning Fatigue?)

Learning Two Languages Can Confuse You

Learning anything is hard. Your brain has to spend a lot of energy to process everything and make sense of things, let alone remember it. If you are learning two languages, you run the risk of getting very confused.

While languages can be very different, they are also pretty similar in a number of ways and this can lead to confusion. You may remember a certain a grammar structure, but wrongly remember which language it was for or you could muddle up similar words between the languages.

Of course learning two distant languages is going to help with this, but it can still happen.

(You can read more about – How To Stop Getting Confused Between Similar Words When Learning A Language)

You Will Need A Lot of Motivation To Learn Two Languages

You also need to think about motivation when it comes to learning two languages. You really need a good reason to justify doing both.

If you don’t, you will find that one language will quickly slip away and you will stop studying it.

Motivation isn’t always needed, but it certainly helps when times are hard, and to be honest, learning two languages is hard all the time.

You Will Repeat A Lot Of Things

There is going to be a lot of repetition when you learn two languages, and I mean this is two different way.

Firstly you will need to learn the same set of vocabulary twice. You need to know the word for dog in both languages for example. However, these are usually different enough to keep you entertained, but it still is a form of repetition.

You will probably get more annoyed with the daily repetition of study. Let’s say you sit down and learn 10 new words and immersed by watching an hour of video. I am sure that will make you feel great and very accomplished …until you realise you have to do it all over again with the second language.  

There are going to be days where you are tried and having to face that second language is going to difficult.

(You can read more about – Can You Learn Multiple Languages Through Immersion?)

You Can Easily Burn Out Learning Two Languages

Probably the biggest issue for me is that learning two languages can be really intense. You will often be pushing yourself to your mental limit and it is much easier to burn yourself out.

You will be trying to do twice the workload and your brain can very quickly become overwhelmed and this is not a good place to be.

If you are learning two languages you really need to watch yourself and make sure you are going at a manageable pace, which may be slower than you would want.  

(You can read more about – What Is Language Burn Out and Why Does It Happen?)

Conclusion

Hopefully now you can see the pros and cons of trying to learn two languages and be able to make a clearer decision on what you should do.

If you are still unsure you can always try it and if after a few weeks you feel it’s not working, pause one language for a while and come back to it later, there is nothing wrong with doing this.

Do what works best for you and what you feel more comfortable with. All that matters is that you are happy and are enjoying what you are doing, no one else opinion matters.    

(You can read more about – How Are Polyglots Able To Learn So Many Languages?)