What Is Language Stacking? (Laddering)

Language stacking is a pretty clever technique used by polyglots to learn more than one language at a time.

It is basically using one language to learn another, which allows you to then practice a language you have already learned, while also learning a new language at the same time.

If you want to learn multiple languages, then language stacking is something you are going to be very interested in.

If you only want to learn one language, then this is not a technique you can use. 

Why Would You Want To Stack Languages?

If you want to learn more than one language, then language stacking is a way you can kill two birds with one stone. You are able to spend your time on a new language, while also practicing the one you have already learned.

Learning a language can take up a lot of time and energy, so if you are combining two at once it can help you save time and effort. It can be difficult to find the time to study multiple languages, so doing this solves the problem and streamlines everything.

It is also a pretty cool thing to do. If you have spent the time to learn one language it is only natural that you would want to spend time using it and what better what to use it than to help you learn another language that you are also interested in.  

It’s Also Called Language Laddering

You may also hear it called Language laddering; this is because it is often described as putting one language on top of another, to climb up onto the next one …which is also why it’s called stacking.

Either way it’s the same thing, so don’t be confused if you hear people calling it one or the other.  

How Do You Actually Language Stack?

The process is extremely simple, you just do exactly what you would normally do to learn a language …but do it another language. 

If you are an English speaker, who speaks French and you want to learn Italian …you simply learn Italian through French.

Instead of going to a search engine and typing “learn Italian grammar from zero” … you would actually type this in French “apprendre la grammaire italienne à partir de zero”. Now all the results are going to be in French and will explain Italian grammar, through French.

You basically just have to pretend you are a French person and go about it like this is the only language you know and ignore the fact that you know English.

The same is also true for using a dictionary, if you want look up a word search the word in French, type in “chat” and find out it means “gatto” in Italian. This word means cat, but you don’t need to worry about the English word, you are doing it all through French (or whatever ever language you speak).

What Are The Positives Of Language Stacking

There are plenty of positives, which I have already touched on, such as the fact you get to use more than one language at once which can save you a lot of time as you are combing them, rather than studying them separately.

You will also have access to more learning resources, such as textbooks. Let’s say you can speak English and French, and want to learn Italian …now you can use resources that are both in French and English. I am sure there is plenty of overlap, but I am also sure there will be some unique ways of looking at Italian from the French resources compared to the English.

In this example French and Italian are pretty similar, so how they explain the grammar is probably going to be different to a textbook aimed for English speakers learning Italian. 

Small differences like this can really make things a lot easier for you, and since you know how French grammar works, and can think in that mindset, it only makes sense to use this to help you with your Italian.

It Cuts your Native Language Out

When you first start a new language it is common to translate everything back into your native language to sort of check with yourself that you understand. While this isn’t helpful, it will happen and the sooner you can stop it the better.

The translating back and forth just slows things down and you sort of want to just understand the language as its own thing, rather than something you filter through your native language.

However, language stacking does have the advantage of cutting your native language out of this. If we take the above example, of an English speaker who knows French and is learning Italian, language stacking cutting English out of this.

Your understanding of Italian would be totally through French and if you do “translate” it …you are going to be going into French to do so. While this is still not ideal and you want to think only in Italian, the fact you are using French in this way is going to be hugely beneficial for you. You will be almost using French like it was your native language, which is extremely good practice.

Interestingly if you then went to explain something about Italian, in English, you would struggle. Your understanding of Italian is going to be based through French, so you may suddenly realise you have never expressed something you learned in Italian through the English language. It’s not bad thing, but it is a strange feeling.    

Are There Any Downsides?

Of course language stacking is not perfect and for a lot of people it may be too difficult to actually do.

The reality is that you need to be pretty good at the first language you have learned before you can go on to use it to learn anything else, especially a second language.

A lot of us underestimate our skills in our languages and we may think we are decent, but when it comes to learning something it can be totally different. You can very quickly get humbled and realise that it may be easier to use your native language. 

If that happens there is nothing to worry about, it just means you should probably focus on your first language a bit more and maybe even delay learning the new one until you increase the level of the first language you where learning.

Language Stacking Is Pointless With Immersion

If you like to learn a lot through immersion, then language stacking can be pointless.

Immersion basically means you are only exposed to the language you are learning, so you will not get much exposure to your other language, or even your native one.

However, it’s not totally pointless, you will still need to occasionally look up new words or even check something relating to grammar, especially in the beginning. It’s at this time you could use language stacking, and while it may not seem like much, it can always be worth it.

Should You Try Language Stacking?

I think you should certainly give it a go. If you have learned one language and want to move on to learning another then try it out.

You will have to be honest with yourself and if your level if not good enough, then you need to accept that.

If you are not sure if your language skills are good enough, try and learn something new and see how that goes. Let’s say you are English speaker, who has learned French …try and learn about something in French. Any hobby or skill, it doesn’t matter, just go and find out how to do something. If you can do this and you can understand what is going on, you may well be ready to use French to learn a second language.

You should start out by trying to read some grammar points or learn some vocabulary using the first language you learned and see how it goes, if you constantly find you need to look at your native language, and then your skills are not good enough to language stack.

If you do find this happens, its okay, just stick to using your native language to keep studying you first language and also the new one you are trying out.

I would even maybe suggest you hold off on your newest language and spend a little more time focusing on the first one, try and get it to a high as possible level before moving on.

Even if you took 6 months or a year and really went hard on your first language you would make a lot of gains, hopefully to the point where you can now learn about other things, including new languages.

Conclusion

Hopefully now you can see that language stacking is a very simple thing, and if you already have some good language skills, it is something you should try out and see what you think of it.

I have tried it and liked it, I did use French to learn some Japanese but I also found that it was often easier to just use English (my native language) as I could just do things a little easier and quicker. Maybe my French just isn’t as strong as I thought it was, but either way it is a cool technique and I do dabble with it from time to time and you should try it out too.

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