How do you maintain multiple languages?

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This week I'm releasing a video every week answering questions from readers of the blog. The first question is: How do you keep up multiple languages?

[@eilotshai]

I saw that video a while ago, and it kind of depress me. So I tried to find a way to maintain all those languages. Right now I'm fluent at 7 languages, so first on Italki I found some teacher (native speakers) that I pay very little... Just to talk Monday is my Italian, Tuesday German etc... I also try to put those languages in my everyday life! If something is happening in a country I speak the language, I'll try to read the news in that languages With flash cards in my bed before I go to sleep, or the morning with my coffee or when I'm bored I learn few words here and there I also read books on my kindle which is a fantastic resource, we press the word and have an instant translation I'm trying to watch movies or shows and listening music or podcast while I cook, drive, walk... Finally we had that group of polyglot where everyday of the week, we had to communicate in specific target languages

[@storylearning]

Shai Eilot Hi Shai, I think this is fantastic, and I'm very impressed that you can do it! I've tried similar things before, but I can't keep it up. I have so many other time commitments that I find it very hard to maintain. But respect to you for managing it - just keep going!

[@eilotshai]

Thank you Olly Richards, Actually it's just take me one hour a day to talk to the teacher on skype (I can even call some "friends" now), and the rest is stuffs I would have done in french anyhow :-)

[@junior457curitiba4]

Shai Eilot .

[@MariliaMDiniz]

I love your honesty and how you admit that you're not perfect. And by the way you're Portuguese is amazing. :)

[@storylearning]

+Marilia thank you!

[@storylearning]

Darren Wedge www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/app-review-flashcards-the-best-app-for-learning-vocabulary/

[@linxdigital]

Great video. Been noticing this with my Portuguese, I learned it to a high-intermediate level in 4 months last year (of which I spend a lot of it in Brazil), and then didn't use it for 8 months. I'm going to back to Portugal soon and decided to do a hour conversational class. After 45 minutes, I was speaking pretty decently despite very little practice over the last 8 months (Since I've been learning Russian in Ukraine and Belarus). My hearing is definitely really good, I didn't lose much of that, but the speaking I think will take some time to get back.

[@WeheartPEACE_helene]

this is something I couldnt agree more with. I myself learned Chinese for three years when I was in high school and have not been using it since then. But today if someone says Chinese is hard to learn, I would tell that unless you take it seriously every language will be difficult for you. And even though I cannot handle a conversation in Chinese, I at least can get the rough understanding of the language! Today I'm learning French and German and doing the same thing! Thanks Olly, I now have this to show my friends that we hardly forget a language that was learnt to a high level as soon as it's brushed up!

[@storylearning]

Thanks helen aung . I wouldn't say it's impossible to forget.... but less likely :)

[@soupytho]

A good trick is to learn a new target language using learning material in a language that you're trying to maintain. I verily agree with you regarding being able to retrieve languages back quickly; in conversation, the biggest hurdle is to effectively cache the right information/phrases for fast retrieval. Personally, I am motivated to learn languages by literature, wanting to read works in their original language, so my drive is not locationally or situationally dependent. However, I find that my path to fluency is much slower.

[@consistencyiskey_]

This is a really great idea! Thank you for the suggestion! 😊

[@gigisimbajon4625]

I appreciate such an honest answer. 'Though I study languages, I'm aware of its limitations. I take my mother as an example. She used to speak in her native dialect until I was ten years old but when we moved to another place and she wasn't using the dialect, she could hardly recall the vocabulary. That is my reason for keeping a database for Language Acquisition for review purposes like subtitled movies and songs. They can be a great tool to refresh what you have already learned.

[@ThorusCrusius]

Finally an honest person!

[@alinayang4164]

GREAT VIDEO！Love your honesty！Thanks

[@orsorodrigo]

Hi ! Just having a couple of converdstions a week do You think is good for manteining?

[@orsorodrigo]

Lets say … twice a week, 1,5hs each conversation

[@HayashiManabu]

Are you moving to Hong Kong then? Why are you learning Cantonese?

[@storylearning]

I plan to go and live in HK at some point in the future. I think it'd be a pretty cool place to live :)

[@CedricLefebvre]

Il faut que je te parle en français maintenant, alors ! (but I guess that wouldn't really work with the "sharing ideas on social medias" thing then) C'est un problème que tu mentionais aussi dans ton choix entre Cantonais et Arabe : tu trouvais plus facile de maintenir ton Cantonais (voire de continuer à progresser) si tu atteignais un niveau conversationnel, parce qu'il te suffirait quasi de prendre une heure de temps en temps pour parler sur Skype avec quelqu'un. Cette idée m'avait beaucoup plu et fait réfléchir (dans mon cas : dès que je serai vraiment à l'aise en Portugais, je veux raffraichir mon Allemand suffisamment pour pouvoir l'utiliser à nouveau sur Skype et donc le maintenir aussi !). (I'm gonna go on with English on the next messages though, otherwise I understand it's not very helpful for the non-French readers!)

[@storylearning]

Cheers Cedric Lefebvre ..it's nice to get some French practice! :) Yeah, I think capitalising on the momentum you have is really important, because starting something new from scratch and building up momentum from nothing is the most difficult task of all.

[@perseoeridano4182]

👏🏻👏🏻