Why Keeping Momentum Is So Damn Important

English? Check. Spanish? Check. Okay, so far I speak two foreign languages pretty well, I’m doing fine. And yet, it’s not easy to learn a third language, or should I say a third and fourth?

Like I pointed out a while ago I picked up French this year, and I really enjoy ’studying’ it. But when I was in Spain last year I also took a Turkish course, simply because I like the sound of the language and because I like Turkey’s culture. So I was in quite a problematic situation; I want(ed) to learn two languages, but couldn’t wait to finish one first before starting with the next language.

I believe in having a few sharp knives instead of many blunt ones. Sure, it can be fun to speak just a bit of many languages, but it won’t take you far. What I’ve learned as soon as I spoke English and Spanish well is that you can only have true fun with natives as soon as you speak their language fluently. Everything before fluency is a psuedo-type of fun. It’s still fun, but you’re not taking advantage of the situation because 1) you won’t understand every joke or comment, and 2) you won’t be able to joke around yourself either. So fluency is a must.

Because I prefer having a few sharp knives, my method concentrates on sharpening just one knive at a time. I learned some English at home, a bit more in school and then I became fluent one my own. How? By spending a sick amount of time on getting input and getting better. I did the same for Spanish, and it worked. But now I have to concentrate on two languages at the same time, and that is pretty damn hard. This brings us to the momentum thing.

You know, when working on just one language it’s easy to get sucked in. You simply load your iPod with songs in your target language, only watch movies and series in that languages and read your books and magazines in your target language as well. It’s easy peasy as soon as you’ve got started. But with two it’s a bit more difficult. How much time do I need to devote on Turkish? How much on French? Besides that, I also want to maintain my Spanish and do a bit in English every few days. Now, maintaining Spanish and English isn’t that difficult; it’s more difficult sharpening two knives at the same time.

At the moment I’ve got it sorted out. I’m doing a self-study course for Turkish (granted, I normally don’t like courses, but it’s the only option and the course I use (Assimil) is pretty funny as well) and get my massive input in French like I did for English and Spanish. And still, it’s not that easy to keep momentum.

But why is it so important to keep on going? Is it really that bad to not spend a day with your target language/one of your target languages? Well… yes! As soon as you leave your target language alone (even if it were for a day), you’re forgetting stuff. Even worse, the next day it’s even more difficult to get yourself to work. It also means that your immersion environment isn’t working as it should. A well organized immersion environment won’t leave you alone, not even for a day. It’s only because you’ll see your target language everywhere, let it be friends on your favorite instant messenger, the language of your Operating System, the music on your iPod, the movies on your computer, etc.; it’s everywhere.

But as soon as you stop, even for one day, it gets harder to start again, while it’ll become easier to skip another day, and another, and another. It’s like smoking. Someone offers you a cigarette, and although you don’t like it at first, you accept another one some days later. And it tastes better. Every time you smoke a cigarette, it tastes better. At the end it tastes so good that you’re buying your own packs of cigarettes and smoke one entire pack per day (believe me, it works like this, I smoked for some years but luckily quit).

Language learning is a healthy addicition, feed it. On the other hand quitting can become an addiction as well. Not because it feels so good, but because it’s so easy. Do you want to be that coward that used to speak some Spanish? Dude, you’re missing out some great stuff. Don’t lose that momentum, keep going, keep feeding that healthy addiction of language learning. Before you know it you’ll have another sharp knive and you can continue learning another language. But remember: even if you learn three languages at the same time, it’s very important to spend time with each and one of them… every day.

Tagged as: french, immersion, immersion environment, input, spanish, turkish