Can You Learn Two Languages at Once?

YES.

That’s the short answer.

But learning a new language is far from an easy feat. It requires ample time and a concerted effort. But that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.

Plenty of people are bilingual, and many speak even more than two languages. In fact, more than half of the world is bilingual, and that number is significantly higher in some places. Sixty-six percent of kids are even raised bilingual. Sure, it may be easier to learn a language as a kid with a brain like a sponge and far fewer grammar questions. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t learn a language as an adult, too.

Hey, you can even learn two languages at once if you put your mind to it. Just know that learning two languages at the same time is, indeed, a difficult challenge. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart.

What the Science Says

Learning two languages at once isn’t easy, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. 

In fact, some research says that learning more than one language may even have benefits, like “higher metalinguistic awareness, larger working memory capacity and well-trained learning strategies,” which could compensate for the shortage of time you have available.

The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) categorizes languages into four tiers of difficulty:

• Category I Languages – These take 24 to 30 weeks (or 600 to 750 class hours) to learn. They’re considered the most similar to English, like Italian and Spanish.
• Category II Languages – These take approximately 36 weeks (or 900 class hours) to learn. They’re deemed more difficult than Category I languages. Some examples are German, Indonesian and Malay.
• Category III Languages – These require approximately 44 weeks (or 1,100 class hours) to learn. They’re considered hard languages with “significant linguistic and/or cultural differences from English.” For example, Greek, Hindi and Ukranian are Category III languages.
• Category IV Languages – These take an estimated 88 weeks (or 2,200 class hours) to learn. They’re dubbed the most difficult to learn, especially for native English speakers. Arabic and Japaense are Category IV languages.

Of course, the easier the languages you choose to learn, the quicker you’re likely to pick them both up. But that’s not to say that you can’t learn two languages in any of these categories if you set your mind to it.

12 Tips for Learning Two Languages at the Same Time

Here are 12 tips to follow to learn two languages at the same time, whatever category of difficulty they are.

1. You need to be motivated to learn.

First things first, you need to want to learn both languages. Being trilingual (or more) may sound cool in theory, but you really need to want it to make it happen. And, since you may not have a legitimate need to learn both languages, you need to find ways to motivate yourself to truly learn both of them.

2. Access to study materials is key.

It’s a lot harder to learn a language if you don’t have access to study materials to help you. For example, if you’re trying to learn French, but you don’t have any coursebooks to read or videos to watch to help you learn vocabulary words and pronunciations, then you’ll certainly have a harder time than someone who does have these things.

3. Seek help from language experts.

It never hurts to ask for help. Learning a language (or two) on your own is definitely doable. But it’s a whole lot easier if you have a language expert—like a professor, tutor or language exchange buddy (preferably a native speaker)—helping you.

This person can be a sounding board for you while you’re learning. They can answer any questions you have, help you perfect your pronunciations and hold you accountable in your studying.   

4. Choose relatively different languages.

Learning one language is hard. Learning two languages is harder—especially if those languages are similar to each other. That’s because it’s easy to mix languages up when learning more than one. For example, if you’re trying to learn Spanish and Portuguese at the same time, you may have a difficult time differentiating the vocabulary. 

While the similarities may help you learn them, it’s also easy to mix them up. For example, if you learn the numbers one through 10, you’ll find that many of them are the same. The numbers are “uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez” in Spanish. And, in Portuguese, they’re very similar: “”um, dois, três, quatro, cinco, seis, sete, oito, nove, dez.” Some of the numbers (like four, cuatro and quatro) sound the same but are spelled differently. Some (like six, or seis and also seis) look the same but sound differently (in Portuguese, the “s” sounds like “sh”).

5. Schedule time to practice both languages.

If you truly want to learn both languages, you need the time to dedicate to each of them. Already, you need a lot of time to learn one new language. So learning two might mean doubling that. Of course, finding the time to learn more than one language can be difficult—so you might need to ditch some hobbies or other time-consuming activities to do it.

6. Listen to music in both languages.

Listening to music is one surefire way to learn a new language. Even if you don’t understand the lyrics at first, it’s likely that you’ll start learning them just by listening to the same songs on repeat. As you do, you can start singing along and, before you know it, you’ll be learning how to speak a new language. 

If you’re learning two new languages, make sure to diversify your playlists. Snag songs that sing in both languages you want to learn, and listen to them all regularly. Learning with music may be even more effective if you watch music videos with subtitles.

7. Watch movies in both languages.

Like listening to music, watching movies in the language you want to learn is a great way to learn it. And, if you are trying to learn two new languages, watching movies in both is ideal.

You can watch the movies with English subtitles to help you enjoy them while still new to the language—but, if you know enough vocabulary, you should try to avoid watching with English subtitles, which could slow your learning down. Instead, watch with subtitles in the languages you’re learning. This way, you can listen and read at the same time, which is not only easier than just listening, but it can also help you learn how to spell new words, too. Apps like Lingopie were built to serve this exact purpose.

8. Read books in both languages.

All sorts of media can help you learn languages—music, movies and books, as well. If you’re learning two languages, pick up books in both. Spend your time reading books in both of them so that you get used to seeing words spelled out. Reading will also help your writing skills. And, if you have the audiobook in your native language and can listen to that and read at the same time… even better.

9. Give yourself some grace.

Learning a new language can take weeks, months or even years—and it’s certainly not easy. Learning two new languages can take even more time and require double the effort. Be easy on yourself by making sure that you give yourself enough time and grace to practice with patience.

Getting frustrated can lead to decreased motivation. So it’s important to stay at a pace that keeps up your morale and, therefore, maintains your motivation to learn.

10. Use study tools.

Study tools can help you learn languages faster. For example, there are tons of apps out there for learning a new language (or two) like Duolingo, as well as platforms to take online classes like Lingoda. 

Apps like Dorothy also help you tap into your full potential (which you’ll need to learn two languages at once) by making sure that your brain actually absorbs what you’re learning. Dorothy alerts you when you’re likely to forget what you’ve been studying so, well, you don’t.

11. Take breaks.

Don’t try to cram in so much at once. If you try to take on too much, you might burn yourself out. And, if you do, you won’t be learning any languages. So instead of trying to take a bunch of classes every day, give yourself some rest days. Sure, you should keep up practicing every day, but you definitely don’t need to be studying new materials or trying to acquire more and more vocabulary every day—let what you’ve already learned sink in.

12. Travel to somewhere that speaks both languages.

If you can do it, take a trip to somewhere where you can practice both languages. For example, if you’re studying French and Arabic, visit Morocco. While the official language is Arabic, a healthy portion of Moroccans speak French since they use it for business. Or, if you want to learn French, German or even Italian, check out Switzerland. Different parts of the country speak different languages, so you can practice whichever ones you want in just one trip. Similarly, Luxembourg speaks three languages: French, German and Luxembourgish, and the country is small enough that you can easily visit all of it in a single trip.

Pros and Cons

There are plenty of pros and cons to learning two languages at once.

Pros:

• Learning languages that are similar to each other can be confusing—but it can also be helpful. Knowing some vocabulary that’s the same or similar in different languages can help you expand your word base.
• Learning multiple languages means you can communicate with more people, more easily travel to different places and consume more media around the world. The more languages you learn, the better connected you can be.
• You don’t need to wait to learn a second new language if you can do two at the same time. Learning two languages at once saves you study time in the long run.
• Once you learn one language, it becomes easier each time to learn the next. You start to pick up on patterns used across all languages and the whole process makes more and more sense.
• Studying languages and practicing them with people may give you more confidence. While talking in a new language may feel embarrassing at first, the more you do it (which might be even more if you’re learning two languages), the more comfortable you’ll feel.

Cons:

• If you’re trying to learn two languages at once, it can be easy to mix up the languages with each other. Focusing on completely different languages might be helpful to avoid confusion.
• It might be hard to find the time to study two languages at once, especially since learning a new language requires regular practice.
• Dedicating ample time and effort to learning two languages at once can be challenging, especially if one of them is more important to you than the other. If you truly want to learn both languages, you need to prioritize both of them instead of one over the other.
• Studying two languages may be mentally exhausting, which can lead to burnout. If you burn yourself out, you won’t do yourself any favors for either language.

While learning two languages at once isn’t easy, the aforementioned tips and tools make it easier.