When learning two languages simultaneously, the rule is to do everything you can to minimize the confusion factor<\/i><\/strong>\u2013the chance of getting words and grammar from the languages mixed up.<\/p>\n And learning two languages that resemble each other ensures that confusion is all but inevitable. It’s just not a good idea.<\/p>\n So if you’re already learning Spanish, put the Italian on hold and go for Finnish.<\/p>\n If the two languages you’re learning use different scripts, all the better.<\/strong> Spanish and Chinese are a great combination\u2013they have nothing in common, and if you learn them as an English speaker, you’ll have the world’s three most common languages at the tip of your fingers.<\/p>\n But if you opt for two languages that have little in common, you’ll paradoxically be gaining a broader perspective<\/strong> and making your life easier at the same time.<\/p>\n One way to simplify the process of learning two languages at once is to choose one language<\/a> that’s more familiar to you and one that’s less familiar to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you already speak some Italian, for example, you might choose to learn French. The idea is that much of the structure of Italian and some of the vocabulary will transfer over to French.<\/p>\n For your second language, you might select Russian, which is completely different from both French and Italian. That way, you’ll be learning Russian from scratch and learning another<\/i> Romance language, rather than learning two languages from scratch.<\/p>\n Note that this approach is different than learning Italian and French at the same time, because:<\/p>\n If you don’t know any languages other than English, you can still make use of this tip. Choose one language that’s easier for English speakers to pick up and one that’s generally harder,<\/strong> like Dutch and Korean, for example.<\/p>\n Check out this site<\/a> to get a sense of the easiest and hardest languages for English speakers so you know what you’re getting into.<\/p>\n Media is your best friend for maintaining and improving your language skills.<\/strong> The good news about reaching a high level of fluency is that once you\u2019re there, watching a movie<\/a> or reading a book<\/a> in your target language is fun, not work.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re on a budget, libraries often have a surprisingly wide selection of books in other languages, too. Foreign language news sites<\/a> are also a fabulous way to stay current on what\u2019s happening in countries where your target language is spoken.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you want both language immersion and<\/i> language instruction, you can try using FluentU<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n2. Pair more and less familiar languages<\/h3>\n
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3. Consume media in all your languages<\/h3>\n
![\"FluentU](\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/try-fluentu-for-free.jpg\")
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