Thread: Japanese and Russian

Has anyone here tried to learn two languages at once? I know that this had been considered already in others forum throughout the internet; however, I am not looking for suggestion … I would like to know your personal experiences.

This is the deal! I am learning Russian, my motivation is extremely high and I have a good study method setup already. But surfing the net I came along with Japanese, and the same aspects that motivate me to study Russian are the ones to intrigue me about Japanese. Moreover, much to my surprise when I mentioned to my wife she told me that she has been looking into it for months, together with my kids. Even my kids know a few words in Japanese already, and all these from watching a few videos in YouTube.

I am not planning to drop Russian; however, I was thinking in adding Japanese to the melting pot. I will make it a family affair, you know making it fun. So, if you have tried and succeeded or failed please let me know your insides, issues, goals, failings, etc. I would like to know what are up to!

Спасибо!

I did three foreign languages at the same time in school for many years.
English, French and Spanish. (Actually - I first started doing Russian as my third foreign language, but since Russian is much more difficult, I felt that it was too much so I changed to Spanish which is a lot easier. )

Whether this is efficient or not is a completely different story, but it's not an unusual situation in Europe. As a result of my studies I am fluent in English and I can get by OK in French and Spanish. But I wouldn't exactly say that I'm fluent...)

Nobody can answer this question authoritatively since all people learn differently and have different levels of natural aptitude and motivation. Give it a try and see how it goes. If it proves impossible just drop the language you care the least about.

Time, time, time, that's all it takes. I'm studying Russian, Spanish and French now and have no problem. The more time you put into a language the better you'll get, it's as simple as that.
I have a lifetime outlook on language so I don't feel like I'm compromising my advancement by being so dispersed. I'm going to start nibbling on Italian tomorrow...then no more languages!

3 года я изучала русский и японский в школе. Было не трудно в том возрасте... 10 лет уже прошли с того времени и я не могу представить себе как бы возможно теперь когда у меня есть дочь дома и полная работа.

Originally Posted by lepensuer

Has anyone here tried to learn two languages at once? … I would like to know your personal experiences.

I tried to learn Japanese and English at the same time, but, as raenoma says, there is no time for this. Therefore I had decided, that it is better to learn well one language, than two, but bad. But I haven't yet decided which one go on to learn. Probably English. There is a proverb in Russia: "If you chase after two hares, you will catch neither".

Originally Posted by raenoma

Три года я изучала русский и японский в школе. Было нетрудно в том возрасте... 10 лет уже прошло с того времени и я не могу представить себе как теперь это возможно, когда у меня есть дочь __ и __ работа.

Неплохо за три года в школе. На некоторых форумах русские хуже пишут

Originally Posted by delog

Therefore I had decided, that it is better to learn well one language, than two, but bad.

I agree with this. I know several foreign language poorly. Having skills at that level is really not much serious use. I'd swap my three poor foreign langauges for fluent German if I could. Speaking poor French or German is rather pointless for work situations - unless you can have an advanced conversation and write business correspondence you could not in honesty put it on your CV. All French and German people I deal with at work speak decent English. Intermediate skills are really only useful for tourism. Plus most people below approx 40 in Western Europe can communicate in English.

Russian and Japanese which are mentioned here are different in this respect because I understand that most people in Russia are not actually able to communicate in English, at least outside of the tourist areas. Same thing in Japan (I have spent a lot of time there because my step mother is Japanese). So even modest skills in these languages can be teriffically useful.

Hi
I started learning them both at the same time and I must say that I had a better result in Japanese than in Russian... Mostly because the grammar is so much simpler and the pronounce isn't hard either. But I guess it requires a bit more of your memory due to the massive amount of ideograms =D Anyway both languages are awsome, I'm sure you'll master them both!
Tati

Well, I have decided to learn Russian first and put the Japanese aside for now. I know more Russian speakers than Japanese ones.

Japanese is a great language. I've been studying it for some time now. But your decision to study Russian is best simply because.. you made the decision to choose one over the other. They are both at the top of the most difficult languages to learn list.. so best to stick with one. Good Luck!

always had latin the last four years up through high shool (besides others) if that counts

I'm studying Spanish and Russian. Totally different levels of difficulty. And actually, the rolled R's seem to be different. Anyone else have thoughts or more insight on that? Remember, I'm a beginner in Russian...

Originally Posted by Billzrussnewb

I'm studying Spanish and Russian. Totally different levels of difficulty. And actually, the rolled R's seem to be different. Anyone else have thoughts or more insight on that? Remember, I'm a beginner in Russian...

I think the Spanish rolled r is more delicate, more with the tip of the tongue whereas the Russian version is stronger, using more of the body of the tongue.
To me it's interesting how yo=I in Spanish and Я=I in Russian. Same with tu and Ты. There are other little similarities like that but I can't think of any right now.

Originally Posted by Billzrussnewb

I'm studying Spanish and Russian. Totally different levels of difficulty. And actually, the rolled R's seem to be different. Anyone else have thoughts or more insight on that? Remember, I'm a beginner in Russian...

In Spanish the R is more delicate/different than Russian. However, if you need to say the RR (irresponsable) then your r will sound more like Russian R.

Thanks sperk and lepensuer! I can feel how the r is stronger when I use a different part of my tongue. Kind of hard to explain, but it's working.

Originally Posted by sperk

To me it's interesting how yo=I in Spanish and Я=I in Russian. Same with tu and Ты. There are other little similarities like that but I can't think of any right now.

Spanish and Russian belong to the same language family (Indo-European), so you will find plenty of similarities. Some linguist believe that the Indo-European languages and Japanese are descended from a common ancestor which they call Nostratic. I don't know if that would make learning Japanese any easier.