I am currently learning Mandarin which is a challenging language to learn requiring a significant amount of effort and time. Because of this commitment I am determined to retain my knowledge and continue to work toward fluency after I leave China.
This decision made me think about language retention in general and I began to wonder how much I had retained of the other two languages I had spent time learning. The Spanish I took for two years in High School and for a semester in college and the French I spent a few months learning before a trip to visit France.
I was curious enough to test my knowledge using Duolingo. This is one of the apps I already used as a supplemental practice to my Chinese tutor lessons. Upon completion of the test, I was pleased to discover that I had learned/retained more than I realized. I also really enjoyed the exercise. I decided I want to retain and continue toward fluency int those two languages along with my Mandarin.
Although, my focus is currently on Mandarin since being surrounded by the language on a daily basis is my best opportunity to learn and a vital part of navigating, daily life here. I do spend some time each week working on French and Spanish on Duolingo. Along with Japanese which will be the language of our next post and Navajo because it is an endangered language and why not.
Even this minimal amount of overlap between languages makes for interesting thought processes in my head. In some ways learning more than one language at a time speeds the process up as I have more connections I can make in my head, making it easier to remember the vocabulary and grammar. In other ways it slows the process down. For instance, I know more grammar and vocabulary in Spanish than the other languages. So, when my tutor asked me how to say: Where is the toilet? First thought. Where is the toilet. (English). Second thought ¿Dónde está el baño? (Mexican Spanish)? Third Thought Xǐshǒujiān zài nar? (Northeast China Mandarin)?
For me the enjoyment of learning these languages and advantages of learning them at the same time out weight the disadvantages. So, for now I will continue on my course until that changes.