Nice analogy about the musical instruments. While it may be a little cliched, I still think it’s true.

As cliche as it may be at this point, I still like to reference the similarities between learning to play an instrument and learning a foreign language. Once you get to a certain level of proficiency it becomes more fun and easier to keep up. Tackling the piano and the guitar at the same will probably take longer than learning to play one pretty well before and then learning the other.

I actually listen to a lot of stuff in the various languages I’m learning. With German, I listen to podcasts, and for now, I listen regularly to my French Assimil lessons. Each lesson is a dialogue, a few minutes long, and so they’re great for listening to repeatedly to really master the material.

I’ve noticed that the longer I study languages, the more and more I make use of audio; I largely neglected it when I started with German. It allows me to “study” while not being tied down to a book. I quite often listen to my language learning material while doing chores, which don’t require a great deal of mental effort.

And indeed, I do love language learning. My wife (and mom, and other family members, and most of my friends!) don’t get it. They say they can’t imagine studying a language could be much fun. Perhaps they’re linking “language learning” to their time in highschool language classes – which I also thought were on par with going to the dentist.

Your language learning is so impressive! I can imagine that these languages are quite different to learn… so focusing on German and French for now, and Russian later may just be the key for you! Just don’t give up!

I do recommend listening to music and playing video games in another language, to keep up your language practice! If you are pressed for study time you can listen to language lessons/ music in that language through your ipod/mp3 player, or put them on in the car if you drive. Spanish readers always helped me a great deal, especially after class, when Spanish vocabulary was fresh in my head. I would read a few passages and do the questions and answers before I went to bed, as a nice way to relax. Language learning has always been really fun for me… You must love it too!

Indeed, I love how Assimil seems to be working. I have thus far not really “studied” French in any traditional way – I’ve not examined conjugation tables, I’ve not done conjugation exercises, I’ve not memorized any vocabulary. But I understand the lessons I’ve done so far, and I do seem to be picking up grammar and other pieces of the language simply through exposure. I received my copy of The Ultimate French Review and Practice yesterday from amazon.com, and in flipipng through it, I found that, considering I’m only halfway through the passive wave of Assimil, I understood a lot of what was being explained.

Agreed, also, on the lack of time for my brain to passively untangle things. After I’ve done a lesson of Assimil, I tend to listen to it many more times throughout the day; even if I don’t do that, however, I tend to think about it while doing chores or similar work. If I go from French to Russian, it feels like I’m actually short-changing both of them, rather than making progress with both.

I think I’m going to start adding the Assimil lessons into Anki once I reach the active phase, or perhaps after I’ve reached the half-way point in the active phase. Hopefully that way I won’t start falling backwards in French when I start Russian.

(And, try to keep it secret – I’m almost ashamed to say it! – but I’m thinking about learning Spanish at some point, too. I must find a way to make mroe hours in the day!)

The problem with learning multiple languages, I’ve found, is that even if you can find time to actively study, your brain can’t find enough time to passively untangle it. That said, I’d recommend that when you take up the Russian again, you also skim through the Assimil French. Since you’ll already know it, there’s no conflict in absorption, but it’ll be nice for keeping you from losing your French.

Enjoy the French.