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How Learning Multiple Languages Complements Each Other

I’m actually learning Mandarin and Korean now, and learnt Japanese in the past. I find that all of the three languages complement each other, much like how learning multiple European languages complements each other:

Kanji borrows from traditional Chinese characters; the On reading (as opposed to Kun reading) are those derived from classical Chinese pronunciations. Knowing the meaning of the Chinese character helped you to gauge what a particular Kanji meant, even if you didn’t know the correct pronunciation. 

Hanja is also borrowed from Chinese, though it does come up a bit less often than Kanji (which is embedded into daily Japanese). Not only that but, a lot of Korean words sound like a transliterated version of words in various Chinese dialects. 

Japanese and Korean language structures are very similar to each other as they both use the Subject-Object-Verb order, as opposed to English, which uses Subject-Verb-Object, so knowing part of one helps you with the other. Many people have even said that translating from Korean to Japanese often just requires you to swap out the words without much change to the word order. There are so many equivalent phrases and grammar structures that are used honestly!

Chinese sentence order is more similar to English order actually, but the good thing is that the different parts of the sentence are always in a strict order. 

For learning Kanji, I wouldn’t advise learning Kanji until you’re at an intermediate level. That’s why textbook learning/listening is a lot more useful for learning Japanese as opposed to reading everyday Japanese texts like newspapers, fiction books or some mangas. They remove all the Kanji and replace it with hiragana so you can learn the words, sentence orders, grammar, etc. 

You should at least learn how to have simple conversations first before learning Kanji, because Kanji simply replaces hiragana. They aren’t additional characters. If you write a letter completely in hiragana, a Japanese person on the other end would be able to understand you basically as well as if you had used as much Kanji as possible in those sentences - it’s basically how early elementary school children will write. 

Hope that helps!

Head - 头，人头

Face - 脸，面部

Nose - 鼻子

Ear - 耳朵

Eyebrow - 眉毛

Eyelash - 眼冒

Eye - 眼睛，眼球（eyeball）

Eyelid - 眼皮

Lips - 嘴唇

Mouth - 嘴巴，口

Teeth - 牙齿

Tongue - 舌头

Forehead - 额头

Cheek - 脸颊

Chin - 下巴

Moustache - 胡子

Beard - 胡子

Hair (head) - 头发

Hello, it’s optomstudies here with a multi-part masterpost with study tips to make you fluent in any language! These will work at any level, whether you’re just starting out or are an advanced learner!

LISTENING SKILLS

There’s also a lot of colloquialisms that are a part of everyday spoken language which is rarely ever encapsulated in a standard textbook. I would suggest finding books which actually collate idioms, proverbs or slang, e.g. “Chinese Idioms and Proverbs”.  

When you’re just starting out, work on listening to vlogs or podcasts first because these often have a simpler entry level of speech. Listen to music as well, but be aware that music is not always a good representation of the way the spoken language is, as there is a loss of emphasis and pauses.   

Listen to talk shows once proficient. Both radio podcasts and news interviews are important because they show how people from a range of educational topics speak. You can watch interviews on financial experts or medical doctors as well as just fun ones by celebrities and everyday witnesses.  

SPEAKING SKILLS

Join a debate club in your target language. If you are looking to study spoken word (because some languages have written vs spoken differences) the level of language used is at a higher level than what would usually be used in everyday language because of the need for technical, logical, and persuasive explanations.  

Like your study journal, you can make a study audio recording by speaking aloud a diary entry which uses those new words. It helps with fluency if you use it on an everyday basis, and you can re-listen to the recordings later on if you’re working on perfecting your accent!  

There’s also the important matter of emphasis! Emphasis within a word can change the meanings of homonyms, words that have the same spelling but different meaning. I know this is common in Japanese. Emphasis within a sentence can change the meaning, like in this sentence here. Try saying different variations aloud, so you know when you come to use an emphasis, it comes out naturally and means what you intend it to mean.  

Reading novels in your language is also good for picking up on slang in the dialogue scenes! Especially witticisms since dialogue is often written to be succinct and intended to be impactful.

Think in your target language! Once you are able to, this vastly improves the quality of your fluency so that getting words out of your mouth is as natural as your native language, and is critical for mastery, much more so than for reading, writing or listening. Those who are stuck translating in their head will never advance to that zenith. This also enables you to experience dreams more frequently in your target language, a sign of mastery. 

Enhancing Your Vocabulary: Part 1 (Link) Reading and Writing Skills: Part 2 (Link)

MY STUDY TIPS AND LANGBLR POSTS

How to Format Language Study Notes

BTS: 봄날 (Spring Day), Outro: Wings, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Not Today, Run

SM Entertainment: Rookie - Red Velvet,  I Got Love - Taeyeon

Requests: 예뻤어 (You Were Beautiful) - Day6, A Lie - B1A4, Don’t Recall - K.A.R.D

Other Artists: Rain - Soyou x Baekhyun, TT - Twice

My study tips directory (web only) for the full list (over 60+ original posts/guides!)

Hello, it’s optomstudies here with a multi-part masterpost with study tips to make you fluent in any language! These will work at any level, whether you’re just starting out or are an advanced learner!

do you have any tips for language learning (especially for an advanced learner?) i've been reading about mind maps and study journals but i have no idea how to apply that to learning german!

EXPANDING YOUR VOCABULARY

Learn synonyms of words you already know. This is the key to native proficiency. The difference between a native speaker and a proficient speaker is that they have multiple handles for any sentence. Like in English, there are multiple adjectives which can be used for a particular situation, however when we learn languages, it’s often just the one word that we learn because that’s what the textbook gives you.   

Use a thesaurus and write down synonyms and the connotation/ nuance that particular word has. I cannot stress this enough. This is a great way for you to utilise mind maps!! For example, old is different to mature, is different to archaic, is different to senior. You can write something like:

Old

Mature - no longer young, bildungsroman, coming of age

Archaic - historical, longer time period implied vs. old

Senior - higher in level, polite reference to old people. 

As you can see, the notes on the connotations should be your own words / understanding of the terminology. It’s best if you can verify or get a native speaker to discuss and explain to you the nuances since they understand it best, prior to making these notes.   

Invest in a good dictionary. In the beginning, you’ll want a Language--English dictionary that’s reliable. You should purchase a physical dictionary if possible, because these have been quite extensively edited prior to publishing. Web dictionaries translated to English are sometimes subject to mistakes and may be missing nuances. Once you get good enough, use an actual Language-Language dictionary i.e. a German dictionary written for Germans. That’s the same way we learn new words in English. At this point, using a web dictionary would be fine e.g. Naver Dictionary for Korean.   

One good website for learning new vocab is FreeRice! I used to learn a lot of English words from here when I was in high school and trying to expand my vocabulary. You can use this as a fun thesaurus and look up the nuances. There’s German, Spanish, French, Italian and Latin. Plus, every word you get right they donate 10 grains of rice!   

Write down a list of areas you don’t know. A lot of times, once you get past the intermediate level of language learning, there’s less structure unless you take a higher level education course. So you need to make some sort of structure for yourself if you want to master the language at a native/professional proficiency. You can use this as the “index” (like in a bujo) to your study journal.   

Many times, people don’t remember to look at subject-related/professional terminology because they don’t think they’ll need to know something so esoteric. But you forget that even native speakers will know some basic technical terms in every subject. For example, in the health science field, it’s common for patients to know words like arthritis, hypertension, astigmatism, carpal tunnel syndrome, because even though these are the technical medical terms, they are quite common conditions. 

Reading and Writing Skills: Part 2 (Link) Speaking and Listening Skills: Part 3 (Link)

MY STUDY TIPS AND LANGBLR POSTS

How to Format Language Study Notes

BTS: 봄날 (Spring Day), Outro: Wings, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Not Today, Run

SM Entertainment: Rookie - Red Velvet,  I Got Love - Taeyeon

Requests: 예뻤어 (You Were Beautiful) - Day6, A Lie - B1A4, Don’t Recall - K.A.R.D

Other Artists: Rain - Soyou x Baekhyun, TT - Twice

Hello, it’s optomstudies here with a multi-part masterpost with study tips to make you fluent in any language! These will work at any level, whether you’re just starting out or are an advanced learner!

READING SKILLS

When you first start learning, a little bit of reading nets you a lot of new knowledge. Everything is a new experience to you, and you can get to a cursory level using the apps and resources which are readily available. Once you get to the point where every new paragraph doesn’t give you something new to learn, you’ll need to be reading and listening a lot more in your target language. Immerse yourself in popular media in your target language - music, books, dramas, movies, podcasts, etc.

I would suggest not only speaking to native speakers (in a native context if possible) to develop ease and fluency, but also reading classic literature in your target language. A lot of words used for speaking are the more common ones, whereas written language will have more extensive vocabulary available for you to read. There are still situations where I learn a word or two in a 50K story that’s written in English, and I have native English proficiency.

It’s best to find a story which has a lot of descriptive language. The words that I find I’m learning the most are obscure adjectives and non-traditional or abstract descriptors.

Poems are also great for artistic expression as well as symbolic and culturally-imbued vernacular.

If classical literature is still a little bit out of your reach, I would suggest finding texts which are typically prescribed for high school students for literature classes. This is equivalent to young adult literature, which is a fairly accessible route for intermediate-advanced language learners.

Reading Intensively vs. Reading Extensively

When you are reading, you can either read extensively or intensely. Extensively means reading without stopping to look up unknown grammatical structures and vocabulary. Intensively means reading each sentence carefully and looking up words/grammar structures as you go. Do both.

If you are reading extensively - write down the word, but also jot down what you think it means from the context - this trains your actual language learning skills (not only your knowledge about one language) because it teaches you to make a hypothesis based on what you know and to extrapolate meaning based on context - a critical skill in any language. Check it up once you have finished learning whether you were correct, and each time, you’ll get a little better at it!

If you are reading intensively, then focus on the syntax and order of words as well as the new grammar structures. You want to pick up on how a native would write certain sentences. Even in English, there’s many ways to write a sentence with the same meaning, even though there’s a general order of Subject-Verb-Object, there’s varying ways to place adverbs and adjectives so that the meaning of the sentence changes a little.

WRITING SKILLS

Put all your new words into use by using them in your study journal. Try and write a mini-story or diary-entry (anything really) that uses these new words, making sure that you have the correct nuance.

Better yet, Lang-8 is a website where you write journal entries in your target language and have them corrected by native speakers!

Find a pen-pal! Without living in the country, what better way is there to learn, than to communicate with a native speaker using more than simple conversation. A letter or email allows you to get cohesive thoughts out in a comfortable way. It’s best if you and your penpal agree to write out the email/letter in both languages - if there are any mistakes, there’s a reference to the original meaning.

International PenPal

Conversation Exchange

InterPals

Global Penfriends

Expand Your Vocabulary: Part 1 (Link) Speaking and Listening Skills: Part 3 (Link)

MY STUDY TIPS AND LANGBLR POSTS

How to Format Language Study Notes

BTS: 봄날 (Spring Day), Outro: Wings, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Not Today, Run

SM Entertainment: Rookie - Red Velvet,  I Got Love - Taeyeon

Requests: 예뻤어 (You Were Beautiful) - Day6, A Lie - B1A4, Don’t Recall - K.A.R.D

Other Artists: Rain - Soyou x Baekhyun, TT - Twice

My study tips directory (web only) for the full list (over 60+ original posts/guides!)

Animals - 动物

Forest - 森林

Bear - 熊

Cougar - 美洲狮

Wolf - 狼

Lynx - 大山猫

Deer - 鹿

Elk - 麋鹿

Moose - 驼鹿

Rabbit - 兔子

Chipmunk - 花栗鼠

Squirrel - 松鼠

Mouse - 鼠

Racoon - 浣熊

Opossum - 负鼠

Porcupine - 豪猪

Fox - 狐狸

Hi there!! Thanks for asking!! There’s a lot of different ways to organise a language book, so I’ve tried to give various suggestions :)

I would advise using a book with a few more pages!! There’s so much to learn for a language, 30 pages may be more useful for like a quick summary of what you’ve learnt

For your regular learning, I would suggest getting a book with more pages, or a pack of 5 books if you intend to travel light. that way you can just carry the book you are currently working on :)

For vocab you can either make a list based on the particular textbook you’re learning from or rearrange it so that it makes more sense

You can categorise vocab by the type of words, for example into lists of foods, places, colours, etc. which makes it more easy to broaden your vocabulary in a particular conversation. 

I find that this way helps you to develop fluency in a language. You’ll be able to express yourself more accurately when speaking about a particular topic. 

You can also categorise vocab by words you would use in a particular situation or place, e.g. at a restaurant, at a bank, whilst travelling etc. This is more useful for learning a lot of different topics quickly or reaching a beginner’s level so that you can start using your language of choice straight away!! 

This way it’s a little bit more practical, but it makes long term learning more messy, because you don’t have a logical structure or anything. 

If mind maps are your thing, then go for it!! they are fantastic for studying new vocabulary because of the way it is similar to how our brains think. 

Everything else in between your sets of vocab lists should be grammar points. 

I find that it’s best to organise grammar points in a list, just going straight down the page. 

Write down the particular language structure, then write down the explanation/English equivalent next to it

Make sure to provide lots of examples that you make up yourself!!

Using your own helps you to form sentences more easily in your target language. 

For verb/adjective conjugations, it’s best to put these in a table because there can be so many variations depending on the verb/adjective ending!

Write down the “rule” at the top of the table

Then write down the individual verbs down the first column

After that, use the other row(s) in the table to do the conjugations

I recommend using a pencil for these columns, because then if you want to, you can rub them out and then practice again in the future :D

It’s good to create an index of sorts for all the different grammar points, in case you need to look them up again in the future

I recommend using an index like in bullet journals where you write down the topic/grammar structure, and then write down the page number where you can find more in-depth explanations about it!

You can also organise your vocab lists in the same way!!

I’m studying Korean and Mandarin and have studied Japanese before so this format works well for those languages. I’m pretty sure it would also work just as well for any other language too!

Watch the MV here! 

이러지도 저러지도 - in two minds; a double bind

그저 - adv. just, simply

바라보며 >  바라보다 - v. to stare; to gaze

매일 - n. every day

상상만 해 > 상상만하다 - v. to imagine

이름 - n. name

함께 - adv. together

쓱 - adv. deftly

말을 놨네 > 말을 놓다 - v. to talk using familiar/informal form

아직 - adv. still

우린 - n. we

사인데 > 사이다 - adj. to be on familiar terms (with each other)

아무거나 - adv. anything, no matter what

걸쳐도 > 걸치다 - v. to wear

아름다워 > 아름답다 - adj. to be beautiful

거울 - n. mirror

단 - adv. only

둘 - n. two

이 - this 번 - time 엔 - time particle - this time

정말 - adv. really

꼭 - adv. definitely, surely

내가 먼저 - adv. first talk talk

다짐 - n. promise

매번 - every time

콧노래 - n. humming

나오다 - v. to emerge, come out

눈물 - n. tears

이미 - adv. already

컸다 > 크다 - v. to grow up

생각하는데 > 생각하다 - v. to think

어쩌면 - adv. perhaps

내 맘대로 - my way

밀어내려고 > 밀어내다 - v. to shove/push

할수록 - the more I try

끌려 > 끌리다 - v. to be dragged/drawn

너무해 > 너무하다 - adj. to be unreasonable, too hard

어처구니 없다 - ridiculous

얼굴 - n. face

값 - n. price

못한대 > 못하다 - adj. to be poor at, weak in, inferior to

전혀 - adv. not at all

미칠 것 같애 - think I’m going crazy

와중에 - in the middle

고픈 > 고프다 - v. to feel hungry

하루 종일 - all day

먹기 > 먹다 - v. to eat

만 - adv. only

맴매매매 - slapping onomatopoeia

죄도 없다 - adj. to not have sin > to be innocent

인형 - n. doll

때찌 - a childish word for hit

앉아있다 - sat down

엎드렸다 - fell down

시간 - n. time

획획획 - flying onomatopoeia

피부 - n. skin

칙칙 - adj. dull

귀찮게 - adv. annoyingly, pesteringly

짜증나다 - adj. annoying

화날 > 화나다 - to get angry or upset

혹시 - if

이대로 - adv. like this

사라져 버리면 > 사라져버리다 - v. to vanish

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BTS: 봄날 (Spring Day), Outro: Wings, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Not Today, Run

SM Entertainment: Rookie - Red Velvet,  I Got Love - Taeyeon

Requests: 예뻤어 (You Were Beautiful) - Day6, A Lie - B1A4, Don’t Recall - K.A.R.D

Other Artists: Rain - Soyou x Baekhyun, TT - Twice