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FLUENT IN ONE LANGUAGE OR CONVERSANT IN MANY?


Someone asked me recently: Is it better to be fluent in one language or to be learning many languages at a conversational level?

This is a debate that’s been going on for generations of language learners.

There are a few approaches a language learner can take and today we’ll dive deeper into some of them.


1. You can learn many languages conversationally.

I personally enjoy learning some basic phrases in the language of the country I’m going to visit before getting there. It’s always a fun challenge and it gives me motivation to actually study this language since I’ll then have the opportunity to practice it with real people.

I feel extremely proud of myself when locals understand what I say to them in their native language. For example, I did this in Zagreb when I ordered a cup of coffee in Croatian and had a lovely interaction with the owner of the cafe. It made my travel experience so much more meaningful and special. Plus, you never know when even some basic phrases could save you from a bad situation.

However, learning lots of languages in this way can lead you to forget them very soon without practice. Not being fluent enough can also make you feel unfulfilled and unsatisfied in the long run.


2. You can master several languages.

Ever since I decided to focus on fewer languages, my progress has definitely felt slower. However, I’m glad I committed to mastering Italian since now I’m able to teach it and it really fulfills me. Learning too many languages at the same time and forgetting them later on has been very frustrating.

To be honest, I sometimes miss the time when I used to be able to say I speak 10+ languages. But then I think about how amazing my life has become since I decided to only focus on a few of them. Being able to read any book in Spanish, Portuguese or Italian makes me feel powerful.

Mastering just a few languages can help you develop a deeper understanding of the nuances and idioms in these languages or even give you incredible career opportunities. It’s also technically easier to maintain a high level of proficiency in fewer languages. On the other hand, this approach offers limited diversity and can make you miss out on connecting with people who speak other languages.


3. You can take a balanced approach.

A balanced approach involves learning a reasonable number of languages to a decent level. This way you can gain the cultural depth of mastering a few languages while still experiencing the diversity of learning several. You’re able to switch between your languages pretty easily and communicate with many other language learners.

However, this requires a lot of dedication and time. This philosophy works best for me personally. Perhaps my language learning progress has become slower (given I used to be learning a new language each year). But this enabled me to appreciate some languages and cultures more deeply than ever before. And only when I felt comfortable with one language, I allowed myself to start learning another. This way the frustration of forgetting what I’d learned disappeared.

I still enjoy learning new languages when I feel like it, but I try to balance it better. It may sound less impressive to say I only speak 6 languages fluently - but I don’t care anymore. I like to think I reduced my perfectionism significantly and now I only learn the languages I truly want, when I want and for reasons that make sense to ME.

So, after all of this information, which route will you take?




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