When it comes to learning a second (or third, or fourth) language, we all have our different methods. When I started learning Spanish, I googled every possible method available to learn the fastest and most effective way possible. I looked for free resources, but I also spent my share of cash on various programs and books "guaranteed" to help me reach fluency as quickly as possible.
A little more than eight years later, there are still days when I am hesitant to call myself fluent in Spanish, however, I will say that with years of practice, I have reached a level I am pretty satisfied with. Even though there is always room to improve, I feel like I have found my most effective methods of practicing.
I may be crazy. Well, I certainly have my quirks, and some might call me crazy, but recently I became inspired, and that's where the craziness lies. I want to start learning Italian again. I started (and gave up) learning Italian roughly four years ago. Despite some success, I decided my passion for Spanish outweighed my desire to be multi-lingual, so instead of dividing my days with Spanish verb conjugations and Italian vocabulary drills, I packed away my Italian learning resources and went full speed ahead with Spanish. There were days I regretted it, but overall, I found Spanish to be my true love when it came to foreign languages. So why the change of heart? Why now?
I have been living in Spain for almost six months. My Spanish is good (although I should note, I don't necessarily attribute that to living in Spain) and I am constantly surrounded with opportunities to speak Spanish. It's more or less natural to me, even if I don't understand everything I hear and I can't always say what I would like to say. Unlike my level of Spanish four years ago, when I tried to challenge my brain with Italian, I am comfortable enough now with my Spanish that I am not worried I will confuse the two languages or start to forget Spanish in order to make room in my brain for Italian. In other words, I feel my Spanish is locked in place and I can move forward with another language.
While I am excited to move forward with Italian, I should note, I am not taking it on with the same seriousness that I have with Spanish, nor am I concerned with a specific timeline for learning or even reaching a specific level. I want to learn in the most laid back way possible. Since I returned to reviewing my Italian material, I simply let my mind absorb the words and slowly let it come back to me. I am attempting to learn like a sponge, and instead of racking my brain with verb charts and vocabulary lists, I simply listen and repeat much of what I hear and I study briefly each day my Anki deck, which goes over vocab and basic phrases but in a fairly random and spaced out order, which allows me to recall much of what I learned four years ago without too much effort. To ensure I keep my Spanish sharp, I use Spanish translations for Italian words and phrases when I can, which helps me work on both languages at the same time without too much stress involved. Since I don't plan on talking with any native Italian speakers anytime soon, it's difficult to gauge my level, but since my goal here is much more relaxed, I don't feel any pressure to necessarily test myself to see where I fall.
I want this time around to be fun. While I am not giving myself specific goals, I do have a collection of audio CD's I am working through, and once completed, I will see where I stand. In the past, I put too much pressure on myself to reach a certain goal at a certain time. While I may still need to be a little more rigid when it comes to Spanish, only because it is a language I am using everyday, I feel I can go a little more softly on the Italian. If I miss a day of studying, it's no big deal, I will just pick up where I left off the next time. I think this is the key, for me at least, in learning a third language after my second. That is to say I had to be pretty intense with Spanish since I had never learned a second language before, but now that I more or less have it down, the third language is a lot easier. We shall see now, won't we?
