Expert: Kurt Bamert - 7/3/2007

Question
Dear Kurt Bamert  
My name is Hamid and I would like to know more about learning 2 languages at the same time. In fact I know English well and I tried to learn German by myself. So I want to know, can I start learning 2 languages like German and French at the same time?
At the beginning of learning Germany, I thought I’ll confuse, but I believe that the men could know new language without any confusion.
It would be great pleasure for me, if I could hear from you.
Regards,
Hamid  

Answer
Hello Hamid
There is no problem learning German and French at the same time because there is no risk of confusion because they are so different. It can even bring you some grammatical insight comparing the structures of the two languages and quicken your learning process.
I did have problems when I learned Italian and Spanish at the same time and I had to learn one after the other, but knowing the one (Italian) helped me to learn Spanish. I had as well a lot of interference when I learned Portuguese knowing already Spanish. The same happened to me when I learned Catalan, I did have a lot of interference with Spanish.
Your English will help you when you are learning German.
Regards,
Kurt