Learning multiple languages at one time

Learning and/or maintaining more than one language at a time is very difficult. Of course, focusing on one language for awhile would likely make for speedier learning, but I can never choose just one. I love them all too much. I can barely limit myself to just the three main languages I am currently focused on (Japanese, Spanish, and Italian).

One thing that has helped me to pick up daily words in all three languages has been translating my daily notes into all three.

If I write myself a little note, a small paragraph about something going on in my day, or any other small daily writing, I will try to write it in one of the three languages first, and then rewrite it in the other two.

This helps to compare the different thought processes in the languages, to compare vocabulary, and to reinforce imagery between the languages.

Japanese Idioms by Barron's

For learning Japanese, one of my new favorite books is Japanese Idioms by Barron's. It is a small pocket sized book with more than 2000 commonly used idioms. Idioms are a very difficult part of gaining fluency and books like Japanese Idioms make the task a little bit easier. The book provides at least one example sentence for every idiom, but you will still need to have a friend or other person to converse with regularly in order to really get comfortable with the idioms.

This is not a book on vulgarities, but is instead a book on basic common phrases similar English's "kill two birds with one stone" or "I'm so hungry I can eat a horse."

Very useful and fun book, especially if you know someone who can help work out when to use them.