Happy new year everyone!
2024 has arrived so let me ask you a question: do you have any specific goal, language-wise, for 2024?
Mine is try to talk as much as I can with local people here in Taipei!
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I want to start learning Mandarin seriously again!
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My goal is to keep studying Mandarin
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Pass Italian B1 so I can gain Italian citizenship!
I typically get too caught up in changing language when I watch something on TV or travel somewhere! I want to stay focused on my 3 targets this year (Mandarin, Japanese and Italian) and just enjoy the journey.
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Travel to China and survive.
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Continue learning seriously! My list should probably be refined but at least for the first half of the year:
- French - maintenance with 1x/wk conversation class, regular podcast listening
- Spanish - 1-hr class 3x/wk, regular podcast listening, read Harry Potter #1
- Korean - 1-hr class 3x/wk, regular grammar and vocab drills
- German - 20 1-hr classes by mid-March (preparing for a trip)
- Portuguese - daily Duolingo by mid-March (preparing for a trip)
- Vietnamese - figure out how to incorporate Vietnamese study into my life
Love these! Busy year ahead but no doubts you can nail it 
Would love to hear your updates halfway through the year 
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Wow, Impressive list! I’m curious about how you manage to keep the languages from getting mixed up in your head.
How fluent are you in each language?
Thanks for the question!! And very good one, indeed they can get mixed up! First, as far as my levels:
English - native (I’m Vietnamese-American)
Vietnamese - A2 (learned as a child, I live far from my family now so my skills have greatly degraded)
French - B2 (300+ hours of class over the last 2 years)
Spanish - B1 (4 years in high school, 90+ hours of class mostly recently)
Korean - A2 (living in Korea for 5+ years, living with Koreans, dating a Korean, on-and-off studies with tutors/classes. Not great given the exposure but I haven’t studied as seriously as I’d like)
German and Portuguese - A0, literally just started this month!
On mixing up the languages, I think it’s impossible to mix up Vietnamese and Korean with anything else because they are so different from every other language. Also, when I recall words, I visualize them written, so since they are different scripts, it’s extremely clear if I’ve got the wrong language. So, I haven’t had any problems with mixing these with other languages, other than when just trying to recall single words and other languages show up.
Spanish and French get mixed up frequently since they are much more similar. At times I’m not sure which word is French and which is Spanish! I think the only solution to this is more exposure to each language in context, so eventually the right words will feel right naturally and there are more memories of making mistakes to remember in the future.
I’m just starting with German and Portuguese but it seems so far that they are different enough from my other languages that it shouldn’t be too hard to distinguish them, but only time will tell!
So I guess my answer on mixing would be, well, it’s impossible to avoid, but with time and practice they will eventually separate (I hope!)
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This is all very impressive! Very well done on maintaining your level for all of them!
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Thank you for sharing all your languages. Your language list has grown to 7 this year. So impressive! I’m curious about what motivates you to study this many languages
My top two motivations are personal interest (I just love learning languages) and utility
Vietnamese - I am Vietnamese!
Korean - I live in Korea, have many Korean friends, Korean partner.
French - useful for my work, French partner.
Spanish - useful for my work, studied it in the US so I’d like to retain those skills, Spanish-speaking partner.
German - my partner lives in Germany and I’d like to be respectful during my visits
Portuguese - travel reasons
In the end, I just find learning languages very fun and I hope one day to use them in my work and personal life
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I seem to keep expanding my list the older I get! I just turned 50 last month, and these are my current goals.
Spanish - we have a bilingual household, but I feel my grammar is lacking. As a writer, I want to be able to write in Spanish at the same level as I do in English (my native language). I’m taking classes now.
Mandarin - continue studying. I want to KNOW and read at least 1000 characters by the end of the year. I’m actually pushing for 6 months. I’m also working on better pronunciation and want to be able to better understand and respond appropriately in basic conversations. My teen daughter is also learning, so I try to practice with her.
German - continue re-learning. I used to live in Germany as a teen, and am relearning how to speak.
Japanese - continue re-learning. I had Japanese friends in college who started teaching me, and I’ve been relearning how to read and speak Japanese. I had taught my oldest daughter when she was little (she’s now 24.5), and I want to have conversations with her and others, since she continued learning on her own. This will take a bit longer since my priorities are Mandarin, German, and Spanish (in that order), but I try to do something with it a couple of times a week.
Portuguese - I’m just dabbling right now, my teen daughter wants to learn because she has in her head she wants to visit Brazil! It’s so close to Spanish, yet, not…
Korean - just dabbling, because what I really need in my life is another character system. Not. I mostly watch Cdramas, but will periodically watch a Kdrama, just because. I would like to know basic conversation though, because our favorite Asian restaurant is run by Koreans. We’ve gone to this restaurant for years, and ashamedly, I have yet to learn anything. In the meantime, the owners have picked up Spanish (as well as English)!
I think that’s it…
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Love these reasons. The way you both juggle all these languages is hyper-impressive.
I struggle juggling Italian and Mandarin let alone throwing in Korean and Japanese 
It’s great that for most languages you are learning, you have a native partner to practice with.
my partner lives in Germany and I’d like to be respectful during my visits
I’m sure you will leave a positive impression on your partner’s family.
I find it very sweet that you’re learning Mandarin, Japanese, and Portuguese to practice with your kids. They must be very happy to have a dad like you. 
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I’m mom 
Sorry. Tam in my language is a male name, so I somehow assumed that you’re a dad
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Hello, everyone. I am Nathaly Toledo from Caracas, Venezuela and I wish to have a HSK 3 (Mandarin )level by the end of the year. My current level is HSK 1.
Welcome @Nathaly-Mandarin_Simplified_HS - great to have you here
I’m sure you can get to HSK 3 before the end of the year no problems. How are you studying at the moment?