To all the people who learn(ed) more than one foreign language. Does anyone use some kind of colour coding system while learning a particular language?
I am asking, because I developed a weird but colourful habit and I am still hoping that I am not the only fan of colours here...
It all started 10 years ago with my flashcard app. Every morning on my way to work I revised vocabulary with my app and I wanted to visually differentiate between the two languages I was learning. So I chose a different colour for each and changed the background colour of my flashcards accordingly. Then, when I started with the French language, I found this nice orange French notebook and that's how orange became my colour for the French language. I used an orange highlighter to mark unknown words in texts, started to write all words in my vocab list that were in the feminine with an orange pen and modified the background for my French vocabulary flashcards into that colour.
In the following years I added one or two languages (and colours) and sometimes I ask myself whether the colour coding really helps my brain. Or maybe I just imagine the effect because I can put each language into a specific (imaginary) box. However, the English language will always look blue to me.
That's an interesting approach! I'd say that it's always beneficial for our brains to have something sensory that is connected with knowledge. It's said that if you smell or taste something while studying for an exam and smell/taste that while taking the exam, you'll be able to remember better what you've learned because your brain gets multiple triggers. So I can imagine that your color coding does also benefit your learning.
To me this sounds like a really good idea, especially if you learn a lot of languages or if you learn to languages which are simular. I once tried to learn Spanish and Italian at the same time and very soon stopped Spanish because those two languages are so simular that I just kept mixing them up. Reading your post I wondered if assigning colors to them might have helped.
I've never heard of or thought about doing this, but I think it's a great idea. I do wonder whether learning several languages at once (which I am doing at the moment) is inefficient, because it confuses our brains. The color-coding system might help with this. By the way, this post is marked as being written in German, not English.
I've read about and heard from others who use colors. Fluent Forever uses colors to distinguish gender of nouns. Using a color for a language makes sense to create an association. I often use either color or writing style (i.e. cursive and print) to distinguish between the target and my native language. It helps my brain ignore the native language notes.
Orange is my favorite color, by the way. Even if all colors do is keep you excited that is a win!
This is an interesting idea. So far I only used colors to distinguish gender of nouns - I guess it is quite common. I might try your method to learn Netherlands. When I speak to my Dutch colleagues I often mix up German and Dutch words.
I like this idea and use a version of it. I actually experience a pretty strong language-color synesthesia, which I have found helps a lot in language learning.
@Radek: As far as I know the colours do not help me while speaking. There I mix different languages sometimes. I have to think about a way to use them that way, too.
@CloudyDe: I hear you. I started with Spanish just after returning from living in Italy - NOT a very good idea. So I shelved Spanish.
@Wendy: The brain is an interesting "machine"... I experienced different types of language mix-ups with specific language pairings and or specific situations. My brain even refused to let leave anything in English out of my mouth after I reached a certain level of French while living in France. Somewhere between A2 and B1 I got to see a lot of confused faces when - having drinks in small international gatherings - I started my input to a conversation in English in English, but switched - without realizing - to French after a few words.