These are five things I've observed while learning Russian and Uzbek at the same time. I have never attempted to study two languages at the same time. I stopped formally studying Spanish when I began Russian in college but when given the opportunity by the Fulbright Scholarship to study both, I decided to accept this challenge. My B.A. is in Russian but my speaking and vocabulary is not at the level I would like. After realizing I wasn't getting enough practice from daily interactions, I decided to formally study Russian here. I became interested in Uzbek after being rewarded a Fulbright Grant. I have been formally studying Uzbek since September and have been making a lot of progress.
You want to focus on one more than the other
My biggest language learning challenge over the past six months has been confidence. I felt confident in Uzbek for two months and ignored Russian. Now, I'm feeling confident in Russian and am ignoring Uzbek. The best way to alleviate this problem is to force yourself to practice both at night.
Your brain will confuse them
During my Uzbek lesson, I started a sentence with “я (ya)” instead of men.
Your ability in one will strengthen your ability in the other
Both Russian and Uzbek use the Cyrillic alphabet and similar vocabulary because of Russian colonization. By learning Uzbek, my vocabulary in Russian has expanded. Also, I’m more comfortable using the Cyrillic alphabet.
When you speak, you may blend them together
I joke that I speak fluent Rusbek. I often start to explain something in Uzbek then switch to Russian. Though I’ve been studying Russian longer, my vocabulary in both is about the same. I think this mistake comes from Russian having a similar structure as English so it is easier for my brain to formulate sentences in a social setting.
Having discussion with a native speaker is very rewarding
In Uzbekistan, people are either native speakers of Russian or Uzbek. When you are able to have a conversation with native speaker and make them smile, that makes all the stress worth it.
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