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Number of languages humanly possible? | ||
Tags: Number of Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| mpete16 Diglot Groupie Germany Joined 5524 days ago 98 posts - 114 votes  Speaks: Tagalog, English* Studies: German | Message 1 of 27 31 December 2009 at 4:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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How many languages can a person learn up to native fluency?
To be more specific: The person has an accent that is indistinguishable from a native speaker's. The person's writing skills are equal to that of an educated college graduate. The person uses idioms just like how a native speaker would. Or, in other words, the person's skills in that language is so good that it would be impossible for others to prove that he/she is not a native speaker of that language. Of course, appearance would change that. But everything else is just like a native. PS. Sorry I couldn't think of a better title. The character limit is just too much for me to write a better title. Edited by mpete16 on 31 December 2009 at 4:14pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5840 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 2 of 27 31 December 2009 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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People born in Luxembourg speak 3 languages like natives: Luxembourgish, French and German.
Imagine if somebody who went to a regular school in Luxembourg happened to have for example... Spanish parents.... That's four languages, not including English. ------------------------------- I think that four is the upper limit and it assumes a very international type of background, living in another coutnry and perhaps having parents from different countries. Of course, there are always exceptions but we are talking about normal people, I assume, not savants etc. I know several people who speak three languages natively. I know one person who can speak for languages and sound native. But she cannot write in one of them (Arabic) Edited by cordelia0507 on 31 December 2009 at 5:36pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hashimi Senior Member Oman Joined 6261 days ago 362 posts - 529 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written)* Studies: English, Japanese | Message 3 of 27 31 December 2009 at 6:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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It depends on the linguistic distance between these languages. E.g. it's not impossible for an Italian to reach native fluency in other 4 romance languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian), or a Danish with Swedish, Norwegian, German etc. But if the language are distant (e.g. English, Japanese) I think the average man cannot learn more than 2 languages to native level in addition his mother tongue. In some cases, (e.g. if you grew up as a bilingual child, and you lived your childhood in a country where people don't speak your parents languages, then worked and lived in other countries for more than a decade each) maybe you can learn up to 5 or 6 languages fluently. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| chucknorrisman Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5450 days ago 321 posts - 435 votes Speaks: Korean*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian, Mandarin, Lithuanian, French | Message 4 of 27 31 December 2009 at 6:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you leave out the criterion "The person's writing skills are equal to that of an educated college graduate," then I think it would be much easier, I am guessing maybe 3 or 4 if you fulfill the other criteria?
But if you leave in that criterion of writing like a college graduate, then it would take much longer, as the person would need much more vocabulary and knowledge of the writings done by authors of the language in all styles. I spoke English like a native child would by my third year in America, which was when I was in seventh grade, but my writing skills were nowhere near the ability of a college graduate, either in Korean or English. So maybe two with that one? I personally wouldn't know exactly, since I'm not even in college yet. Edited by chucknorrisman on 31 December 2009 at 6:35pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6661 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 5 of 27 31 December 2009 at 6:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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The stipulation that the person's writing skills are equal to that of an educated college graduate is tricky. Some "educated" college graduates who are native speakers of English in the United States have produced some truly bad writing. As someone who teaches college composition, I know that even well-educated native writers of English can make plenty of mistakes.
However, the errors that non-native writers make are usually distinctive. When I read placement essays written by non-natives, it's pretty clear that English is not their native language. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5587 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 6 of 27 31 December 2009 at 8:18pm | IP Logged | ||
I agree, my friend from the Ukraine speaks 3 with native fluency and 1 (polish) with advanced fluency. I don't believe the languages you can study has a limit though, with polyglottery, the sky is the limit in my opinion. You can achieve anything which is what I love about it. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Muz9 Diglot Groupie Netherlands Joined 5526 days ago 84 posts - 112 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Somali | Message 7 of 27 31 December 2009 at 8:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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For the average human with no extraordinary language abilities I guess around 2 to 3. But what I noticed from personal experiences is that always one language seems to dominate (vocabulary wise) and the person will end up using that language when he or she can’t find the word one is looking for. Also, usually one of the languages the person speaks might be an 'informal' language he or she picked up from friends/family, the person might sound fluent but usually has poor writing skills in that language. Edited by Muz9 on 31 December 2009 at 8:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| adrian Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5488 days ago 8 posts - 11 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Polish, German | Message 8 of 27 31 December 2009 at 10:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello
I am new on this site and I just want to say I am finding the discussions really fascinating... The concept of someone passing for a native is an interesting one. In English I have only met two people who I thought were native speakers when they weren't - both were in fact native German speakers. One of them I thought was Australian and the other I thought was southern English. There are certainly people who I have met who fulfil all the criteria given above except for the accent - but I suspect these people are not losing much sleep over their lack of "native" English accent.
would that include the criteria of having an indistinguishable accent from a native speaker, i.e. s/he would sound French to a French speaker, Spanish to a Spanish speaker etc.? Does "native fluency" necessarily involve having an indistinguishable native accent? Or can one be said to have native fluency while retaining elements of one's first language accent? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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