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True. Legolas Send a noteboard - 25/06/2011 04:13:06 PM
I think it would be fairly easy to be fully fluent in four or five languages if one lived in the right settings - Switzerland, for example, or Finland. The problem is that maintaining fluency requires constant practice, and so most people won't maintain that level in a large number of languages unless they're, say, UN interpreters, and even they usually specialize in two or three languages only. My Chinese back in law school was good enough that I took a class on Chinese law in Chinese (no English in texts or conversation), but right now, after about ten years of non-use, my Chinese has diminished considerably. However, when I did go to China on business back in 2007 most of it came back in a remarkably short period of time. Of course, on returning to the US most of it sank beneath the waves of the Lethe again (sorry, it sounds pretentious in English but I'm thinking of a common Russian phrase - кануло в Лету).

Yeah, Switzerland, or the friend I mentioned who grew up in Luxembourg - that country is kind of unique at least in the West in the way its division between languages is based more on different domains of life than on linguistic groups. Luxembourgian children are taught in Luxembourgian, French and German at different stages of their education, and people generally use all three of those languages in their daily lives. Throw in the inevitable English, and I guess that makes four without too much effort.

Not sure Finland is such a great example - you could suppose that they're all trilingual Finnish-Swedish-English, but in my very limited experiences, not that many Finns are genuinely fluent in all three, even if they all have some knowledge of the three.

It does come back, fortunately, relearning something is so much easier than learning it the first time.
As it is, Russian alone has been tremendously useful for me in business.

No doubt. My company does some trade with Russia (plus Ukraine and Kazakhstan), and that's all done in Russian, they're apparently not too willing (or able) to do very much in English.
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/Simple Question: at what point do you tell people you "know" a language or "speak" it? - 24/06/2011 02:49:51 AM 750 Views
Here's what I tell various people - 24/06/2011 03:09:45 AM 544 Views
Interesting - 24/06/2011 10:23:04 PM 505 Views
I thought the same - 24/06/2011 10:29:03 PM 957 Views
Not sure but I am almost there with English *NM* - 24/06/2011 03:52:30 AM 222 Views
neat question. - 24/06/2011 06:36:09 AM 507 Views
I'd say it depends on the purpose... - 24/06/2011 10:04:48 AM 662 Views
I agree that it varies on why you're being asked - 24/06/2011 10:45:02 AM 598 Views
- 24/06/2011 09:01:42 PM 459 Views
I tend to give a long speech - 24/06/2011 11:02:22 AM 517 Views
Agree with jh - 24/06/2011 02:19:21 PM 531 Views
I think if you would be able to make not just basic needs known... - 24/06/2011 04:58:05 PM 513 Views
check noteboard *NM* - 25/06/2011 04:38:48 PM 292 Views
Very good question. - 24/06/2011 08:22:47 PM 572 Views
I had a feeling you might enjoy the survey. - 24/06/2011 10:50:47 PM 431 Views
What can I say, I'm predictable? - 25/06/2011 01:00:49 AM 509 Views
Two words: constant practice - 25/06/2011 02:34:52 AM 565 Views
True. - 25/06/2011 04:13:06 PM 518 Views
"Sank beneath the the waves of the Lethe" is an incredible phrase. *NM* - 26/06/2011 06:01:00 AM 230 Views
Glad you enjoyed it! *NM* - 26/06/2011 05:08:49 PM 211 Views
If you have at least an elementary school understanding of the language - 24/06/2011 10:19:45 PM 505 Views
My own survey answers - 24/06/2011 11:07:12 PM 535 Views
Funny how your taste in languages still to learn parallels mine to a great extent. - 25/06/2011 01:04:36 AM 479 Views
Yeah, and I realized that last list should include Farsi and Arabic. - 25/06/2011 02:24:06 AM 473 Views
I suppose Farsi must be easier than Arabic. - 26/06/2011 11:18:23 AM 525 Views
Yes and no. - 26/06/2011 05:08:29 PM 1579 Views
Interesting. Makes sense, I guess. - 26/06/2011 05:49:25 PM 518 Views
The timing of your question makes me giggle. - 26/06/2011 04:05:07 AM 586 Views

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