I have read somewhere that it is almost impossible for an adult to learn a second language as well as a person raised from infancy in a culture speaking that language. Actually, I think the article stated that the ability to learn a new language deteriorates sometime prior to a person being ten years old.
What about a person born in a culture in which there are two or more languages spoken? For example: Canada, Switzerland, & Belgium are multilingual countries. I am sure there are others.
Would a person raised in such a culture, be able to learn an additional language as well as a native speaker of the language?
When I was in 10th grade, I had a French teacher who was alleged to be able to speak French, German, English, & Hungarian without an accent in any of those languages. I would have no way of knowing about the other languages, but I know she spoke English without an accent and was born/raised in Germany. I think she learned English as an adult.
I once knew a woman who was a translator at the UN. She spoke at least 5-6 languages. She once said that on a 6-week vacation, she expected to learn the Serbo-Croatian family of languages well enough to be certified as a UN translator for those languages. Her salsry would increase quite a bit when/if she learned additional languages well enough to be certified.
My experience in learning French made me realize that she had linguistic skills far beyond mine.
BTW: I learned zilch French in school, but became able to cope with it when I spent a lot of time working on a programming project for NATO in Belgium. I am sure that I did not learn it well enough to be certified as an English/French UN translator, and it took more than 6 weeks to become intelligible as well as being able to vaguely understand the native speakers of Belgium French. .
What about a person born in a culture in which there are two or more languages spoken? For example: Canada, Switzerland, & Belgium are multilingual countries. I am sure there are others.
Would a person raised in such a culture, be able to learn an additional language as well as a native speaker of the language?
When I was in 10th grade, I had a French teacher who was alleged to be able to speak French, German, English, & Hungarian without an accent in any of those languages. I would have no way of knowing about the other languages, but I know she spoke English without an accent and was born/raised in Germany. I think she learned English as an adult.
I once knew a woman who was a translator at the UN. She spoke at least 5-6 languages. She once said that on a 6-week vacation, she expected to learn the Serbo-Croatian family of languages well enough to be certified as a UN translator for those languages. Her salsry would increase quite a bit when/if she learned additional languages well enough to be certified.
My experience in learning French made me realize that she had linguistic skills far beyond mine.
BTW: I learned zilch French in school, but became able to cope with it when I spent a lot of time working on a programming project for NATO in Belgium. I am sure that I did not learn it well enough to be certified as an English/French UN translator, and it took more than 6 weeks to become intelligible as well as being able to vaguely understand the native speakers of Belgium French. .