How many languages can one person speak?
Speaking more than one language is definitely an attractive attribute — both to your career and your romantic life. Many believe that bilingualism boost one’s confidence thus make them look more desirable.
But the question is:
How many languages can one person speak?
The simple answer is ‘unlimited’. But this is a question that doesn’t have an obvious and definite answer.
Do polyglots have different brains than others?
Polyglots are people who speak at least 5 or more languages. One of the most famous polyglots was Cardinal Guiseppe Mezzofanti. It is believed that Mezzofanti could speak in at least 40 different languages and the total languages he knew sometimes reach 70.
This is astonishing.
Do polyglots think differently than us?
In 2004, scientists examined the brain of a German diplomat, Emil Krebs (1867–1930), who spoke 65 different languages in his lifetime. Scientists wanted to know if he had some superpower in his brain.
They found out there were distinct differences in Kreb’s Broca area — an area that is responsible for language.
Lund University in Sweden has done an experiment to further examine the differences of brains between language and non-language students. Both students were arranged to attend an intensive foreign-language course. Without doubt, language students did so much better than non-language students. The surprisingly fact is their Broca area has expanded after the course while brain structure didn’t change much for non-language students.
How do you define fluency?
This is a very subjective question.
For example, does it mean you are fluent in French when you can hold a complicated conversation with strangers in Paris? Or do you need to pass certain exams, for instance, CEFRL diploma?
The definition of fluency does really comes down to individuals.
Let’s take me as an example. I can speak conversational Spanish but I make grammatical mistakes every now and then. Am I fluent in Spanish? From my point my view, if you can reach B2 on the CEFR scale, you are considered as a fluent speaker.
Anything beyond B2 level is called ‘mastery’. In other words, you are able to work as an engineer or a translator.
Now it comes down to one question:
How fluent do you want to be in a language?
You don’t have to compete yourself with others. Your language learning is your own solo journey.
Set your goals and go for it!
Secret advice from well-known polyglots
Alex Rawlings was awarded as the most multilingual student in UK in 2012. He spoke 11 languages. His trick to language perfection is merely immersion. After graduating from Oxford, he wandered around Europe to pick up new languages, for example, Hungarian and Serbian. He said speaking the language from day 1 has been an essential method for his success.
Sussana Zaraysky treated language like music. Instead of drilling on grammar and vocabulary, she enjoyed learning most through TV, radio, music and film. This is an important way for her to pick up accent and grammar. She can speak 9 languages now.
These are just two examples from many polyglots in the world.
They all share a secret
Find your own way and stick to it
There is no fixed method for all. If you want to succeed in language learning, you need to find your own path. Once you find a suitable method, you will then continue to replicate it again and again until you become a polyglot.
