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Is it possible to know all these languages?
I want to travel across Europe and other world places and I want to learn Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian, German, Italian, and Polish.
27 Answers
- Lucius T FowlerLv 76 years ago
Nearly impossible, unless you're a language Genius. Maybe one out of a million people are that, which is not at all out of the range of possibilities, because, as Neil deGrasse Tyson said, one out of a million people are astrophysicists, so maybe you can learn all these languages on the fly by just a vacation, but to regular people, no, it's not probable you can learn all of these.
When I learned languages, the obviously easiest thing to try, to learn similar languages, led to some confusion in my brain. I mixed up French and Spanish vocabulary to an extent that I decided to skip the Spanish and put more effort into my French, which paid in the end, but let me lose all of that Spanish. For the same reason, I wouldn't also recommend to learn Spanish and Italian, or Portuguese, at the same time; you start mixing up grammar and vocabulary, and that's no good.
Mixing a romance language with a slavic one, however, might be a good idea. I wouldn't start with Russian because of the kyrillic alphabet, but rather take lessons in Polish or, what I Iove most, Czech. I live near the Czech Republic and even when a policeman comes up and says I have to pay a fifty euro fine for speeding, the Czech language (to me) sounds as if nobody never ever can get angry. But maybe it's a cultural thing after all.
- 6 years ago
It really depends on the person. If you really put effort into learning them, then yes, you could learn these language in time. It won't happen over night, but you'll make much more progress if you practice at least daily.
I also suggest you attempt to learn the 'easier' languages first, although what is consider easier depends on the person. But learning a language closer too English is probably the best way to go, for you first language you want to learn.
Personally, i find Spanish and German to be easier, but that's me.
Then, After you learn one of the less harder ones, move on to slighter more challenging ones.
But just because some are less difficult, doesn't mean they are all that easy. Remember, you are learning another language after all.
It's also a good idea to practice with a native speaker, because they can help you in ways other people and things can't. If you don't know a native speaker in real life, there's always the internet.
Also, Don't try to learn a whole bunch of languages at the same time, you won't make any progress if you try and stuff your mind with to much info at once.
i'm not sure what else i can tell you, but good luck in your language learning! :D
- ?Lv 46 years ago
Not impossible, but unlikely possible, unless you have time or you grow up in mutilingual family in which your family members speak some of the listed languages.
1. There are two main Chinese languages, Mandarin and Cantonese. They are not Indo-European languages, and pretty much isolated language branch family members. They use tones to distinguish each characters, which is a thing that most non-Asians found it nearly impossible to master. If you do not know any Asian languages, at least 2.5 years to learn the basics of Mandarin, and 5 years for Cantonese. And not to mention writing characters, there are two writing systems, Traditional and Simplified.
2. Spanish, French and Italian are Romance languages. Phonics are easy, and with one year, you would be able to know all the basics.
3. Russian and Polish are Slavic languages. They are a lot harder than the languages you listed, they are only second to Chinese languages (with the exception of writing systems). Grammar is not easy and it will be very difficult for English speakers to understand case systems.
4. German is a lot similar to English, the case system is easier than Slavic languages. It is a bit harder than Romance languages if you only speak English.
All languages are inter-related. The vocabulary and grammar are similar and different in some ways.
However, realistically speaking, you can know the languages but never fully fluent/well unless you are living in an environment that needs you to speak all seven at the same time. The human brain tends to allow memories fade as they are not often needed.
- Don VertoLv 76 years ago
Not very likely.It takes many years of daily exposure just to learn one language. It is true some people know several languages to some extent.If a friend tells you he or she knows a number of languages you have no way of knowing whether or not it is true unless you know the said languages yourself..I can claim that I know 6 languages but that is not really true.The 3 I know pretty good are Dutch,English and Spanish and even with them I should be better.With German,French and Esperanto I could help myself a little.It took me 76 years to learn this much.
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- 6 years ago
Yes. You can definitely learn all these languages.
Get a grammar book in your target language and read it.
Get a flashbook app for your phone and memorize a ton of vocabulary.
Then live in the country where the language is spoken for at least 3 months. Speak to people in the language every day. Read the newspaper. Try to have long conversations.
Repeat.
You will end up with conversational fluency in each language. The more languages you learn, the easier it will be to pick up new ones.
- CLv 76 years ago
Of course you can. One of my friends' fathers worked for the UN and was truly fluent in 5 languages and could get by in about 10 more to varying degrees. To learn a language you need to immerse yourself in it and be interested in the culture that goes with it so that the words and phrases acquire texture and resonance or you'll never remember them. Also, stagger when you start learning them. I've found that if you start two languages at exactly the same time they can get a bit muddled in your memory.
- 6 years ago
Only 7? :)
Of course you can learn all those languages (knowing at least 6 languages will qualify you as a "polyglot") ! Also, another cool thing you can do is to choose a endangered language to help prevent its extinction. I am learning Yiddish currently. It is a beautiful little language with very charming words related to German and Hebrew predominantly spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. Yiddish is my family's language and I don't want it to go extinct D: So please choose an endangered language so it can be saved!
PS- You don't have to be Jewish to love Yiddish :P
- RachelS165Lv 76 years ago
Yes, it's possible. I work with a woman whose American parents emigrated to Germany before she was born. She grew up in Europe, speaking 4 native languages - English, German, French and Spanish - and then she went on to learn several others, like Italian, Russian, Hebrew, and Mandarin Chinese.
- RedLv 46 years ago
It's very possible if you're determined enough. The head translator of the eu speaks 30 languages. And as a polyglot myself, I can tell you that each language gets easier. I guess your brain becomes better wired for learning languages if you do it enough.
- Anonymous6 years ago
You could probably learn enough for daily greetings, and buying meals and railway tickets and similar in several languages, but it would take you a long time to know how to speak lots of languages "fluently".
You are fortunate in that you already know English, which is somewhat understood, and somewhat spoken, by many people in most countries in Europe.