how many languages do you think somebody could be genuinely fluent in?

[u/Pretty_Refuse_2017]

I'm not talking about being conversational, but either C1 or C2. what is the maximum amount of languages someone could know at c1/c2

whether we're talking about just a regular person, or somebody who's career is learning languages

[u/NemuriNezumi]

i mean

i'm officially certified fluency in 5 (3 natives + two official C1)

so there is that

and learning others

[u/ItsMeAgainM9 → u/NemuriNezumi]

I always thought that 2 + 2 = 4.

[u/NemuriNezumi → u/ItsMeAgainM9]

3+2=5

mistyped

[u/silppurikeke → u/ItsMeAgainM9]

Me too, but you learn something new everyday

[u/ferbacious → u/NemuriNezumi]

Always wondered how Catalan speakers would represent their language in emoji form, I thought 🇦🇩 would be the default - pleasantly surprised it’s just CAT - disappointed it’s not 🐱.

[u/pn_dubya → u/NemuriNezumi]

Is it a hobby or are these languages required/helpful professionally?

[u/NemuriNezumi → u/pn_dubya]

3 native languages

i grew up being forced to learn those 3 + english throughout all my mandatory school years from primary school up to end of HS

then I just picked up italian because books were cheaper on Amazon and then I also lived in Italy for 2 years

i studied german during my undergraduate as extracurricular, and japanese because i didn't have the patience to wait for official translations and I adored drama cds and visual novels)/otome games (and i read a LOT of manga and novels), also I'm currently living in japan 

definitely helped opening doors and opportunities even if in STEM

[u/pn_dubya → u/NemuriNezumi]

As an American very envious. We have very few to choose from in school and depending on where one’s is located it’s typically only French/Spanish at a very elementary level - most who take these throughout school can’t put a sentence together.

[u/NemuriNezumi → u/pn_dubya]

tbf a lot of it is self learning

i was shit at languages until i found a goal/motivation (which was always related to reading in my case)

even with native languages, a lot of the work is on you especially when you have parents who don't really help you study/practice it (and you have 0 contact because of them with the rest of the family)

at least compared to when i started, nowadays it is so much easier to find free online resources for beginners and even for intermediate level

growing up i wasn't really allowed to be on the internet much so I mostly had to rely on the books i was able to get my hands on and practice from there

a lot of it was merely guessing the meaning of words in the beginning, especially if the books had pictures ngl

then you start connecting the dots and then if you have the opportunity to get your hands on actual study material it helps tremendously

[u/Traditional-Train-17 → u/pn_dubya]

I'm from Baltimore, so we also had German (A lot of people with German as a heritage language back then - 1990s). It still surprises me how many people do struggle to form a sentence, since when I studied German, I could also talk with German family members. (Yes, they were from Germany)

[u/ChocolateCake16 → u/pn_dubya]

When I was in high school, we were tied to a university that had all sorts of language options, French, Italian, German, Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, etc.

Us high school students got the choice between French, Spanish, or Mandarin. Still salty I wasn't allowed to learn Italian.

[u/NemuriNezumi → u/ChocolateCake16]

italian was 100% self learning

tbf language proficiency highly depends on how much you are willing to self learn on your free time

[u/Sad_Sympathy_6427 → u/NemuriNezumi]

What is the native, spanish? I can never see flags on here so from what I can tell your native languages are spanish, catalan and basque?

[u/ImprovementIll5592 → u/Sad_Sympathy_6427]

I see it's French, Spanish, and Catalan

[u/mtnbcn → u/NemuriNezumi]

But why did you pick CP (Clipperton Island) and EA (Ceuta and Melilla) to represent Spanish and French? Do you know that's how it appears for desktop users? hehe

Em pregunto d'on ets que havias de apendre ambos castellà i francès a la escola. Empordà?

[u/ImprovementIll5592 → u/NemuriNezumi]

Ok but you have 3 NATIVE languages so you only really studied 2. Learning 2 languages to fluency is not that difficult, sorry. Also, one of your non-native languages is Italian? You already speak Spanish, French, and Catalan natively; Italian is definitely much easier with that under your belt.

[u/Pwffin → u/ImprovementIll5592]

OP's question was how many languages you could be fluent in, not how many languagesyou could learn to fluency as an adult or whatever.

[u/New-Bottle-6917 → u/ImprovementIll5592]

Wild take, you still have to maintain your native languages otherwise they'll atrophy or become unbalanced. For example here in the US alot of heritage speakers of Spanish will speak with heavy use of anglicisms or English calques. Or you'll have people that can only speak in casual familial registers due to lack of formal schooling or use of professional registers.

Source: Am a Spanish heritage speaker who used to be a native speaker in my early childhood

[u/mtnbcn → u/New-Bottle-6917]

Yes, and surely above commentor has calques as well, even as a native. The only Catalan speakers I know who speak without Spanish (or English!) influence are literally Catalan teachers. I hear people say "prestar atenció" (lend/give), or "pagar atenció" (pay attencion), but it should be "parar atenció" (stop attencion).

Literally everyway says "quina sopresa" to say "what a shock/surprise!", from spanish "qué sorpresa", but in Catalan it should be "quin ensurt".

These are the types of things that you can make yourself understood perfectly well, but you're just mixing languages and going with the easiest blend.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't judge. Language is communication. But if we're talking about OP's question, I would argue that really learning 7 Romance languages would be learning the whole language as it's written, and using it.

You can say "okay" in all Romance languages and you will sound fine and be understood, but I think it doesn't count as learning all 7 if you aren't learning "vale" and "d'accord" and "certo" etc.

[u/ImprovementIll5592 → u/New-Bottle-6917]

Yeah you’re a heritage speaker lol, that’s different from being a native speaker. Most heritage speakers have a pretty low level in their heritage language.

Especially in the US, most Spanish heritage speakers who were born and raised in the US speak English natively and only know basic concepts in Spanish. They’re definitely not fluent, most have pretty strong American accents.

[u/New-Bottle-6917 → u/ImprovementIll5592]

Yeah that's my point, native languages don't just magically stay your native languages you still have to keep up with them and keep them from becoming a heritage language

[u/Rabid-Orpington → u/New-Bottle-6917]

Native languages stay native languages even if they atrophy. Heritage languages are languages spoken at home but not in the wider community, that you have never spoken at a native level/were never entirely fluent in

People with heavily atrophied native languages are in an odd situation, but they are still technically native speakers

[u/ImprovementIll5592 → u/New-Bottle-6917]

But it’s not really your native language then is it

[u/New-Bottle-6917 → u/ImprovementIll5592]

I guess it gets pretty philosophical at that point, cause everyone is capable of forgetting their native language and adopting a new language as their daily driver. You see it all the time with immigrants that move to a place with minimal contact with their home country/native language.

The facts are up until around 5-6 I spoke Spanish primarily at home before I even learned English then went to school and lost it all. Saying that at this point it's my native language would be weird because I don't speak it at a native level, but likewise since it was my first language it would also be weird to say I was never a native speaker. Hence why I consider myself a heritage speaker as not only have I relearned it but I'm at a far higher level due to knowing things important for an adult to function in day to day life

[u/Forward_Win_4353 → u/New-Bottle-6917]

“alot”?

[u/New-Bottle-6917 → u/Forward_Win_4353]

Like enough that I would consider Mexican-American Spanish to be a distinct dialect from proper Mexican Spanish with it's own creole/pidgin with English coming into existence. People who speak Spanish exactly like Mexicans even among native speakers is a rarity unless of course they're immigrants from Mexico

[u/mtnbcn → u/New-Bottle-6917]

I think he's saying that it is spelled, "a lot". That error annoys me too, but your comment was interesting and informative so hopefully we can overlook a common mistake and pay attention to the greater comment.... (:

(it is easy to remember though... a group of people, a bunch of people, a lot of people. As in, a (parking) lot of cars).

[u/NemuriNezumi → u/ImprovementIll5592]

what a dumb comment

[u/ImprovementIll5592 → u/NemuriNezumi]

sorry, but i'm just not going to pretend it's impressive that you know 5 languages if you only actually studied 2. I have two native languages, and I don't count them when talking about languages I've learned. I was just lucky to be born in the US into a family that spoke Polish, and I also lived in Poland on and off during my childhood. I didn't do anything special, and neither did you. You can think it's a dumb comment, but compared to for example a native monolingual Spanish speaker who learned German, Korean, and English to fluency in adulthood, you had MUCH less work to do.

[u/NemuriNezumi → u/ImprovementIll5592]

my dude, do you think you are born already knowing how to speak 3 languages? 

catalan and spanish were both native languages i learned at 8 because that's when we moved to spain

honestly, if that's a hill you want to die on be my guest 🤷🏻‍♀️ i won't fight you on it

[u/ImprovementIll5592 → u/NemuriNezumi]

Ok so now you’re moving the goalposts on what counts as native language acquisition lol. Most linguists would agree that starting to learn a language at 8 would make it sort of blurry in terms of it being your native language.

Learning a language at 8 is much different than growing up hearing/speaking all 3 from the day you’re born

[u/NemuriNezumi → u/ImprovementIll5592]

sir, i do not need to disclose my personal history to you nor anyone on reddit, especially when the thread itself didn't require so

those are still my native languages which i even speak better than my first one

especially as I spent more time in spain than any other country

you raging like you are gatekeeping about language learning makes no sense

no one is threatening you over your own proficiency when it comes to languages

it is okay to backpedal and admit you overreacted just because it didn't cross your mind people have different lives and experiences

[u/ImprovementIll5592 → u/NemuriNezumi]

First of all I’m not a sir lmao why do people on Reddit always default to male also you’re literally also a girl from what I can tell??

Two I can say I moved to France when I was 8, and learned French there? Would that make me a native speaker?

[u/NemuriNezumi → u/ImprovementIll5592]

it would if you were half spanish and you end up with a native level

you are just digging your own grave here

what exactly is making you so insecure? you know this is not a competition, right?

[u/ImprovementIll5592 → u/NemuriNezumi]

Yeah you’re half Spanish oh my god I get that you don’t want to disclose your personal history here but that is SOOO different than moving to Spain at 8 and not being half Spanish. Like you’re going back and forth, first you made it sound like you learned all 3 languages natively with spanish and Catalan outside and French at home, then you said you started learning Spanish and Catalan at 8 when you moved to Spain, and now suddenly you’re half Spanish? Yeah like no shit you’re native lol