do bilingual people think in one language?

Question

how many languages is the maximum any one can speak fluently my uncle can speak 4. i can speak one (standard English schooling system)

Also... (afterthought) do you think it should be a parents obligation to teach their children a second language if they have one?- my mum is welsh, but never taught me it, and i have always recented that!

Answer 1

I've always heard that two foreign languages are about the most anyone can learn if they want to speak them with native fluency.

Beyond that, it is still possible to learn a few hundred or a few thousand words in other foreign languages but not the whole language.

Human memory simply cannot retain the vocabulary you would need to know in order to speak 7 or 8 languages fluently. If you figure that you need to know at least 40,000 words to speak a language fluently, then you would have to know as many as 280,000 to 320,00 words to speak 7 or 8 languages fluently. Way too much for anyone to handel!

Regarding thinking in languages, linguists have done studies which show that bilingual people have two "mental maps" compared to monolingual people who have only one. They shift back and forth between these mental maps inside them as much as they need to.

Answer 2

I am bilingual and while I have often been temted to mix things up and have done so when my pals were also bilingual, I am able to speak in one language.

If a human being devoted himself to it, he could speak over 20 languages with nearly expert precision by the age of 30, but only if he or she is good at learning and given good teaching and ample practice in each. Take the popes for example, I think.

I do not think that all people should need to know more than one language, though I would support an effort to offer all students the chance. But the Gaelic-Celtic languages are surely not the most useful nowadays - what about Hindi, Turkish or Arabic?

Answer 3

It seems to me to be a waste, if children are growing up in a country with a foreign language not to teach them the language/s of the parents. Obviously the local language is important for schooling, but it does no harm to introduce them to other languages. We have too many obligations - it shouldn't be obligatory. God only knows the maximum number of languages any one can speak. I speak 5, my daughter speaks 4 and my son speaks 6 - my Kurdish isn't as good as his, and he speaks a different dialect.

Answer 4

My husband is French and I am Irish , we have a son who now speaks fluently French and English and I have now started teaching him Italian which he is picking up very easily, he is only 5!!
Children who are lucky enough to have parents of different nationalities should be taught each language from birth.
The younger they are the easier it is for them to learn another language and I think it is a real shame if parents do not do this as it can only be beneficial for them later on.
I can speak five languages and intend to teach all of them to my son.

Answer 5

I dream in French when I speak it a lot at work (my mother tongue is English).

I've heard that each language becomes easier to learn after the first three.

If one of your parents speaks another language it would be sad not to pass it on - especially as the younger you lare the easier it is to learn a language.

Being able to speak more than one language is a wonderful asset.

Answer 6

No. A number of people can speak many languages fluently. If you want to learn Welsh just ask her, you have your rights to learn new stuff.

Answer 7

I speak 2 but normally I think in my mother tongue English, as for the second question there is no real limit, there was a Russian woman who spoke 30 or 40 I think ( check Guinness Book ) and Perter Ustinov spoke a lot and with out accents.

Answer 8

I'm Welsh and speak it every day.If you live in the Anglicized part of Wales you won't be given the opportunity to learn Welsh as you would if you were living in the Welsh heartland.If you were to come to the Llyn peninsula we could get you speaking in no time.Welcome,croeso.
By the way ....I think in Welsh (and often talk to myself in Welsh also)It is something automatic that you don 't have to think about.

Answer 9

Sometimes I think in Norwegian (Engish is my 1st language) after being in Norway I sometimes couldn't remember the word in English and once I dreamed in Sign Language.

Yes I think parents should teach their children a language if they know it. I learned Norwegian in Norway from Norwegians and I learned Sign Language from Deaf people, I've known.

Answer 10

i speak english 1st language, but while doing A-Level welsh, i did start to dream in welsh and when on a work experience exchange in france, i did start to think in french. its weird. Its great to be able to speak other languages.