Do you think you have a limit to how many languages you can learn?

[mareebaybay]

There are some people in this world, who have learned multiple languages. Do you think you could be one of those people, or do you believe you don't have the brain capacity for it?

[Trellum]

I think brain capacity has nothing to do with how many languages you can learn, most of us have the same brain capacity, but some do use their brains a lot more (naturally or trained to achieve that).  But truth is, learning a language requires more than just brain capacity and a good memory; it requires a lot effort, time and patience!  If you have those 3 things, then you sure can learn as many languages as you want! 

There are many factors that can contribute to someone not learning more than just one language, like for example lazyness, stress, lack of time and motivation. For me stress and lack of time are a huge factor when it comes to learning a new language, that's my main issue right now... I'm trying to learn dutch because I plan to move there soon, but lack of time and stress really affect my learning capacity.

[MyNameIsNotDenzel]

I agree with Trellum, it has nothing to do with brain capacity and everything to do with the time and energy invested into learning multiple languages. As much as I would like to learn a third language other than spanish the time isn't there to do so. Besides, I'm still trying to grasp spanish after a couple of years practicing.

[Limezero]

I think it's not much of an issue of brain capacity as much is it a limit of time. You could probably memorize the language and grammar of 10-15 languages if you speak them on a regular basis and put your mind to it, but the time it takes to actually do so is beyond what most people find reasonable. There's not much use for knowing so many languages either, unless you travel across the globe on a regular basis and insist on using the native languages wherever you go.

If you take English into account, most people speak about 2 or 3 languages without a hitch, and it doesn't affect their memory capacity whatsoever. The problem is the time and dedication it takes to learn more than that, and use them on a frequent enough basis that you don't forget what you've already learned.

[HayleyPrimm]

I have studied Spanish for two full years. And I still don't think I could hold a conversation with someone in Spanish. I really wish my parents would of enrolled me into a language class when I was younger. Kids can pick up languages so easily, they are like sponges. But enrolling in a class my freshmen year of highschool, learning Spanish was very diffcult.

[MyDigitalpoint]

Besides brain capacity, I believe that learning languages involves people's willingness plus available time to do it.

A children who starts learning different languages since early age will be more likely inclined to learn more as he grows up.

For mature people, there are living concerns that may constrain the time to study another language, and independently of their intellectual ability are every-day issues what may limit them.

[jbepp]

I think people don't learn more languages is because they have no time for it, or because they simply don't want (or need) to learn.

I think most people should have the brain capacity to learn a few languages.

[pandandesign]

I know two languages, which are Chinese and English. I think that's enough because I speak Chinese when I talk with my wife, parents, mother-in-law, and father-in-law. I would talk to those in English because that's the only language those people speak. I don't think I will learn a third language unless I'm sure it's going to be useful for me in the future. I think knowing two languages is enough unless you are the kind of person who wants to travel to different countries.

[Baburra]

I think the human mind is virtually limitless, so I think we can learn practically as many languages as we want. People have done amazing things, and even though I think learning 10, 20 or 30 languages is very amazing, I would still go as far as to say that there are probably even more amazing things it is capable of, so we really should try not to limit ourselves.

[JetLiposting]

I must agree with the posts above, the capacity of the human mind is enormous and a person can learn as many languages as he or she wants. The problem is time, of course, to master a foreign language takes a lot of time. Also, for me, a problem is the fact that I simply cannot learn a language that I'm not interested in, for instance, in school I learned English and French quite fast, but I just couldn't learn German.

[lovemwaf]

i think that if you have the will and desire to learn numerous languages, i believe that you will do it and it will eventually become effortless as your tongue gets a hang of things

[Firelily99]

I agree that the capacity of the human mind is limitless as far as learning, its time available to learn something that can be limited.  If I am going to learn another language I want to learn it well and not short change myself.  Learning a new language can be time consuming and I have other subjects that I am trying to master right now.