[gurps] Character timeline - Someone check this?

[Volker Bach]

Am Montag, 31. Juli 2006 18:50 schrieb pentaj2 at Scranton.edu:
>
> Real-world, assuming someone with high intelligence and a talent for
> languages, but no specific training in, say, linguistics. How many
> languages could they plausibly speak fluently? What number seems too
> many?

No training in *linguistics* or no training in / deliberate exposure to 
*languages*? One has little to do with the other. Linguistics makes you a 
better stylist and teacher of languages, but not a better speaker. 

Without being trained, but with exposure to several languages, I'd say you can 
be everyday-fluent in 3-5 languages. That would not allow you to pass for a 
native speaker, but to function in normal socierty without any major 
inconvenience. With deliberate language training (even without academic 
courses or linguistics), you can go as high as ten by a relatively young age 
(say 35). There are people on record mastering 30 or 40, but they are 
professionals with nothing else to do. 

Native speaker competence will take either long-term exposure or hard, 
deliberate training. Achieving it on more than one or two foreign languages 
is a tremendous achievement. Most people never manage. 

Volker


	

	
		
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