Hey guys, I thought this was just a meme, but are people actually fluent in at least 3 European languages/other languages with a significant literary canon? I mean I took 2 years of French in high school(from Canada), but I barely retained anything, probably because I'm a retard, but that's besides the point. I can't even imagine becoming fluent enough to be able to appreciate good prose/poetry in their native tongue. Can someone please explain to me how you're supposed to know not one, but maybe 2 or 3 other langages?
I'm in uni atm btw
>Pick language
>Study/Practice
>Know language
Wow.
I know 4.
You need to practice every day. Go through a structured textbook, read, listen, speak. There's no magic tricks.
>>8189408
And you do need to continue practicing all the languages forever (even your native language needs practice).
>>8189382
It's easier for Europeans because if they travel 100km in any direction they are in a different country with a different language. It's easiest to learn if you are immersed in it, with everyone around talking that language and all words written in it.
>>8189382
I can read fluently English, French, Spanish and Italian (except old poetry with unusal or dead words). I learnt other languages but forgot almost everything due to lack of practice.
You're supposed to know languages by practicing them regularly.
Practice every day until you're good enough, then keep on practicing every day since you will forget it otherwise.
>>8190358
Just because we live 100 km away from Germany or Italy doesn't mean we're "immersed" in their language. There is a border. We're on the other side. We don't speak with them.
>>8190506
I travel to cities 100+ km away several times a month.
I'm saying you are able to be where everyone speaks a different language than you in an hour. For the time you are there you are immersed.
In Canada (Alberta for me) I am 3500 km from the nearest place that speaks a different language.
>>8190539
Being immersed for a couple of hours (or days) doesn't count. It's expensive and produces no result.
What counts is repeated, constant exposition to a foreign language. If you want to be immersed in German, you'd be better off shitposting on a German imageboard, rather than going to Munich physically.
Man up faggots. Remember asa monolingual English speaker you can learn Spanish, German and French combined faster than Japanese or Mandarin and plenty of people learned Japanese or Mandarin as adults
http://www.effectivelanguagelearning.com/language-guide/language-difficulty
