# How many languages can a baby learn? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967 "2010-10-31T13:16:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/1 "2010-10-31T13:16:51Z")
We all know a baby can grow up bilingual very easily if the family and friends they are surrounded by use both languages a lot. I’m assuming trilingual is not very difficult for a baby either, considering their brains are little “language learning” machines. My question is: **How many languages can a baby learn if they are surrounded by them? Has there every been a person surrounded by 6+ languages and grow up fluent in them all?** I think Roger Federer speaks 5 languages, by the way. That’s the most I’ve seen, though I am not the most multi-cultural person. I think he was surrounded by most of the languages he learned. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/2 "2010-10-31T14:35:19Z")
I am sure this is atypical but: > [@](#): > > Fazah, who has been living in Brazil for 21 years, is fluent in 56 languages, winning him a mention in the Brazilian edition of the “Guinness World Book of Records” as the world’s greatest living polyglot. > > \ > > Fazah was born in Liberia but while still an infant moved with his Lebanese parents to Beirut. “By the time I was 17, I spoke 54 languages,” Fazah said during an interview at his small, dark apartment in the middle-class neighborhood of Flamengo. Aside from his mother tongue of Arabic, and French and English which he learned at school, Fazah taught himself all the languages. He began with German and moved on to such Far Eastern tongues as Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese and Japanese. > > SOURCE: [http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum\_posts.asp?TID=9430&PN=2](http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9430&PN=2) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/3 "2010-10-31T14:41:06Z")
Then there’s this guy: > [@](#): > > His story begins on 19 September 1774 in Bologna, Italy, where a child named Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti is born to a poor carpenter. As a grade-school student in Bologna, young Mezzofanti learned Latin, Ancient Greek, Spanish, German, and Central & South American indigenous languages from former Jesuit missionaries. With much enthusiasm for learning, and an outstanding memory, Mezzofanti excelled in school, and finished his studies for the priesthood early. Not old enough to be ordained a priest, Mezzofanti spent the extra time studying Middle Eastern and Oriental languages. > > SOURCE: [http://www.mezzofanti.org/mezzofanti.html](http://www.mezzofanti.org/mezzofanti.html) ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/4 "2010-10-31T14:59:46Z")
I personally find it astounding that humans are capable of learning multiple languages as their “first” language. If one grows up surrounded by multiple languages, it has to be a horrendously complex task to be able to separate them and not blend them all together. I can only assume that our evolution has guided us to not only be capable of learning complex languages, but that we are wired to readily learn more than one; our brain, during its language acquisition phases, must be able to differentiate between languages that it hasn’t even learned yet. We somehow have an instinct to know the various details that make languages/dialects distinct from each other, despite being born with absolutely no knowledge of any of the rules, so that we correctly coalesce various aspects of the languages. And to even begin to be able to do that, it seems we have to have the ability to recognize when two languages are different without understanding the content of them. Learning one language is an impressive task but it makes sense that we were able to evolve the capacity to learn; I suppose that once that happened, it was done in such a way that we were able to instinctively know all sorts of linguistic rules that made it simple to differentiate them. This fact seems to suggest that all modern humans are descendants of a relatively small group of people who first evolved language, giving them such a huge advantage that were easily able to out-compete every other similar group. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/5 "2010-10-31T15:04:18Z")
Interesting, **Whack-a-Mole** , but I think not entirely what the OP was looking for. The question seemed to be about children raised with multiple native tongues, not children (or adults) who study and learn another language. I don’t have a GQ answer with a cite, but I do know one 3 year old who speaks four languages as a native speaker: Arabic (a Moroccan dialect), German, English and Spanish. She’s got a Moroccan father and German mother who speak their native tongues with her and English with each other and a Mexican babysitter who speaks Spanish (a Mexican dialect, obviously) with her. She has no receptive or expressive language delays. ETA: oh, her older sister speaks English with her, mostly. Older sister was raised with a different dad and doesn’t speak Arabic, and is rebelling against her mother and so refuses to speak German, so English is the lingua franca in the home. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/6 "2010-10-31T16:09:21Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I think Roger Federer speaks 5 languages, by the way. That’s the most I’ve seen, though I am not the most multi-cultural person. I think he was surrounded by most of the languages he learned. My major professor in grad school was from Czechoslovakia, and as a refugee after WWII he lived in various places around Europe. He was trilingual in Czech, French, and English and was pretty fluent in Spanish and German as well. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/7 "2010-10-31T16:12:51Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Interesting, **Whack-a-Mole** , but I think not entirely what the OP was looking for. The question seemed to be about children raised with multiple native tongues, not children (or adults) who study and learn another language. Well, the first guy I cited knew 54 languages by age 17. That’s roughly three languages learned per year from the day he was born. There is not enough detail there to say when he learned what but I would presume he was packing languages under his belt from an early age. Point being it is apparently _possible_ to acquire many languages as a kid. I’d say the only reason we do not see more examples to cite is that it is rare for a young kid to be immersed deeply in numerous languages to have the chance. There’ll be a language mostly spoken at home and maybe one or two at school. Hard to see how they get surrounded by many more languages than that as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/8 "2010-10-31T16:17:56Z")
I don’t know of any cases with four native languages, like **WhyNot** ’s, but I do know a trilingual family. The parents are both immigrants (him from Mexico, her from Germany) and both speak English fluently. And their kids speak all three effortlessly. **glowacks** , all of us do that to some extent. English is the only language I know with anything resembling fluency, but I still use different language with different people (or even with the same people in different contexts, sometimes): It’s all English, but my choice of words, phrasings, dialect, etc. can all change. I would imagine that it’s the same basic phenomenon, though to a greater degree, with people fluent in multiple languages (whether through upbringing or training). ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/9 "2010-10-31T16:34:09Z")
Strange, I actually came here today to start a thread called “What’s the most number of languages you’ve ever known someone to speak?”. I always thought it would be a cool superpower, to be able to speak all languages. I’m not sure what use it would have, other than being able to give directions on the subway, but it would still be awesome. 🙂 Anyway, I guess **Whack-a-Mole** wins at 54! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/10 "2010-10-31T16:46:02Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Interesting, **Whack-a-Mole** , but I think not entirely what the OP was looking for. The question seemed to be about children raised with multiple native tongues, not children (or adults) who study and learn another language. Exactly. I believe I read about a guy in the 1950’s who spoke 50+ languages. Scientists wondered if the “language learning” machine part of his brain was different, in that he never stopped quickly picking up languages. Most of us settle and it becomes harder to learn, but this guy could keep going. He went to the UN and spoke to the delegates in their native languages, astounding them all. I remember seeing the Chinese diplomat in charge of getting the Olympics to come to China. He spoke Chinese, English, French, German, and at least one more language. It was impressive as well. \*\* I am really wondering if a normal baby can learn 5+ languages by the time they are 5-7 years old? 8? 9?\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/11 "2010-10-31T17:11:58Z")
Every Indian I’ve ever known is fluent or semi-fluent in at least three languages, usually Hindi, English, and a couple of local languages, such as Telugu or Bengali or what have you. I can’t guarantee they learnt them all from the cradle, but probably pretty close. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/12 "2010-10-31T21:07:25Z")
One thing to keep in mind is that many languages are very similar, and there are some features that show up repeatedly in even unrelated languages. Once you learn Spanish, for instance, it’s probably not too hard to add Portuguese, and if you understand how noun cases work in German, then you’re prepared to encounter cases in Latin. ---
**Author:** ![YourAdHere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/65b543/32.png) [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/13 "2010-10-31T21:24:56Z")
> **[The Times & The Sunday Times](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/)** > > News and opinion from The Times & The Sunday Times ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/14 "2010-10-31T22:47:25Z")
Well I know one whose parents spoke different languages (German and Spanish) to him and he quickly learned French and English from playing with kids on the street (this is Montreal). And he has reportedly remained perfectly quadrilingual as an adult. I can testify only for his English in which he has native fluency and pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/15 "2010-10-31T22:58:10Z")
No useful cite, but some time ago I knew a guy who was a _serious_ linguist. He had 4 “cradle” languages - English, French, German & Spanish and had later picked up Japanese, Italian, Turkish, along with some Russian, Polish & Arabic. This was ~20 years ago, so he no doubt now has more. He believed that there had never been shown to be a limit on how many cradle languages a child can master, and claimed to know of cases where the number was at least 8. He said that young children at times do of course get confused, but show an impressive ability to sort things out, including determining who speaks what. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/16 "2010-10-31T23:03:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > One thing to keep in mind is that many languages are very similar, and there are some features that show up repeatedly in even unrelated languages. Once you learn Spanish, for instance, it’s probably not too hard to add Portuguese, and if you understand how noun cases work in German, then you’re prepared to encounter cases in Latin. That’s all true, but not really relevant when we are talking about babies learning multiple languages at the same time. Babies can learn several languages at once, and it doesn’t matter how similar or different they are – they pick them all up equally easily. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/17 "2010-10-31T23:11:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **glowacks** , all of us do that to some extent. English is the only language I know with anything resembling fluency, but I still use different language with different people (or even with the same people in different contexts, sometimes): It’s all English, but my choice of words, phrasings, dialect, etc. can all change. I would imagine that it’s the same basic phenomenon, though to a greater degree, with people fluent in multiple languages (whether through upbringing or training). Exactly this. Linguist John McWhorter goes into detail about this in his book _Word on the Street_ – how Black English is a dialect, with many of its own internally consistent rules and vocabulary, and how most African American children learn to code-switch between Black English and Standard English, depending on the social situation, etc. And, in this and other books, McWhorter remids us that there is no hard-and-fast line between the concept of “language” and the concept of “dialect” – really, it’s _all_ dialects – so African American children tend to be “bilingual” (or at least “bidialectal”) in a way that most white American children aren’t (or, better, “aren’t to such an extent”, since everyone learns different “sociolects” of one kind or another – but Black English is more different from Standard English than your average sociolect, though of course it is still English – it is much closer to Standard English than any other “language”.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/18 "2010-10-31T23:33:37Z")
In the earlier posts, I would question how many of the “languages” those people speak are truly mutually unintelligible. I’d be more impressed with someone who spoke English, Japanese, Swahili, Navaho and Basque than I would be with someone who spoke Spanish, French, Italian. Portuguese, Romanian, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/19 "2010-10-31T23:40:40Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > In the earlier posts, I would question how many of the “languages” those people speak are truly mutually unintelligible. > > I’d be more impressed with someone who spoke English, Japanese, Swahili, Navaho and Basque than I would be with someone who spoke Spanish, French, Italian. Portuguese, Romanian, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. True, but the question was about how many languages a _baby_ can learn. I think it would, as you say, still be more impressive for a baby to learn three languages from three different language families than three from the same branch of the same family, BUT the difference in impressiveness wouldn’t be as great as it would be for an adult, because an adult could draw on conscious understanding of cognate words and structures to further accelerate the learning of multiple languages in the same branch of the same family. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967/20 "2010-11-01T00:00:42Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > True, but the question was about how many languages a _baby_ can learn. Yes, but I was commenting on the early posts in this thread which ignored that constraint. > [@](#): > > I think it would, as you say, still be more impressive for a baby to learn three languages from three different language families than three from the same branch of the same family, BUT the difference in impressiveness wouldn’t be as great as it would be for an adult, because an adult could draw on conscious understanding of cognate words and structures to further accelerate the learning of multiple languages in the same branch of the same family. Agreed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-can-a-baby-learn/558967.md?page=2)