Be multilingual/question

Be multilingual/question
Message from oshieteplease posted on 23-11-2013 at 03:40:50 (D | E | F)
Hi, everyone there!

I have one question now,
I read the following essay.
"The more languages you know, the easier it gets.You never lose the languages you acquire.Maintaining fluency is easiest when there is a need to be multilingual."
Who or what is the subject of "to be multilingual?"
I think that those learners need to be multilingual.
Because even if someone lives in a multilingual place, they don't need to speak all the languages spoken there.
Am I right?

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Edited by lucile83 on 23-11-2013 07:42

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Re: Be multilingual/question from gerondif, posted on 23-11-2013 at 14:59:24 (D | E)
Hello,
grammatically speaking,
I have the will to succeed: to succeed is the "object" of the noun the will.
There is a need to be multilingual works the same way.

The question you ask is about the meaning of the sentence and it is up to you to interpret it. For example, whenever I go to Brugge in Belgium, or to Hurghada in Egypt, I see that the shop-owners and shop-assistants will gladly use a wide range of languages since they want to sell and have to sell.
Of course, as a tourist, I can't be expected to absorb like a sponge all the languages I might hear around me because I don't know them and I don't need them all.
Of course, you will be all the more fluent as you have to use a foreign language if you often travel to a foreign country whose language you have learnt, and you will more easily learn and remember the idiomatic language that is really spoken out there and is more up to date than what you had learnt in your studies , methods or dictionaries.

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Re: Be multilingual/question from oshieteplease, posted on 24-11-2013 at 03:40:26 (D | E)
Dear gerondif,
Thank you for your message.
Please answer my question briefly if you would.
Even if I visit some place where several languages are spoken,I can keep on using my mother tongue only.
If have to use other languages, then I use one if possible.
Thank you!

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Edited by lucile83 on 24-11-2013 08:10

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Re: Be multilingual/question from gerondif, posted on 24-11-2013 at 13:09:23 (D | E)
Hello,
"Maintaining fluency is easiest when there is a need to be multilingual." means that it is easier to remain fluent when you have to practise your foreign language. A banker who phones English or American correspondents everyday will speak more fluently than somebody who only occasionally practises his English.
You say:
"Even if I visit some place where several languages are spoken,I can keep on using my mother tongue only". Yes, but who will answer you in Japanese in London ?
"If have to use other languages, then I use one if possible." Yes, obviously! When I visited Denmark, I spoke only English as I don't speak a word of Danish.

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Re: Be multilingual/question from violet91, posted on 24-11-2013 at 14:30:07 (D | E)
Hello oshieteplease and gerondif ,

I am a bit surprised by several points in the discussion .

First of all , the use of double comparative mixed with superlative :

- the more I see you , the more I love you !
- the more you work , the better you do !
-the more languages ...., the easier exchanging with foreign countries will be !

- Is being a multilingual speaker( quite exceptional) , the most important quality to have or being a fluent bilingual speaker ?
The more you'll be speaking English , the more fluent at it you'll get : it is obvious.
I can guess what it is like in Tokyo , you must perfectly get along with your native language and English.
London is a mostly cosmopolitan European capital ...yet , if about all countries are represented , there is a time when foreigners can't do without the English language . If you go abroad for work( Berlin , Moscow, Bering, Qatar, , you'll see you'll need fluent English ( or a personal interpreter which is not a common case and implies some difficulty)

As being a Japanese citizen , you perfectly know the importance of English , everywhere in the world. We may not like the idea of English being the international language , but as a matter of fact , it is the case .
You'll see wherever you go and whatever you do as a job , English is the today's means of communication . Even if it is in bits and pieces , as a tourist for instance .
Is the question of multilinguism your real question ? Do you include the points of speaking German, Spanish , Italian , Arabic ,Russian , Chinese ...and else as essential as being fluent at English ?
Will you excuse my developing the subject ...maybe it was much easier than that and you didn't expect such an ' explanation ´ ?

I am sorry, but I don't clearly understand what you mean ..Have a lovely Sunday . See you . Violet .

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Re: Be multilingual/question from oshieteplease, posted on 25-11-2013 at 16:18:19 (D | E)
Thank you very much for your kind messages!
Wherever I visit, if I don't need speak their languages, I won't speak it.
Only necessity makes me start to learn it, I believe.

thanks a lot!

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