[vasco]

So if you live in 4 countries over four decades in your adult life you will learn 4 new languages?

I don't think you must've lived more than one place abroad, or somewhere with good English. For example I speak 4 languages, understand another 2, but don't speak the language of the country I've lived in for the last 3.5 years, and I'm not even learning. At some point it's just absolutely not worth it and I'm just gonna occupy memory that will be more useful for work or life.

This is the most common take you hear from people that never lived abroad, only speak one language, or lived abroad in a single place where they learn their first ever new language. Then judge someone who'd be learning their 4th or 5th. It's absolutely not the same thing for a native english speaker to learn one single foreign language when they move once and compare it under the same light.

[hogepiyo]

>So if you live in 4 countries over four decades in your adult life you will learn 4 new languages?

Well, first I would argue that you're a massive outlier to the norm. I don't think living in multiple countries for decades at a time each that don't share a language is at all common.

>This is the most common take you hear from people that never lived abroad, only speak one language, or lived abroad in a single place where they learn their first ever new language. Then judge someone who'd be learning their 4th or 5th. It's absolutely not the same thing for a native english speaker to learn one single foreign language when they move once and compare it under the same light.

I don't really see the need for the presumption. If you move around that much and speak that many languages, all the more power to you. I was just saying generally if you live somewhere for a decade you should (probably) be reasonably competent in the language, especially if you're a journalist attempting to write insightful articles aimed at broadening a foreign understanding of the place.

[nohuck13]

> I'm just gonna occupy memory that will be more useful for work or life.

Well said, though presumably if your work was _BBC Tokyo correspondent_, that would be a weird argument.

[ajsnigrutin]

Why does the number of countries matter? You go to a foreign country for a week, and you learn a few phrases (please, thank you, where is the toilet, ...) before you enter, just in case someone there doesn't know english, because why should they, if they're not from england/usa/canada.

If you live there for 10 years, you should definitely be able to learn the language enough to do daily tasks in the native language there.

[AmericanChopper]

> So if you live in 4 countries over four decades in your adult life you will learn 4 new languages?

If those 4 countries have 4 different languages then yes…

I’ve spent most of my adult life in foreign countries, and I’ve never spent time in a country without starting to pick up the language. I speak 3 languages fluently, another 2 I can have a conversation in, and there’s a few more that I have a decent foundation of the basics with. I don’t even know how it’s possible to live in a country where everybody speaks another language without starting to pick it up rather quickly.

Unless… you’re intentionally refusing to or simply do not spend any time with the locals, which is something people should rightfully be judgemental about.

[zelos]

He’s a journalist though - his job is to talk to people and ask questions. Surely that’s got to be much easier if you can do it in their native language?

[amrocha]

If you're living in each place for a long time then yeah, you should learn the language. If you're just a temp worker then it's nbd, but then you also shouldn't be writing articles about the culture you clearly can't integrate in and don't understand.

[wenc]

> So if you live in 4 countries over four decades in your adult life you will learn 4 new languages?

Yes.

[tpm]

But you can't claim in-depth knowledge of the country if you can't access primary sources. Which might be important to some jobs.

[FranzFerdiNaN]

> So if you live in 4 countries over four decades in your adult life you will learn 4 new languages?

Yes, unless you go out of your way to avoid learning the language and sticking to English as much as possible.