Like everything in life, learning languages is a lifelong choice that requires continuous commitment. To maintain the languages you’ve learned, you must integrate this choice into your life. It is incredibly hard to maintain multiple languages if their usage is not part of your daily life.
It’s said that the “breaking point” for language learning typically occurs between the ages of 25-30. Basically, when the brain is already formed. However, based on the discussion I had with professors, there is no specific breaking point and the factors that make it difficult for adults to learn languages tend to be more social than biological, maybe the only aspect of language that might be harder for adults is accent acquisition. There has been many cases and not rare, where people were able to learn a language with no issue after their 30s. Which shows there is something more to language learning than simply a threshold where a learner cannot learn languages anymore.
In my case, language learning has been a part of my daily life since 2014, when I decided to learn French by myself using online resources. When I was younger I had this view of language learning that once a level is acheived, that it could never dwindle, probably because the languages I was learning were from the same family. However, with the more languages I learned, the more distant that they were from the European languages I knew such as English, Portuguese, Spanish, the harder they were to maintain. The formula to maintain multiple languages varies from age, from life condition and from person to person. Some have children, school, full-time jobs, businesses, families, leaving little time for language learning and maintaining. For many, this means that dedicating time to language learning becomes a challenge. In these conditions, how does one maintain multiple languages? And how much is one able to maintain?
There is also the skill you want to maintain. Sometimes people just want to maintain comprehension, or their reading or their speaking skills.
Less common languages tend to be more complex to maintain, not only because of linguistic differences but also due to the scarcity of quality content and resources. If you find yourself in a place where your minority language is spoken, then it will be easier. If you’re in a western country for example, fewer people speak or use these languages, which makes finding language partners or learners more difficult. It won’t be easy to come across someone learning or fluent in Kazakh or Norwegian.
When I moved back to Brazil from the USA, I knew I might lose my English if I didn’t actively maintain it. So, I made sure to keep listening and speaking the language. I know at least two people who completely lost their English skills after returning to Brazil.
People may see language learners as “cool” or “geniuses,” and while that can be a nice feeling, the real reward for me is the sense of self-accomplishment and understanding that comes with language fluency. The true value lies in being able to connect with others and appreciate global literature. Fluency should be used as a tool for self-improvement, rather than as something to show off.
Languages within the same family are easier to maintain compared to those from different families, but regardless, using them as much as possible exercises your brain and keeps your skills sharp.
There’s also the concept of “passive knowledge.” When people say they’ve “forgotten” a language or have become “rusty,” it doesn’t mean they’ve lost everything. Often, these dormant languages can be reactivated with practice. For instance, if you’ve become rusty in Russian like me, spending just a week in Russia would likely bring most, if not all, of your skills back. This happens when you are not exposed to the language anymore.
When someone claims they speak ten or more languages, I am always skeptical, and these questions come to mind: What do they mean by that number? How proficient are they? According to successful polyglots, humans generally don’t have the time or capacity to maintain more than seven languages fluently. Those who claim to speak more than ten languages often have some that are dormant and are likely rusty in those.
One of the biggest myths in language learning is the belief that you can switch from one language to another while maintaining the same level of fluency. Just because someone can hold an intermediate conversation in a language doesn’t mean they know every expression or grammatical exception. Many people who claim to know 10 or 20 languages likely rely on passive knowledge, focusing more on reading and listening comprehension.
When visiting a foreign country, your goal might be to learn the local language. For English speakers, this can be challenging in places like Germany or northern Europe, where many people speak English. The key is to reach a beginner-intermediate level, where you can understand enough to get by but not everything, so you can still learn. If you don’t fully understand what someone is saying, ask them to speak slower, as if you were a child—this will help you learn more. And if they insist on switching to English, be persistent and continue speaking their language until they eventually give in.