So, who is eligible to embark on a full-scale attack on another language in the sense we defined in the introduction, that is, being fluent in reading newspapers and understanding TV documentaries and day-to- day conversation? It all depends on time. If you have little or no time – think of busy physicians – or prefer to dedicate your time to geology, neuroscience, or evolutionary biology, new languages are out of reach. Apart from these two cases, however, anyone who demonstrated the ability to learn the language of their parents are entitled to learn their next language
