Can you ever become really proficient in a language learned in adulthood?

[Angela]

I've been thinking about this recently because I became aware that an Indian-American author I greatly admire, Jhumpa Lahiri, has taken the extraordinary step of trying to adopt Italian as her primary language for both reading and writing. Indeed, her latest book was written in Italian and then had to be translated back into English.

It's all very flattering that she so loves the Italian language and culture, but the whole thing strikes me as bizarre. I can understand wanting to learn the language, especially as she had a concentration in the Renaissance in university, I can understand her loving Italy and Italian culture, but to uproot your family by moving them there, calling it your home, reading only in Italian, and putting your career at risk by suddenly writing in Italian? There are all sorts of psychological issues at play, as the article she wrote suggests.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/06/13/trading-stories

She talks about it in English here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfLVFwAl6PU

For anyone who understands Italian, or wants to hear her Italian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF90zsj7ODE

Anyway, the question for me is, can she ever really be proficient in Italian, can anyone ever really be totally proficient in a language learned totally in adulthood? Is this a fool's errand?

 

[LeBrok]

I've been thinking about this recently because I became aware that an Indian-American author I greatly admire, Jhumpa Lahiri, has taken the extraordinary step of trying to adopt Italian as her primary language for both reading and writing. Indeed, her latest book was written in Italian and then had to be translated back into English.

It's all very flattering that she so loves the Italian language and culture, but the whole thing strikes me as bizarre. I can understand wanting to learn the language, especially as she had a concentration in the Renaissance in university, I can understand her loving Italy and Italian culture, but to uproot your family by moving them there, calling it your home, reading only in Italian, and putting your career at risk by suddenly writing in Italian? There are all sorts of psychological issues at play, as the article she wrote suggests.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/06/13/trading-stories

She talks about it in English here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfLVFwAl6PU

For anyone who understands Italian, or wants to hear her Italian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF90zsj7ODE

Anyway, the question for me is, can she ever really be proficient in Italian, can anyone ever really be totally proficient in a language learned totally in adulthood? Is this a fool's errand?

People with very good memory and good ear for melody (important in articulation of new sounds, accents, and rhythm and intonation of a sentences) with long years of immersion in local culture, can pull it off. Not a task for an ordinary man, but there are few that could pull it off.

 

[arvistro]

I only learned English when I was ~ 16 years old.
Not that I am "totally proficient" by any means.

Now I am studying Spanish.

 

[Źıun]

Yes, of course. I don't see why not.

 

[Salento]

Yes.
Learn basic and grammatical structure.
Daily Exposure to spoken language until the ears isolate the words.
Force Thinking in the Language and writing will speed up the ability to learn.

 

[Maciamo]

I started learning English when I was about 15 years old, Italian when I was 18 and Japanese when I was 22. I am fluent in all three, although I would say proficient (i.e. native level) only in English as that's the one I use the most. My second language was Dutch, which I learned at school from 10 years old, but that's the one I speak the least well. I actually found it easier to learn languages from 17-18 years old than before. I think that the brain (in my case at least) is not mature enough before that age to properly learn a foreign language. My memory also seems to get better with age. Last year I memorised over a thousand words in Danish in just two weeks just for fun. I could never have done the same with Dutch as a teenager.

 

[Bergin]

Anyway, the question for me is, can she ever really be proficient in Italian, can anyone ever really be totally proficient in a language learned totally in adulthood? Is this a fool's errand?

When something extremely positive or negative happens, (i.e. almost falling from the stairs), we typically have a instinctive reaction and expression.
Till recently I was convinced that the uncontrolled expression would be only in mother language, independently of your daily language or proficiency.

A Brazilian postdoc proved me wrong with a 'putain' exclamation at the sight of a nearby jelly fish.
So I investigated a bit deeper and he apparently thinks in french which had become his dominant language.

Turning back to your question, maybe proficiency is possible because it is just training and control, but blessings and cursing are beyond that.
I don't think that there are many people able to bless their newborn or cry their loved ones death in multiple languages.