Knowing Two Languages Makes it Easier to Acquire a Third

The Benefits of Knowing Multiple Languages: How Being Bilingual Can Help You Learn a Third Language. 

Lately, knowing two languages makes it easier to acquire a third. Learning a new language is a multi-stage, often multi-year process: listening to new sounds, reading new word structures, and speaking in different patterns or inflections. But the chances of adopting a third language - even unintentionally - may be better if you are exposed to different languages.

A new study has found that based on mental activity, people who live in communities where more than one language is spoken, use words from another language better than those who live in the same language environment. This study shows that the brain always works in the background. When you are listening to conversations in other languages, you pick up this information whether you know it or not.