In case this statement sounds absurd, my mother grew up speaking five languages concurrently and learned her last, English, starting at 12. Even now in her 80s she retains and uses multiple languages. But she grew up in an environment, Malaya of the 1930s and 1940s where being such a polyglot was not only unremarkable but would not have been considered any sort of achievement worth mentioning. I have one uncle there whose FB posts always mix two or three languages (one he learned after marriage, in his late 20s), as do his friends when commenting.

What I find sad is that though over the years I have learned and used languages with reasonable fluency, nowadays I pick up a book or hear something on the radio and I struggle to understand it. I'm stuck to the same languages I use every day. Those languages have still influenced my view of the world and understanding of the languages I do use but it still feels like a loss.