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Notes -
This is profoundly not true. Young children easily learn multiple languages at once, and adults typically struggle to learn a second language to native-like proficiency.
Continuing the metaphor you've created here: I think it's very likely that a young person raised in a "multicultural" environment where they consume the full Western/Eastern canons simultaneously is likely to have a much better proficiency of both than someone who fully studies either canon before moving onto the other.
You're right, that was a poor way to phrase what I meant, which was "you can't learn a language properly as an adult if you never acquired one as a child."
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