It is true about having to keep using them or they wither, you are left being able to grasp the idea of a conversation but not speak. Mind you have I have hardly used French which I was fluent in for 20 years and it still was like a bump in a rug to trip over for me speaking Spanish It is painfully obvious talking to many Americans that the mind expanding effect of a 3rd (and more) language is absent. Many even often older people don't have a functional first language to think in, not using punctuation at all in written messages. At least they are easy to spot and ignore.