“It’s too late to learn a new language at my age”, “I’ve been speaking one language all my life, I can’t just learn another one”, “She’s too young to learn a foreign language, it’s better to wait a couple of years”. Have you heard such statements? Despite the popularity and importance of foreign languages, many people still think that there are age restrictions that limit your ability to learn a language. In this article, we will dispel popular myths about learning a language and age.
What is language ability?
The term “language ability” is used and interpreted in different ways, but initially, it was introduced by the linguist Noam Chomsky in the 1960s. By this ability, Chomsky understands the psychophysiological mechanism that allows a person (in particular, a child) to master the language without studying its norms and rules, but only through the acquisition of a speech stimulus, that is, a speech addressed to the child.
One of the most interesting arguments of a person’s innate language ability is the possibility of language acquisition even with the poverty of the stimulus. That is, the child hears a limited number of statements, but, despite this, in the end, unmistakably determines the grammatical rules of the native language and learns to produce an infinite number of statements, even those that he has never heard before.
With age, a person loses the opportunity to learn a language as quickly and intuitively, but already acquired language mechanisms help them in mastering new languages. Adults need more explanations, explicit rules, and exercises, but still, they do not have any restrictions on the number of foreign languages they can learn, they just need to make more effort to do it.
When is it better to teach a child a new language?
While research on bi- and multilingualism was at an early stage, it was popularly believed that early learning of a second language can harm a child and affect the speed of her development. But modern scientists do not get tired of proving that bilingualism has many advantages, and the sooner a child begins to learn a language, the faster and easier she will learn it. The principle of “one parent – one language” is popular among multilingual families, that is, each of the parents from the birth of the child speaks only in their native language. This principle shows its effectiveness if you follow it consistently. In families where both parents speak the same language but want the child to learn a second language from birth, foreign language nannies and kindergartens are popular. Children quickly learn even in a new situation, and the younger they are, the easier it will be for them to “switch” to a new language. Do not be alarmed if the child at first will be confused or forget the words of both languages, this period will pass if the little bilingual will have an opportunity to use both of her languages in everyday life.
Bilingualism and aging
Recent studies of the effects of bilingualism on cognition and brain structures in older age show that people who use multiple languages in everyday life have advantages over monolinguals. First, many brain structures age slower in bilinguals than in their monolingual peers. Interestingly, this effect does not depend on socioeconomic class, and it persists even in those who are illiterate. Secondly, bilingualism can delay the manifestations of neurodegenerative diseases, such as, for example, Alzheimer’s disease, for several years. Given that there are no cures for many such diseases, learning foreign languages makes it possible to prolong active life. Whether you know a second language from birth or learned it as an adult, it will still keep your brain in shape. Thus, knowledge of a foreign language is one of the most affordable means of preventing neurodegenerative problems, since if desired, the language can be learned independently and without large financial costs. By the way, we talked about how to learn the language almost for free in one of our previous articles.
Images: freepik.com