Learning New Languages!
Most of us at some point began learning a language other than the one used by our family or school. Some people are raised to speak multiple languages from birth, some learn other languages through education, and some begin learning them as adults through nothing but experience. Learning a language involves more than simple memorization and repetition, it involves hearing, seeing, writing, and speaking words that are foreign to us efficiently enough to communicate with others. Languages take years to develop fully and don’t tend to stick around like the ability to ride a bicycle. When do our brains best respond to our attempts to learn systems as complex as languages?
Babies are able to be brought up multilingual, as they absorb everything in the world around them and are exposed to more learning opportunities than any other age group. As a result, they can learn to speak and understand many different languages all at once. If exposed to multiple languages from their birth onward, their brains even develop to distinguish between the different languages as they learn both at the same time. Their brains grow differently than babies born into monolingual households, allowing for further development, better language learning skills, and better overall comprehension. There used to be a fear of “language confusion”, that multilingual babies would not be able to distinguish between languages and would grow up confused. However, research has proven that false, as babies actually demonstrate a great ability to separate the two languages and the “confusion” is rarely an issue.
However, even teaching a child a new language as a teenager is highly beneficial and likely for success if kept up. Children have been found to have the easiest time learning a second language out of any other age group. Up until the age of 18, the brain’s ability to comprehend and remember the intricacies of a second language are stable and at their peak, and it tends to go downhill from there. If a second language is introduced to a child by the age of ten, they have the best chance of learning the language just as well as a native speaker of it. Some other countries teach school children two languages all through school, especially in countries with more than one official language. Some private schools in America teach like this as well, but the norm is to teach all kids in American public schools English only and offer a foreign language later on in high school if desired. Many children take these classes all through high school or college, but if they end up in environments where they do not use the second language and do not strive to maintain it, they can quickly regress in their proficiency.
Adults still have a chance at learning new languages of course. How sad would it be if we had to learn everything in life by 18 in order for it to stick? As we age, the brain’s ability to learn new languages does decrease, but not by a substantial amount if the brain is still being challenged and utilized. Programs such as Rosetta Stone, phone apps such as Duolingo, and elective college courses are all great ways for adults to learn languages. Learning a language can be very beneficial for adults, as it highly increases job prospects and allows for new socialization or travel opportunities. Adults have to commit even more time to learning and practicing than children in order to get the language to stick, and it is typically unlikely that they will ever become as fluent as a native speaker of the language.
As our society becomes even more diverse and worldly, it becomes ever more essential for us to need to learn new languages to communicate. Many jobs now require applicants to be multilingual, and it is extremely limiting to only know one language. Encouraging kids to learn a second or even third language while they are young gives them the best chance of retaining that knowledge and may set them very far ahead in life, but there are benefits and possibilities for this success at any age.
Kyndal Sims
Birch Psychology
Resources:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181024-the-best-age-to-learn-a-foreign-language
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/health/views/11klass.html