I have always been fascinated by the concept of language. How can we transplant our thoughts into the mind of another person, make them laugh, cry or even change their outlook on the world just by making sounds in a particular sequence or by organizing symbols in order on a (web)page? It is because of language that I can share my ideas with you over enormous distances. When you read a book, you allow someone who may no longer even be alive to communicate with you. Learning a new language has many benefits, economic, social, cultural, amongst others but rarely do we take a moment to consider how amazing language really is.

Language is something uniquely human. Although many animals have sophisticated modes of communication, nothing approaches the complexity of the languages that we speak. Anybody learning a second language can attest to the myriad structures and rules that they feature and which are necessary to be able to express the subtleties of any given fragment of information that we may wish to transmit. Nevertheless, learning a language is remarkably simple – at least the first time round. With few exceptions, every single person acquires a language and speaks it to a high degree of competence without giving it much thought during the first few years of their life; a period during which learning many other, seemingly more trivial abilities, would be unthinkable. Despite this ease of first language acquisition, the process of learning a new language later in life, while rewarding, often proves arduous.

Does this mean that adults can’t learn another language?

Our many student success stories prove that it is perfectly possible for an adult to master another language, even if they have never studied it before. In fact, I am going to argue that in many ways, adults have the upper hand over children when it comes to learning a new language.

In the ‘60s some research was published which suggested that there is a critical period for children during which a child’s brain has increased plasticity and more easily adapts to learn new things. The theory suggests that by the age of around 12 years, the brain begins to lose this plasticity and, consequently, language can no longer be learned implicitly. This does not mean that a language can no longer be learned, it just means that we can no-longer soak up the words that we hear like a sponge and gain the ability to reproduce phrases without trying.

Time

It seems too obvious to mention that children acquire language more quickly than adults. However, if we take a closer look, it’s not really that simple. In fact, children spend years practicing a language before they are capable of using it proficiently. Although a child may begin to produce their first utterances at around two years old, they do not become fully adept until much later. Very few five-year-olds are particularly erudite and, depending on your criteria, you may argue that proficiency is not attained until the late teens (or much later).

Compare this with an adult language-learner. It is perfectly possible to be able to communicate after just a few months of studying and, given consistent, deliberate practice, a student can become highly proficient within two years. When students compare their level of English with native speakers, they often feel inadequate but this can never be a fair comparison when native speakers have had decades of exposure.

Effort

Many people have the impression that children aborb language effortlessly and gain fluency without anything like the level of dedication required of adult learners. I’d suggest that this is far from the truth. Young children spend every waking moment trying to communicate. It takes a child years of frustration before they can accurately articulate their thoughts.

Even the most dedicated adult learners will rarely dedicate more than a few hours per day to their language studies. They have other responsibilities which have to take precedence. Fortunately, adult learners are better able to structure the time that they spend studying in order to maximise the benefits of their studies. As such, an adult learner achieves much more from their time investment.

Social Standing

Languages are by their very nature social constructs. They exist to allow communication between people and as such shape and are shaped by the social standing of individuals in ways far too nuanced to discuss here. The social standing of an individual has a profound impact on their success as a language learner.

Consider a family who moves to a new country. The child goes to school and, in what appears to be a very short space of time, becomes proficient in the language, while the parents continue to struggle. This situation is very common and helps fuel the belief that children learn more quickly than adults. Lets consider the social environment of the different family members, though.

The child is at school, surrounded by kids their own age with no option but to communicate with them in the new language. Children are rarely shy about letting you know their thoughts and as a result, our transplant is given constant feedback about any errors that they make. In addition, the teachers in the school feel free to correct the student in order to improve their rate of acquisition.

One of the parents was transferred to the new country by their company and enters the local office in a high position. Many of the colleagues in the office already speak their native language, making communication much easier. On the occasions that the parent is required to speak the local language, it is normally to subordinates. Despite the less-than-perfect use of the local tongue, communication is effective in the majority of instances and the locals are far too polite to correct their boss on their mistakes as they are keen to make a good impression.

The other parent finds part-time work in a low-skilled job to stay busy during the day. Due to their lack of language skills, they found a non-customer-facing job in which communication is not a principle requirement. Normally the local language is used for passing instructions to them by a superior. Due to the difference in status between the parent and the locals, the parent feels very nervous about speaking, anxious about the mistakes they will make. As such, they naturally keep quiet unless absolutely necessary. Much like their partner, few people comment on mistakes out of politeness or indifference.

As we can see, adult learners often find themselves in more challenging situations if they need to learn a new language compared to children. It is interesting to note, however that children also experience the same difficulties when found in the same situation:

Jim was born to deaf parents who could not communicate with him verbally. They would regularly leave him to watch television, which provided him with ample imput of the language, enough for him to learn to speak. At 3 years and 9 months of age, it was noted that, while Jim tried to communicate in an appropriate way for his age, he was ungrammatical and showed unusual word choice and syntax. Fortunately, with some specialist help, Jim was able to catch up with his peers by the time he was 4 years and 2 moths old. This case clearly indicates the importance of appropriate feedback in language learning at all ages.

What does this mean for adult language learners?

As we have seen, there are several challenges that confront adult language learners but many of these are situational, ie. confidence, opportunities to practice and other responisbilities to get in the way. On the other hand, adults enjoy a number of advantages compared to children, which when properly taken advantage of can make adults much more effective overall. With this in mind, here are our top tips:

Set a schedule

Adults have all sorts of responsibilities which get in the way of studying a new language. If you can consistantly devote some time every day to improve a specific facet of your linguistic knowledge, you will see a dramatic improvement quickly.

Take responsibility for your learning

Children have to do what they are told and they adapt to whatever stimulus is around them. Adults have the advantage of being able to identify the points that they need to improve and work on them specifically. Test yourself, find your weak points and make a plan to improve.

Find a teacher or study partner

As we have seen, feedback is essential if you want to improve but adults are typically too polite to offer it freely. You need someone you can trust to tell you when you’re not making sense.

Immerse yourself

It’s rare that an adult will find themselves thrown in the deep-end in a truly immersive situation when it comes to language learning, as children more often are. You can combat this with simple steps such as listening to podcasts, music and TV shows. You may not understand everything at first but gradually it will become clearer. This does not replace your targeted and deliberate study time.