Why Adults Make Great Language Learners
You may have heard that the best time to learn a language is when you're young.
So if you're reading this and you're not in elementary school, are you out of luck?
Well, some researchers say that while children have their own strengths, adults are actually in a great position to learn new languages — and it's never too late to begin.
"There is no magical point at which it becomes impossible to learn a new language," linguistics professor Alison Gabriele told Reader's Digest.
Children do have one big advantage: young brains are always making lots of new connections, while adult brains often use connections that have already been made. This is why adult learners often speak new languages with an accent — their brains are trying to reuse the sound connections they already know.
Children are also better at learning a language just by hearing it — without studying — and they have more time to learn since they don't have to work.
But adults are able to choose what, when, where and how they want to learn — and they often have a strong desire to do so.
They also have more experience with languages. As a University of Cambridge study found, adults are better at figuring out rules and making connections between languages they know and new ones they're learning.
However, some adults are afraid of making mistakes in a way that children may not be. And reading stories about how adults are bad at learning languages probably doesn't help!
As the carmaker Henry Ford said: "Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right."
It really is never too late to believe you can learn a second or a third language. And speaking another language can help keep adult brains healthier for longer too!
