The benefits of each age to learn a new language | Education

"At this age, children do not learn a language – they use it," says Carmen Rampersad, director of the school. The statement seems to sum up the enviable naturalness of the small polyglots that surround them.

For many children, Spanish is the third or fourth language. Croatian, Hebrew, Korean and Dutch are among their mother tongues.

By comparing their resourcefulness to the difficulty of an adult in a language course, it would be easy to conclude that it is best to start learning a new language as a child.

But science offers a much more complex view of the evolution of our relationship with languages ​​over the course of life – and may encourage those who begin to study later.

In general, each stage of life offers different benefits for language learning. Babies have a better ear for different sounds; children can badimilate native accents with surprising speed. Adults, however, have an increased attention span and crucial skills, such as the degree of instruction, that allow them to continually expand their vocabulary.

A number of factors other than age – such as social circumstances, teaching methods, and even feelings – can affect the number of languages ​​we speak and its ease.

"Everything is wrong with age," says Antonella Sorace, professor of developmental linguistics and director of the Center for Bilingual Affairs at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

This is the case of what is called "explicit learning": a study process that takes place in a clbadroom with a teacher explaining the rules of the language.

"Young children are very bad at explicit learning because they lack cognitive control, attention ability and memory," says Sorace.

An Israeli study revealed, for example, that adults understood a rule of artificial language better and applied it to new words.

Scientists compared three distinct groups: 8-year-olds, 12-year-olds, and young adults. Adults performed better than younger ones, while 12-year-olds also outperformed the 8-year-olds.

The results of the research coincide with those of a long-term study of nearly 2,000 bilingual English-Catalan-Spanish students: those who began learning later learned the new language faster than those who started earlier.

In Israel, researchers have suggested that older participants may have benefited from evolving skills, such as more advanced problem-solving strategies and greater language experience.

In other words, Older students tend to know a lot about themselves and the world around them and can use that knowledge to process new information.

The youngest children, however, stand out by their implicit learning: listen to native speakers

In 2016, the bilingual business center of the University of Edinburgh prepared an internal report on Mandarin clbades in primary schools for the Scottish Government. One hour per week of clbades was not a significant difference for five-year-olds. But only half an hour with the presence of an indigenous teacher helped them understand elements of Mandarin that are more difficult for adults, such as tones.

We are all born with a natural gift for languages.

As babies, we can hear the 600 consonant sounds and 200 vowels that make up the languages ​​of the world. During the first year of life, our brain begins to specialize, matching the sounds we hear most often.

Babies already babble in their mother tongue. Even newborns cry with an accent, mimicking what they heard while they were in the womb.

This specialization also means the elimination of skills that we do not need. Japanese babies can easily distinguish the sounds of "l" and "r". But Japanese adults often have difficulties.

According to Sorace of the University of Edinburgh, there is no doubt that the early years are crucial for the integration of our own language. Studies with abandoned or isolated children have shown that if we do not learn human language early, we will not be able to easily compensate for it later.

Here is the surprise: this cut is not the same for learning foreign languages.

"The important thing is to understand that age varies over time with many other factors," says Danijela Trenkic, a psychologist at York University in England.

Learning Abroad

The lives of children are completely different from those of adults. Thus, when we compare their language skills, "we do not compare equivalent realities," says Trenkic.

She gives the example of a family moving to another country. Usually, children learn the language much faster than their parents. But this may be because they hear the language constantly at school, while parents sometimes work alone.

Children may also feel a greater sense of urgency because language proficiency is essential to their social survival: to make friends, to be accepted, to be involved. On the other hand, parents are more likely to socialize with people who understand them as immigrants.

"In my opinion, creating emotional bonding is what makes you most able to learn languages," says Trenkic of York University.

Adults can also create this bond of affection, not just through romantic relationships or friendship with an Aboriginal person. A study conducted in 2013 with British adults enrolled in an Italian beginner course revealed that those who had difficulties with the language were helped by the relationship with other students and the teacher.

"If you meet people who think like you, you will be more likely to take language clbades and persevere," says Trenkic. "It's the secret, you have to spend years learning, so unless you have social motivation, it's really hard to follow."

Earlier this year, a survey conducted by the Mbadachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) of 670,000 people showed that to acquire a native knowledge of English grammar, it is best to start about ten years. After that age, the capacity would decrease.

But the study by online questionnaire also revealed that we can improve languages, including ours, over time.

For example, we do not fully master the grammar of our own language until the age of 30. And a previous online study shows that even natives are learning almost a new word a day in their own language until the age of 50.

Trenkic notes that the MIT study has focused on something extremely specific – the ability to succeed a native in terms of grammatical accuracy. For the language learner in general, this may not be as relevant.

"People sometimes ask me what is the biggest advantage of foreign languages." "I will earn more money?" "Will I be smarter?" "I'm going to have better health?" But in reality, the biggest benefit of learning foreign languages ​​is being able to communicate with more people, "she says.

Trenkic, for example, comes from Serbia, and she did not master the language. English only about 20 years after moving to the UK She says she's still making grammatical mistakes, especially when she's tired or stressed.

"Still, despite everything – and this is crucial – I can to do incredible things in English. I can enjoy great literary works and write relevant, consistent and quality texts for the publication, "she wrote in an e-mail.

In fact, the MIT questionnaire clbadified her native English. Spanish daycare in London, where teachers sing Cumpleanos feliz (happy birthday, in Spanish) and where is a copy of The Hebrew Crane, the director learned the local language later.

Carmen Rampersad grew up in Romania and mastered English only when she had moved abroad, around the age of 20. Her children learned Spanish at daycare.

But her husband is Perhaps the most adventurous linguist from Trinidad and Tobago, who speaks Spanish, he learned Romanian with his family, who lives near the border with Moldova.