{"id":6824,"date":"2019-10-11T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.utalk.com\/news\/?p=6824"},"modified":"2022-07-06T14:49:22","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T13:49:22","slug":"language-learning-myths-2-adults-cant-learn-a-new-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/language-learning-myths-2-adults-cant-learn-a-new-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Language Learning Myths #2: Adults Can’t Learn a New Language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In the <\/em>second part of our blog series<\/strong><\/em><\/a> on myths surrounding language learning, we\u2019re exploring the myth that you have to be under a certain age to learn a new language. Do children really learn everything better than adults, or are there some advantages to being older and learning a new skill?<\/em>
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If you\u2019re over the age of ten<\/strong><\/a>, or sixteen, or even eighteen, then what\u2019s the point of trying to learn a new language, anyway? There are plenty of articles, all across the internet, that all say you have to start learning a new language as young as possible, or you\u2019ll never learn it to a good level at all.
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But is that even true? Can you learn a language once you\u2019re a teenager, or an adult, even, and expect to do so to a high level?
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Well, now the experts are saying that you can<\/strong><\/a>. A recent study found that although grammar-learning ability does decline with age, this age is later than was previously thought<\/strong><\/a>\u2014and even then, there are plenty of people who start learning languages later in life but still reach an almost-native level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Language Goals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before we dive into exactly what this means, it\u2019s important to note that when you\u2019re learning a language, it\u2019s good to know what your goals are. These are always flexible\u2014you could get into learning a language and then realise you only want to use it when you\u2019re on holiday, or you could start learning a language you\u2019re unsure of and then find out you love it\u2014but generally, most learners only want to learn to a beginner\/intermediate level. 
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This basically means being able to have a conversation and get around, not discussing very complex topics like an expert would! 
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Obviously, if you know your goal is to be able to have a conversation, then the question of native-like fluency doesn\u2019t apply\u2014but the issue with this myth is that it\u2019s everywhere. Ask most people who want to learn a language why they haven\u2019t started yet and, after citing lack of time (which is a fair reason), lots of them say that they\u2019re too old, or just can\u2019t<\/em> do it.
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Well, we already cracked the myth that you need to have some kind of language learning gene<\/strong><\/a> to speak a new language (spoiler: you don\u2019t!), so it\u2019s time to take this one on, too! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Can Adults Learn Languages?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are two parts to this age question that we need to look at. One is: can you learn a language at all once you\u2019re past a certain age?
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Yes.
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Of course you can\u2014there are heaps of people who learnt a second language later in life, in a varying array of circumstances. As long as you have a desire to learn, and you put the time in (note: that doesn\u2019t mean five hours a day, every day\u2014just try and be as consistent as you can and you\u2019ll start seeing progress), you\u2019ll learn. Human brains are wired to see patterns and learn new things and yours is highly unlikely to be the sudden exception.
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So, then: can you learn a language as well as a child can?
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Broadly, yes. In fact, in some ways, adults learn far better than children could ever hope to<\/strong><\/a>.
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The reason this myth has become so wide-spread is because of the way<\/em> children learn compared to adults. It is, quite literally, effortless. Children living in their target language environment seem to pick up words and phrases that just slip through adults\u2019 brains, but that is because that\u2019s the way we\u2019re wired to learn when we\u2019re young and just beginning to understand the world around us and, here\u2019s the kicker, it\u2019s a really ineffective way to do so.
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Not that you can\u2019t learn the way a child does\u2014using aspects of that method works really well\u2014but you also have an adult brain, with one language already built in, and so you can \u2018hack\u2019 this method to make it work well for you.
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Take the uTalk app, for example. We use a method that would work well for children\u2014taking images and matching them to words and phrases\u2014but whereas a small child might have to learn the phrase all in one go, your adult brain is going to pick up on those patterns (\u2018Oh, so that bit must mean \u2018where is,\u2019 because I\u2019ve seen it in \u2018where is the bank,\u2019 and \u2018where is the beach\u2019…) and you\u2019re also going to be able to map the vocabulary to words you already know.
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In fact, studies have shown that adults acquire vocabulary at a far faster rate than children because while a child will have to have the word repeated over and over to assign it to a new concept, you already have the concept in your brain. You just slap the new word on it next to the one you already know and, voila, you\u2019ve got it! 
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You\u2019re also pretty likely to have a longer attention span than your average four-year-old, so while you might not be spending six hours a day in a target language nursery, you can take that half an hour you\u2019ve carved out of your day and really knuckle down and learn. 
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The one advantage children continue to have over adults is their ability to produce sounds\u2014and it\u2019s this and the intuitive grasping of some grammar rules that can give them the edge. We\u2019re born with the ability to distinguish between all phonetic sounds<\/strong>,<\/a> with this dropping off between the age of ten and twelve months. However, children spending time with a native speaker still seem to have an easier time learning all those new sounds and so often end up with a more native-sounding accent.
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Grammar is the same kind of deal\u2014because the children are learning the rules of their first language around the same time as they\u2019re puzzling out the rules of their second, it takes a while, but they stick a little more intuitively than for adults in most cases. However, with enough time and effort (and exposure to native materials!), adults can learn grammar this well too.
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What it comes down to, in the end, is what your new language is worth to you. Unless you\u2019re planning to become a spy, you probably don\u2019t need to pass for a native speaker. Plus, we all know from experience listening to foreigners speak English that making mistakes doesn\u2019t mean you won\u2019t be understood. Native speakers make mistakes all the time, in fact. It\u2019d probably be stranger if you never did!
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So, if you were on the fence about learning a language before, we hope you\u2019re not now. Yes, after five or six years, a child might be babbling away in Mandarin or Spanish, but if you\u2019re willing to spend some time on it, you could be enjoying a conversation even sooner\u2014in a few months, even! 
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If we\u2019ve managed to convince you, why not try learning a new language with us? Our app has over 150 languages and we\u2019ll teach you around 2,500 basic words and phrases the way a child would learn<\/strong><\/a>\u2014but we\u2019re sure you\u2019ll get there much faster!
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Let us know on Facebook<\/strong><\/a> or Twitter<\/strong><\/a> which language you\u2019re learning\u2014and if you know any other language learning myths, tell us about those, too! We\u2019ve got plenty more to cover!
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In the second part of our blog series on myths surrounding language learning, we\u2019re exploring the myth that you have to be under a certain age to learn a new language. Do children really learn everything better than adults, or are there some advantages to being older and learning a new skill? If you\u2019re over … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,1695],"tags":[1741,1742,1697,333,1696],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6824"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8855,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6824\/revisions\/8855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}