The Truth About Learning a Language at Any Age

Learning a Language at Any Age is Possible

At MosaLingua, we hear all the time that people think they’re past their prime for learning languages. This happens all over the world from many different cultures. But this idea misses some key information.

What’s the Best Age to Learn a Second Language? Childhood or adulthood?

It is true that as you get older, your brain changes. But those changes don’t mean learning is impossible. Those changes mean you have different advantages that you can leverage to learn another language. Let’s look at what skills you can use at each stage of life and how to make up for potential struggles.

Learning a Language in Childhood

Let’s start at the beginning with childhood. Everyone knows children are incredible language learners, especially when it comes to sounds and pronunciation.

Young brains are extremely flexible and can adapt to different situations quickly. That’s why kids can hear and pronounce sounds that adults struggle with.

Adults can learn these sounds too, but it will take more repetition and practice. But what’s important to remember here is that pronunciation is only one part of learning a language.

An area where kids struggle comes from categorizing words correctly. We have to remember that kids are learning how the world works at the same time they’re learning how to speak properly. This is why you commonly see kids in just their native language miscategorizing a bear as a dog (4-legs, fuzzy, cute face) and even trying to pet the bear.

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Including another language in that takes time for them to express themselves fully. This is where being older can help frame learning.

Learning a Language in Adulthood

By the time we become an adult, our brains have changed in many ways.

The ability we once had to pick up new accents or unfamiliar sounds may have decreased. Learning new letters, tones, or pronunciations will likely take more time or effort than it would for a six-year-old. But adults gain something incredibly valuable in exchange: Learning strategies.

Adults already understand how learning works. You know how to study. You know how to practice. And you know how to connect new information to things you already understand.

For example, adults can use creative techniques like imagining silly or unusual scenarios to remember vocabulary. If you’re trying to remember the french word for ‘dog,’ which is ‘chien,’ you can imagine stepping in some dog poop and yelling, “Chien!” instead of “Sh*t” because they sound similar.

It may sound ridiculous, but the brain really remembers weird or vivid images and ideas. Those connections help anchor the word into memory.

So even though adults may take longer with pronunciation, they often learn vocabulary faster and more efficiently because they understand how to learn.

Learning a Language in Older Adulthood

As we move into older adulthood, another interesting change happens in the brain. There’s an increase in something called “crystallized intelligence”. This type of intelligence comes from life experience.

Over the years, you’ve built a huge network of knowledge made up of things you’ve learned, repeated, and stored in long-term memory. Because of this, older adults often have strong understanding, reasoning, and vocabulary skills in their native language.

The challenge that older adults face is their brain is already storing a lot of long-term information, which means there’s more competition for adding new information. But that doesn’t mean learning stops. It just means we need to adjust our approach.

For older adults, language learning works best when you build on what you already know. For example, if you’re learning the word ‘dog’ in your target language:

1. Say it out loud
2. Write it down
3. Read it in a sentence
4. Imagine it connected to the dog you picture in your mind

The more ways you interact with the word, the easier it becomes to place it inside your existing knowledge network. And this is where review becomes incredibly important.

When you regularly revisit vocabulary, your brain is reminded that the information is valuable. And what’s great about languages is you can just stack a new language onto the linguistic knowledge you’re already holding in your long-term memory.

For older adults the Spaced Repetition System is going to be a game changer. This system brings previously learned vocabulary back for review before you forget, and can be modified to review more frequently to help you remember it longer.

The Truth about Learning a Language at Any Age

Every stage of life comes with its own strengths and weaknesses.

• Children are amazing at picking up sounds and accents.
• Adults are great at learning efficiently and using memorization strategies.
• Older adults hold decades of knowledge and experience that help them connect ideas together.

Language learning doesn’t disappear as you age. It just changes.

And every age is able to learn a language easily with the right techniques.

The MosaLingua Method

At MosaLingua, we’ve been studying language learning for decades. And from our research, we’ve been able to bring all of the most effective learning techniques into one place.

If you’d like to try out the MosaLingua Method for free, get started by taking our placement test here.

For adults and older adults, we use:

• The most relevant vocabulary
• Vocabulary in context so you don’t have to waste time studying grammar
• Audio recordings from native speakers
• Speaking and writing practice with every new word or phrase you learn
• Additional features you can add to increase your learning

For kids, we’re working on a new app so you and your family can learn all at the same time!

Closing Thoughts

If you’ve ever thought, “I’m too old to learn a language,” The science says otherwise.

Your brain is still capable of building new connections throughout your entire life. It may take a different approach, a little more patience, or a little more review, but learning is absolutely still possible.

The most important factor to learning isn’t your age, it’s consistency. A few minutes of practice every day can slowly build thousands of new connections in your brain, regardless of how old you are.

And before you know it, you’re thinking, speaking, and understanding a language you once thought was impossible to learn. So no matter where you are in life, the best time to start learning a language is today.

FAQs

Are there other things about learning languages that aren’t true?

Yes! There are so many language learning myths we hear about all the time! People think they’re too old to learn, they have to move to another country to learn, or even that hyper-focusing on grammar or TV will get them to fluency.

But the best part about myths is that they’re actually not true. If you want to see 10 of the most common language learning myths, check them out here.

If I’m looking for tools to start learning a language, how do I know what I need?

The best tools you can get are ones that have been scientifically proven to help people learn! For learning vocabulary, we recommend using a vocabulary setup that has a Spaced Repetition System so you review what you’ve learned before you forget it. For listening and speaking, we recommend doing these alongside your vocabulary learning. For writing, make sure you practice every day.

And for all of these in one place, we recommend trying out MosaLingua Premium. That way all you have to do is start, rather than getting bogged down by in the setup and giving up before your start.

What are some examples of learning techniques I could use?

We all have learning techniques we use, but most of the time we use them without even thinking about it. Here are some more fun ways to learn that will keep you engaged in learning.