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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4287 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 57 of 65 28 May 2014 at 9:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Personally I do not believe at all that children can end up with a better advancement
in languages. Any age suffices, if one puts the effort therein. I would not be surprised if a 50 year old could learn 10 languages if s/he put all effort to do so. As said above, the main problem is probably lack of spare time and instruction. Chlidren in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Scandinavia are forced to learn English whether they wish to do so or not, and they are given at least one decade of classroom instruction, in addition they could supplement learning outside of the class should they so wish. An adult usually does not have this option. I had a challenge for myself that I could make one of my Dutch, Danish, Swedish, or Norwegian someday be at the level of the English of someone who grew up in one of those countries and learnt English as a child, and this to without my attending any sort of classroom instruction, and I am sure that someday I could achieve this. They also said that in chess older players cannot become grandmasters, or that grandmasters should retire when old because their mind would decline too much. But then there are examples like Viktor Kortschnoj who prove that the mind still functions well enough to perform when one is greater than 80 years of age. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4886 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 58 of 65 29 May 2014 at 3:59am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think any 'problem' older learners have is that they become set in their ways, and
language learning requires flexibility, creativity, and lots of trial and error before we find the methods that work best for us. (and by older I don't mean 26!) Most of my friends will study a language once or twice a week for a summer and then declare "I'm not good at languages" or "I'm too old to learn languages" - when in fact they haven't actually made the real effort that learning a language takes. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Penelope Diglot Senior Member Greece Joined 3866 days ago 110 posts - 155 votes Speaks: English, French Studies: Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 59 of 65 29 May 2014 at 8:40am | IP Logged | |||||
I had the exact same thing in mind! Yes, he is an exception, but still it is true. As Kanewai says, it's the lack of effort, and you don't need to be 50 to forget your abilities to study. I think many people finish their school days at some point, and then just get out of the learning mentality and studying habits. Anoter factor could also be your environment: if you are surrounded by friends who have given up, you tend to give up yourself. I thought that language learning is one of the best ways to keep the mind young, holding on to your memory etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4619 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 60 of 65 29 May 2014 at 12:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Until very recently, kids in Scotland didn't receive any foreign language instruction in school until the age of 12. Many people thought this was "too late" and one of the reasons why our country isn't overflowing with speakers of other languages. Twelve? Too late? Some of the world's best musicians hadn't started playing at that age.
Now we start teaching our children languages a few years earlier but don't bet on this approach bearing much fruit. No doubt the new argument will be "it's no good starting French lessons at 9. Look at Sweden, their English classes begin in nursery" But in truth, the age you start at has little impact on the end result. It's the underlying personal desire and expectations of wider society, together with a healthy amount of real-life exposure that truly determine whether or not you will successfully learn a language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5473 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 61 of 65 29 May 2014 at 1:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
I like this advice, the language group/associated languages route. Where I beg to differ is learning languages at a young age. I had very little discipline and understanding of languages when i was younger. I learn much better now that i'm in my late 30s. That's not necessarily an age thing tho, rather a maturity travelling down the road of learning in terms of what i should and shouldn't do with regards to learning. Starting younger is a wise idea when one wants to learn so many languages, and had I started properly at 13 (not imaginary ideas of learning) then i'd be in a MUCH better position today BUT only because I simply would have started earlier, NOT because I was younger. I learn better now and I think as I said it's nothing to do with age but more to do with maturity, experience and motivation. From the "Fluent in 3 Months" website: Why adults are better learners than kids I'm not here to take the steam out of the original poster's idea, I'm simply offering the other side that adults can learn just as well if not better than kids... However I agree start younger and then you are in a MUCH better position to cover a lot more ground! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cristianoo Triglot Senior Member Brazil https://projetopoligRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4118 days ago 175 posts - 289 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, FrenchB2, English Studies: Russian | Message 62 of 65 29 May 2014 at 9:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
For that, I thank everyday my parents. They didn't buy any of the videogames I asked for, but they bought bikes, rollers, skates and pretty much every toy that demanded being outside to play... so I had a very intense childhood, with a lot of activities, I even have done some bike offroad (crossing small rivers and stuff) I fear for children nowadays. Here in Brazil, we see all of them, each one with his/her smartphone, talking to people outside their imediate cicle... all connected and all alone at the same time... I feel sorry for them. I also see some couples doing that... each one in his/her phone... my god... when did it go wrong? Edited by Cristianoo on 29 May 2014 at 9:41pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5427 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 63 of 65 29 May 2014 at 9:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I noticed that the OP dates back to 01 May 2010. How many languages has the author learned since? Unless I
missed something I wonder if this hasn't been one of those "Gee whiz, I want to learn 25 languages in the next ten years like you polyglots" stories. Then we never hear from the OP again. I consider most of the discussions about age rather useless because the facts are pretty straightforward, i.e. 1. It's best to start young. You have a head start, especially for accent. 2. It's extremely rare for an adult learner to acquire a native-like accent. 3. You can't do anything about your age, so do the best you can. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6700 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 64 of 65 29 May 2014 at 11:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The OP has been missing in battle for 1000 days or so we are not likely to hear the answer from him.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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