Fluent at Any Age
The Truth About Learning a Foreign Language as an Adult
Image by: Kampus Production
By Hanyu Tales (29th December 2024)
A quick scan of Reddit will reveal a multitude of posts from older users who have, at an advanced age, decided they wish to learn a foreign language. Papers written by renowned linguists such as this one mention study results showing that foreign language learners who begin learning while they are children, reach higher levels of proficiency than those beginning as adults. In other news, boxers who start hitting the pads at 5 years old have a higher chance of becoming world champions than those who start at 45.
While starting anything earlier is generally better—given our finite time on this planet—age should not have any influence on someone’s decision whether or not to learn a foreign language. In this article, we will dive into the research on the relationship between age and foreign language acquisition, to show you why it is simply not worth thinking about.
While starting anything earlier is generally better—given our finite time on this planet—age should not have any influence on someone’s decision whether or not to learn a foreign language. In this article, we will dive into the research on the relationship between age and foreign language acquisition, to show you why it is simply not worth thinking about.
The Youthful Brain’s Plasticity
This paper entitled “The Optimal Age to Learn a Foreign Language” begins by referring to the well-established brain plasticity theory, which suggests that a young child’s brain has a cellular receptivity to language acquisition. Similarly, this paper talks about the youthful brains superiority when it comes to acquiring vocabulary. Just give up now, adults!
The same paper also highlights the higher likelihood of young learners being able to acquire a native-like accent, and this is widely agreed upon in almost all of the research, such as in this paper, which states:
The same paper also highlights the higher likelihood of young learners being able to acquire a native-like accent, and this is widely agreed upon in almost all of the research, such as in this paper, which states:
“Quite clearly, earlier is better as far as L2 pronunciation is concerned.”
The notion that children have an easier time achieving an authentic accent is hardly surprising, as adults are fully developed and have spent longer building muscle memory through speaking their mother tongue. However, it is not all doom and gloom for older learners. The Benefits of Maturity
Carmen Muñoz mentions the many studies (some of which she challenges) that show how younger is better when it comes to learning foreign languages in “natural contexts”. However, learning a language in a natural context soon becomes impossible when inconveniences like school, work, and real life appear. Therefore, as adult learners, we need to worry about performing in unnatural contexts, like in the classroom with a teacher or at our desk with a textbook. This paper which looked at school children found older children were more efficient foreign language learners, given their understanding of how to learn. Furthermore, returning to Carmen Muñoz’s paper , we can find further evidence that outside of natural contexts, youth may actually be a disadvantage:
“the explicit instruction provided by the classroom favours explicit language learning, at which older learners are superior because of their greater cognitive maturity”
It therefore seems that while the youthful brain has its advantages, the learning experience we acquire over the years is invaluable in terms of heightening our likelihood of successfully acquiring a foreign language. How Old is Too Old?
While we have knowledge and experience to leverage, the decline of our brain’s plasticity must hit a point in which we might as well give up hope on learning a foreign language, right? Well, not exactly.
Anecdotal evidence of retired people who decided to take advantage of their free time by learning to speak Arabic or Chinese can be found all over the internet, but to use a more well-known example, Steve Kaufmann is a polyglot who continues to learn languages despite approaching 80 years of age. However, individual examples are not particularly convincing, so let’s take a look at a quote from a paper found in the Cognitive Science journal:
Anecdotal evidence of retired people who decided to take advantage of their free time by learning to speak Arabic or Chinese can be found all over the internet, but to use a more well-known example, Steve Kaufmann is a polyglot who continues to learn languages despite approaching 80 years of age. However, individual examples are not particularly convincing, so let’s take a look at a quote from a paper found in the Cognitive Science journal:
“With exposure beginning later in life, asymptotic performance in the language declines: the effects over age of first exposure are approximately linear through childhood, with a flattening of the function in adulthood.”
Okay, so this quote contains some bad news: starting as a young child boosts your chances of becoming proficient in a language (or joining the NBA, or joining NASA, or pretty much anything), but the good news is that as soon as you reach adulthood, the effect on proficiency stays more or less the same. In other words, starting at 75 might not be as different to starting at 35 as you might believe. Nature vs. Nurture
In Charles Yang’s book: he points out that “language learning requires both nature and nurture”. This highlights the exact issue with comparing adult language-learning performance with that of young children: completely different contexts. In fact, research from as far back as 1960 points out that, when trying to answer the question of whether children learn languages faster: 
“Before we could answer this question, we would need to measure how much the typical child can learn in a given amount of time under a skilled foreign language teacher, as compared with adolescents or adults under comparable conditions”
The reverse is also true, in that it would not be socially acceptable for an adult to let go of all of his or her responsibilities, start wearing diapers, and focus on nothing but language learning for every waking hour, while receiving support from two of the most loving and highly supportive native speakers on earth. Image by: Andrea Piacquadio
Learning from Children
While we may not be able to be nurtured in the same way an infant is, we can certainly do our best to create an authentic environment where we absorb as much of our target language as possible. Furthermore, seeking the company of supportive native speakers is vital, as one of the main advantages children have is that they do not worry about making mistakes, and this has been shown in the research. A study on a primary school is Turkey found that younger children were less anxious than older children when it came to foreign language learning. Therefore, while we cannot be children again, we can learn to be comfortable with making mistakes while producing output, and do our best to craft a language-learning context that provides the input we need alongside it.
Reality Check
The influence of age on language learning potential will likely never stop being discussed, despite the fact that in reality, it is a somewhat futile topic. It is a fact that plenty of adults have successfully learned foreign languages and will continue to do so. Children probably have some advantages over adults, but adults have their own advantages too. Instead of finding a way to turn back your biological clock and become a kid again, it would be much easier to find a learning system that you enjoy and make sure you are consistent, so you can become the next in a long, ever-growing line of successful adult language learners.