The question that can discourage or encourage a language learner to an absurd degree is whether we lose the ability to learn languages as we age. Does age matter when it comes to language learning?
It’s pretty common knowledge, at least among language learners, that babies have a better-than-average ability at learning and distinguishing languages. We all know that an adoptee raised in another country does not have the accent or language of their birth country. What happens as that baby ages into a child, teen, and adult is unclear, and people put a lot of concern on this ability.
My experience as a child
In my limited life experience, my early years were critical to set me up for my adult learning process. As opposed to other children of immigrants who just picked up their native language at home,
I didn’t speak my heritage languages as a toddler. In my elementary school years, my mom tutored me in those languages directly. I was lucky enough to get lessons in a very simplified form. Then, as a teen, when I learned French in high school, I was able to connect those lessons with the formal French education that millions get.
Personally, I am really thankful I learned a language formally at that age of 8 (give or take). I think 5 years earlier or 5 years later would have had a totally different result on my language skills today. It was because I was 8-ish that I was able to come to personal conclusions about grammatical logic. I had a bigger grammar sample size than my monolingual classmates, so I could find my own references. It allowed me to progress in French and others later.
My experience as an adult
My language learning journey as an adult was heavily influenced by my childhood years. Unfortunately, we cannot separate those early years with the adult years, so the experience can seem blended.
Language learning as an adult has been relatively easy. In fact, there is one skill that has only gotten better with age: abstractions.
Many tend to overestimate the skills of a child to learn English. Sure, they could remember words more easily or speak with a lighter accent. However, children struggle to make language abstract.
In my italki classes, I need to rethink my strategy depending on the age of my student. Most of my students are adults, but when I get a 10-year-old student, it is a very different experience. Although they have fantastic pronunciation and spend less time translating in their head, I cannot explain very abstract concepts to them.
This is an advantage that comes with age. Children’s learning materials are usually colorful and use a lot of real concepts like animals, colors, or daily tasks. While this is important, this is only half of language learning. We still need to learn about receiving actions, time order, or honorifics. Those things are hard to make for children. Adults, however, can easily receive these explanations. They might not be masters from the first explanation, but they at least understand my explanations about time order.
Again, going back to my italki ESL lessons, I have had so much more success explaining passive voice to adults than to children.
So there is a linguistic advantage with age.
What science has to say
A linguistic study tried to find the elusive “critical period” of language acquisition that everyone knows exists but doesn’t know when it exists. The theory for this special period of acquisition was the toddler years, but the data suggests the critical period ends around 17 years old and steadily declines.
My experiences match up with the findings. I had been exposed to so many different languages since childhood, and I was able to think in those languages with little rote memorization. As I get older, I notice I need to do more memorization, and there is still some 5% of words that I cannot remember and need to review every day, forgetting it as soon as I put the card away.
Are older learners out of luck?
No. Work hard. Someone’s age should not be a reason to give up or a reason to despair.
Language learning can really happen at any age. The only thing that my and other language learners’ experiences show is that older learners might have a harder time. This does not mean it is impossible. Theoretically, even if someone is 150 years old, they can still learn a language.
What this is really about is advantages.
Older learners are at a disadvantage, and we ought to be acknowledging this problem so that we can address is correctly.
Recognize what is tough for you while still making good goals. You cannot memorize words at the rate a child does, but you can still memorize words. And you have to, too!
Don’t let your age be an excuse
The myths surrounding language learning and age can lead people to make some bad decisions with their language learning process.
An old person should not give up easily just because (they think) they are destined to fail if they never learned the language as a child.
A teenager or young adult should not think hard work is not the most important factor in language learning and expect that the language will be absorbed into the young mind through osmosis.
Language learning, at its core, is the same for everyone. No one can avoid the time spent learning words, understanding new concepts, or accumulating hundreds of hours of input. This is the same for learners of every age.
If you want to read more language learning content, you can find some on this website.
I also have a YouTube channel where I make videos about language learning.
Don’t give up, don’t get complacent, and don’t stop learning languages.
