Why it’s never too late to learn a language as an adult

University of Chicago ^ | 2024 | Tatyana Woodall, National Geographic

[CondoleezzaProtege]

The long-held idea that language learning is better before adulthood is up for debate...

Lourdes Ortega, a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University...says factors beyond age, like immersion, make a bigger difference in language learning success. “Without the opportunity to be exposed to the language, there's no learning that can happen, early or late..."

The FSI [Foreign Service Institute] says languages that native English speakers would find similar to their own, such as Spanish or French, can be taught relatively quickly in about 24-30 weeks. In contrast, languages that have significant cultural differences from English, like Greek or Russian, will take about 44 weeks. Learning time could double that for languages considered exceptionally hard, such as Arabic or Mandarin...

“There are all sorts of cognitive benefits of being bilingual,“ says Boaz Keysar, a professor of psychology at The University of Chicago... What’s more, many studies suggest learning another language as an adult could even help stave off dementia...

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TOPICS: Education; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: bilingual; language; linguistics; polyglot

[Myrddin]

I've been studying German since 5th grade. Still doing that with Duolingo daily. Also completed the Welsh course on Duolingo. Evenings is time for Mandarin Chinese. Getting better at listening and speaking. Have made no attempt at learning the characters, but that is a MUST have skill due to the huge set of homophones. Most of those can be discerned in context when speaking, but you need the exact character for reading/writing. I've also played with French, Italian, Spanish and Turkish for the purpose of business travel. Irish and Scots Gaelic has received some attention, but both are a huge stretch compared to the simplicity of Welsh phonetics. Irish and Gaelic have their own sets of rules for phonetics.

[Myrddin]

Homophones: My two dogs are too frisky to go to the store.

[anton]

English is at a premium. In Germany some girls spit at us when we asked if they spoke Italian. They mocked us thinking we were Italians.

Some people pick it up quickly some never do. We had to have a translator in Italy. Once you leave Rome or Naples no one except service people speak english. And, the service people often speak more than 2. But, then, that is why they can be service people.Because they pick it up easily, like piano playing. And, you might also observe that people who play piano usually can play several other instruments.

[stanne]

It’s not genetic though. Americans refuse to learn languages

[anton]

Its both. While anyone can learn it, even the Americans who can so it well won’t. Why should we? Travel is way way way over rated, and business people can just use english or do something else. Immigrants should not even be allowed in if they cant speak our language.

[stanne]

If you want to say a scientific fact cite a study

[anton]

In Dale, Harlaar, Haworth & Plomin (2010), *”Two by Two: A Twin Study of Second-Language Acquisition,”* published in *Psychological Science*. Analyzing 604 pairs of 14-year-old UK twins, it found substantial heritability of 0.67 for second-language acquisition, with low influence of shared environment (0.13). The heritability estimate was comparable to first-language measures and higher than earlier estimates for first-language acquisition in early childhood.

A larger follow-up, Rimfeld, Dale & Plomin (2015), *”How Specific Is Second Language-Learning Ability?”* published in *Translational Psychiatry* (Nature), analyzed over 6,000 twin pairs. All second-language measures showed substantial heritability, ranging from 36% for German to 53–62% for other languages. Multivariate genetic analyses indicated that a third of the genetic influence on second language learning is shared with intelligence, a third with English ability independent of intelligence, and a further third is unique to second language learning.

A useful synthesis appears in a 2023 PMC review on neurocognitive models of language aptitude, which compiled the twin study literature: twin studies with children, teenagers, and young adults suggest moderate to high heritability estimates of 42–72% for second/foreign language learning specifically (42% in Dale et al., 2012; 67% in Dale et al., 2010; 71% in Vinkhuyzen et al., 2009; 72% in Coventry et al., 2012).

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[alexander_busek]

Would anyone like to hear the recipe for potato soufflé, in German?

"Muskatnuß, Herr Müller! Haben Sie verstanden? Muskatnuß!"

Einfach köstlich!

Regards,

[alexander_busek]

French is long overdue to have a Daniel Webster rewrite French to make the letters match the pronunciation, starting with the silent consonants such as "s" or "x" at the end of words. [...] (English needs another round of cleanup as well).

In the 1990s, the so-called "Große Rechtschreibereform" was carried out pushed through here in Germany (but not in Austria or German-speaking Switzerland, where simplified - though different - rules were already in effect).

This "Great Orthographical Reform" was limited to changing/simplifying rules pertaining to

• the usage of the "ß" (replacing it with "ss" in some cases);
• the hyphenation of words at the end of lines (in the past, words containing a "ck," when split there, were changed to "k-k": "Bäcker" used to be written "Bäk-ker"; today, it's "Bäc-ker", and so on);
• the separation of previously composite verbs like "kennenlernen" to "kennen lernen" (that was subsequently reversed) or "radfahren" to "Rad fahren";
• the capitalization of certain set phrases like "im allgemeinen" -> "im Allgemeinen"
• and the use of commas in certain circumstances.

So, more or less "invisible" or "unnoticeable" changes for 90% of the population.

Pretty mild changes, right? But it was a virtual cause célèbre for a decade!

Regards,

[Veto!]

I studied German and Spanish in college.

I still speak only English. Traveled a lot and ours is the most important to know. Foreigners who study languages study English, so they can talk to Americans who travel to their countries.

[Mathews]

You’re right! I got the title wrong. It’s called “Managing Stress: Sleep.” How to develop strategies to help relax before sleep and addresses the relationship between stress and sleep problems.

[Cowgirl of Justice]

I worked with a guy who spoke 14 languages and his brother spoke 22. His parents worked for the UN. He was in his mid 20s at the time. I wonder where life took him!!!!

[Cowgirl of Justice]

He is a white guy and speaks so many different languages- he can literally learn one in a day or two! I love seeing him at authentic Chinese restaurants or getting his nails done in a Korean salon. People have said that he speaks their language better than they do! He even gets the accent down pat.

[maddog55]

English is all I need.

[sauropod]

.

[laker_dad]

I’m learning COBOL so that I can stop the assembly line robot from punching holes in cars... /s (what a stupid commercial!)

[trebb]

Funny - now dey cans butchered udder langages lak dey does da Englitch.

[packagingguy]

I used to be almost fluent in French, back in the 90s. Problem is I have not heard the language for 25 years now and have forgotten most. I can still read it though.

If you learn Spanish there are a lot more people to talk with and a lot more nearby (relatively) countries you can visit and stay sharp on your skills.

[IYAS9YAS]

I’m trying to learn — -— .-. ... . -.-. -— -.. . .-.-.-

[IYAS9YAS]

Well, that didn’t work. The beginning dashes all squished into long lines.