We’ve probably all heard how kids have it easy when it comes to learning foreign languages. Those of us with foreign friends may well have noticed that their children often have better pronunciation in their second language than their parents. Even from their first words in a foreign language kids seem to get the pronunciation down to an art. I’ve even seen young kids standing in as translators for their parents.
So why is it that children seem to pick up foreign languages so easily? Are they really easier for them to learn?
Well, first of all- children are still learning their own language! At the development stages, pre adolescence, children are able to copy new sounds very accurately, which is necessary in order to learn their first language. This same capability is a huge aid in copying the often unfamiliar sounds of a foreign language- something many adults may never perfect, even with years of training. Essentially- children are hard wired for learning.
Children are also less inhibited about jumping right in and practicing their newly gained language skills right away. While adults often feel embarrassed about making mistakes, children have no such worries. As practice makes perfect, this extra practice often amounts to big gains when it comes to language learning. Children pick up large amounts of vocabulary through play – something that doesn’t come in to question for adults, who are forced to learn languages at the earlier stages through conscious and structured methods.
But it’s not all a walk in the park for children- depending on your native language you may well find that you already know many words in the language you are learning- there are often many shared words across language pairs. Young children are still developing their native vocabularies and won’t be able to draw on the wealth of knowledge an adult has in their mother tongue.
All in all however, it is without a doubt best to start learning a language as early as possible! Even just getting children familiar with the sounds of a foreign language will make it easier for them to become proficient in later life!
At inlingua Malta we offer courses for children as young as 5, and never stop being in awe of the speed of the progress they make! We also offer a range of other programmes, including parent and child courses.