The Good and the Bad of Adult Language Learning

I am becoming more and more convinced that as adults we have real advantages in foreign language learning as compared with children.  In other words, I don't think it will take us 8-18 years to master a foreign language.  And I am more and more convinced that we can reach native-like fluency and cultural understanding...if we provide ourselves correct conditions, opportunities, and patience.

Children are developing in so many ways at the same time that they are developing language skills.  For instance, they are developing gross and fine motor skills, problem-solving, reasoning, abstract thinking, sequencing, differentiating emotions, numeracy, memory development, recognizing the sound of the human voice, etc.  These are all things we only learn once in our lives.

However, as adult language learners, we are like children in language development wrapped in an adult body.  This can be confusing for both ourselves and the society around us.  The people in our new culture don't quite know what to do with us or how to treat us.  We still have to pay our bills (even if we don't know what the fine print says), we have a wealth of knowledge that we can't communicate, and our peers expect us to be adult-like.  Even though we are making many of the same mistakes that children make while they are learning language, we often don't get the same patient, encouraging correction and patience from those around us as children do.  It is our responsibility to train those closest to us in this new culture in how to treat us.  I will address this issue next week with tips on welcoming correction.

Language Development in Children

Check out this chart on language development stages in children.  It has some specifics about the English language, but the majority of the information is true for language development in children around the world.

Especially take note of what the average child has mastered at each stage, as well as what the child has NOT yet mastered.

This tidbit from the chart was the most encouraging to me:

48 months: has MOST vowels well established

That means that it can take a child up to 4 years to master the vowels, and some consonants will take up to 8 years for mastery.  Maybe I need to give myself more than three months before I get frustrated with my inability to pronounce French vowels perfectly.  (See yesterday's post)

Suggestions for Students: Be Patient

Language and Culture Learning takes time.  Especially as adults learning these new things, it is easy to become impatient.  So often, we look at kids and think how easily and how well they learn language.  Yet, there are two things we give kids a whole lot of when they are developing their language skills and those are time and patience.

Recently, I have felt particularly impatient in my pursuit to differentiate and produce the proper pronunciation of French vowels.  Then I was reminded that I have only been learning French for 3 months.  This got me thinking: how long does it take for kids to master pronunciation in their native language?  As I researched this question, I discovered some very encouraging information.  I will be sharing more about first language development in children later this week.