English Rewind - Weekender: Later language learning

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The programme you're about to listen to was first broadcast in February 2007

on the BBC Learning English website.

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Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is Weekender.

If you're listening to this programme then, more than likely,

you're either trying to learn English or perhaps you're teaching English.

So let me ask you this question —

do you think that age has anything to do with your ability to learn a language?

Is it easier to learn a language when you're a child?

Is it more difficult to master a language the older you are?

Language learning is an incredibly complex area of research

and, in the programme today, we take a simple look at this topic,

which was recently covered in a science programme on BBC domestic radio.

One word which is very useful to know when talking about this subject

is the verb 'to acquire' and its noun, 'acquisition'.

Learning your mother tongue is described as 'first language acquisition'.

Learning another language is described as 'second language acquisition'.

Young children, it seems, pick up languages very easily,

but, as we get older, it seems to be much more difficult.

What could be the reasons for this?

Is there some cut-off point in our growth

after which the ability to absorb language easily changes?

One theory is known as the 'critical age' or the 'critical period hypothesis'.

This theory suggests that the most important period for learning a language

finishes when we are about 12 years old and, after this time,

a language which we haven't started to learn can't fully be learned.

Lydia White is a professor at the Department of Linguistics

at McGill University.

What does she think of the 'critical period hypothesis'?

The critical period hypothesis is quite controversial

and comes in many forms.

Common to most versions is the claim that, for a certain period of your life,

things are very beneficial for acquiring languages.

In my view, adult second language learners can successfully acquire a second language

to the extent of being indistinguishable from native speakers.

So, in other words, I do not believe that it's impossible

for an adult to fully acquire the second language.

She's not convinced by the critical period hypothesis.

She thinks that adults can successfully acquire a second language.

In fact, she believes that adults can learn a language

to the level that they seem like a native speaker.

She expresses this in the following phrase.

In my view, adult second language learners

can successfully acquire a second language

to the extent of being indistinguishable from native speakers.

Adults can learn a language

so that they are 'indistinguishable' from native speakers.

'Indistinguishable' — you can't tell the difference.

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So if adults can learn languages to the level of a native speaker,

why, then, does it seem so difficult to do this

and why is it something that children can seem to do so comparatively easily?

Dr John Coleman is director of the Phonetics Laboratory

at the University of Oxford.

He has a very simple theory. What is it?

The ability of adults to learn foreign languages is often underestimated.

Children spend an awful amount of time learning their first language.

They're exposed to it a lot of the time and they've only got certain things to do.

They don't have to go out and do a job or learn to drive a car or whatever.

They're very, very focused on what they're doing,

whereas most adults who are learning a language later in life

just don't have the luxury of spending anywhere near a fraction of the time

that children spend learning languages.

Dr Coleman thinks it's just a simple matter of time.

Adults are much busier in their lives than children.

They have day-to-day responsibilities and jobs

and simply do not have the luxury of time that children do.

But is it as simple as that?

Erik Thiessen is director

of Carnegie Mellon University's Infant Language and Learning Lab.

He thinks that adults have a disadvantage

that 'infants' — very small children — don't have.

What is this disadvantage?

We, as adults, have more than 20 years of experience with a dominant language

that is going to interfere with acquiring a second language

and that's a handicap that infants don't face.

So there are things you can certainly do as an adult to help yourself,

but I'm afraid that infants are always going to be

the blue-ribbon champion language learners.

Erik Thiessen thinks that influence from our own first language

can be a 'handicap' to acquiring a second language.

A 'handicap' — it makes it difficult to do.

This 'handicap' is something that infants don't have.

Learning is new to them.

So if you are an adult trying to learn English or any other language,

then don't worry, it is possible.

It's not as easy as when you were very young, but it can be done.

And, as ever, my unscientific advice is to practise as much as possible

and try and immerse yourself in as much English as possible. Good luck.

That's all from this edition of Weekender.

BBC Learning English dot com.