Speaking our language

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/at-what-age-does-our-ability-to-learn-a-new-language-like-a-native-speaker-disappear/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=other&utm_campaign=opencourse.GdeNrll1EeSROyIACtiVvg.announcements~opencourse.GdeNrll1EeSROyIACtiVvg.vw-2LlUHEeiTfgp7g8qx2g#


O dear, are we still having this discussion? 

I'm with Professor Newport: the way to learn more than one language as a native speaker is to start as early as possible. In Scotland, we start Gaelic learners at the Croileagan (Parent & Toddler Groups) when they are about a year old. Children go on to nursery at 3 or 4 and then to primary. All these experiences take place in Gaelic. It's only at about P4 that English is introduced into the Gaelic classroom. 

The need for immersion is very clear: children in Scotland are bombarded with English and Scots from family, friends and TV all the time. The classroom has to be dedicated to Gaelic to make progress. This reflects how endangered Gaelic is: it needs extra support. And the technique is working. In 1985 we had 24 children being educated through the medium of Gaelic in two centres. 30-odd years later, we're heading for the 4,000 mark in 19 local authorities. 

That said, many people grow up (over 50% of the population of the world) able to communicate in more than one language without any formal teaching. If the rule in your community is that you need to be bi- or tri-lingual, that's how you are. But you are unlikely to be able to read and write in all the languages you are able to talk and understand. 

Many children in Scotland grow up able to speak the languages of both their parents: I know children who speak Dutch to their mother, Spanish to their father and learn through English at school. I also know one boy who attends Gaelic school and is fluent, but speaks Scots and English at home with his dad and Spanish with his Chilean mother. And we have many young people who speak English and Scots at school but Chinese or Urdu at home. In the past, this was seen as a problem because the 'native' language would interfere with the acquired language. We now understand that this is nonsense: children learning more than one language have a better understanding of how language in general works. I studied French and Russian to a high level and went on to learn some Spanish, some German and some Gaelic. I can read all those languages and Italian too by applying the rules of language I learned when learning French and Russian.

There's nothing to stop people speaking a second or third or fourth language very well if they start in adulthood. They won't be native speakers of their acquired languages but, for communication purposes, if they are taught well and study well, they will be good communicators.

One thing we have to do as language teachers is understand the students' preferred learning style: older learners prefer to see things written down. This is usually how they were taught at school. Young learners are happy with the hearing/saying method. Interestingly, young children with difficulties with reading and writing enjoy the experience of learning a new language. They have got used to relying on their memory and, at least in the early stages, respond well to hearing/saying.

I've taught students in their 70s up to Higher level and they did very well. While I accept that some people have an aptitude for language (as others do for music or art), I don't think we should let that put most people off tackling a new language. 

Last week I had lunch with people I was at university with 50 years ago and we are quietly pleased that research shows that learning languages keeps the brain active - and dementia at bay!