You've probably heard that it's incredibly hard for adults to learn a second language, and you may even have evidence that you've tried it yourself and it didn't work out. But that might be because you took the wrong approach.
Stephen Krashen In the 1980s, Krashen, now a professor emeritus at the University of Southern California, developed the Comprehensible Input Theory of language acquisition. Acquire, in contrast learnis the key.
Learning is what you did in school: memorizing vocabulary lists and grammar rules, taking tests, and awkward pronunciation. Hello Juan or What about comments? Acquisition, on the other hand, is when you learn a second language in much the same way that you learned your native language — by listening to and speaking that language — and your brain does the rest, without any conscious effort on your part.
In a way, comprehensible input, or CI as its proponents call it, is like being thrown into the deep end of a swimming pool and having to learn how to swim. But with language learning, it's not as traumatic or cruel, because the brain can learn a language just by being surrounded by it. Pattern Recognition Machinethat is, sorting out the patterns of language, is part of that skill set – in fact, that's how you learned your native language.
How do babies learn language?
Babies pick up their native language with ease, or at least it seems that way. How? It's not by poring over vocabulary lists or filling out grammar worksheets. Parents don't sit their kids down with flashcards. Instead, they talk to them. And before long, they start talking.
It seems magical, but it's not: children are born with the ability to process the statistical patterns of language, making them well suited to learning language. Roberta Michnik GolinkoffHe is a cognitive scientist and language learning expert from the University of Delaware.
But there's a way in which this happens, even if it's largely unconscious for both the child and the parent: Golinkov points out that adults have a special way of speaking to babies.
“You're not going to talk to your kids about death or taxes,” she says. “Parents tend to talk to them in a way that provides for their needs: 'Oh, look at these little shoes. They're red.' It's mostly about the here and now.”
In the chapter “From Coo to Code: A Short Story of Language Development,” The Oxford Handbook of Developmental PsychologyGolinkov and his co-authors say parents should also “ Speech for young children When talking to a baby, we speak slowly, in short phrases, simple words, and with exaggerated intonation. We call this “baby talk.” the study Babies love it and it's proven to help them learn languages.
read more: Your native language may wire your brain in unique ways
How to learn a language with understandable input
Of course, you're not a baby anymore, and no one is doting on you and baby-talking you in the language you want to learn, but the CI method offers something similar.
The process of learning a second language with CI has many variations, but it generally works like this: Find content in the language you want to learn and listen to (and possibly read) the material regularly. It's important that the material is understandable (the understandable part is key). Simply tuning into a foreign language TV station and listening to an unfamiliar language won't make much progress.
But if you start with the adult equivalent of babble – simple words supported by gestures, pointing and pictures – you'll slowly improve. As you process more information, you'll be able to understand more complex content. Gradually increase the complexity until, like a child, you're able to understand and speak the new language with relative ease.
Ideally, you'll find content that you can not only understand but also enjoy. The best content is material that's so interesting that you forget you're listening to a foreign language. These days, finding such content is easier than ever. Websites and podcasts offer a wealth of material for all levels, from YouTube videos to apps and online courses. And social media makes it easy to find talk partners to speak to in your target language.
read more: How language shapes our understanding of reality
Why it's hard to learn a language as an adult
John Grundy A neuroscientist at Iowa State University who studies brain plasticity and bilingualism, he explains that one of the biggest differences between learning a language as a child and learning a new language as an adult is that children are constantly immersed in a linguistic environment, having conversations with their parents and sometimes siblings.
But time-pressed adults typically study in a classroom a few times a week or teach themselves with books and videos. If adults could experience the same immersion as kids, they would learn more and faster, Grundy says. While CI can't provide that level of immersion, it comes a lot closer than a typical classroom experience.
Just as babies don't magically learn, CI is not a magic wand for language learning – it has to be learned over time. Popular Shows It's estimated that learning Spanish with CI requires 600 hours of study to reach an advanced level (still not at native speaker level). That's a long time, but it's not like you learned your native language overnight. Proponents say that if the material is interesting enough, CI can be a fun and effective way to learn a second language.
read more: How learning a language changes the brain
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Avery Hart is a freelance science journalist. In addition to contributing to Discover, she writes regularly for both print and online publications, including National Geographic, Science News Explorers, Medscape, and WebMD. She is the author of Bullet With Your Name on It: What You Will Probably Die From and What You Can Do About It (Clerisy Press 2007) and several books for young readers. Avery pursued journalism during college, writing for her school newspaper and editing a student nonfiction magazine. She writes about all areas of science, but is particularly interested in neuroscience, the science of consciousness, and AI; interests she developed while earning a degree in philosophy.