You Don't Have to Be a Kid to Learn a Foreign Language

You've probably heard that children are better at learning languages than adults are, that they learn faster. You've probably also heard that after a certain age, learning languages becomes harder and harder. Once that "window" closes, learning additional languages is difficult.

Well, guess what? Every one of those "facts" are wrong.

Children do not learn faster than adults; quite the opposite. Think about it. Adults have the advantage of knowing how to read and write, they have life experience that kids are still picking up along with their languages. In fact, adults who use a good language learning method can learn to speak as well in four to six months as a child does in about five years.

People are hard-wired to learn languages and that "wiring" does not go away as you get older. The problem is that people tend to try and learn languages the way they try to learn other things... from books. But you didn't learn your first language that way, you learned by listening and responding. That's how you need to learn your next language, with a system that emphasizes that approach.