You’re Made to Learn: Debunking Language Learning Myths

Learning a language can be intimidating—scary even.  And as if hearing a blur of foreign sounds and seeing a page of alien words isn’t daunting enough, there are plenty of depressing theories about language learning that can convince us to throw in the towel before we’ve begun.  But there’s good news: many of these theories are simply wrong.

SEE ALSO: Is Learning English a Big Deal?

Whether you’re discouraged by your age or your circumstances, the truth is that you’re designed to learn languages.

Myth #1: Only young people can learn language

One of the biggest misconceptions is the need for youth.  It seems common knowledge that children have more flexible language-soaking brains, and as we age our brains’ plasticity weakens.

But studies show that adults learn languages more efficiently than children, who have lower standards for their second language just as they have for their first.

Adults, on the other hand, are expected to acquire complex grammar and extensive vocabulary in addition to comprehensible pronunciation before they win that fluency medal.  If you’re an adult, you have the advantage of a mature learning system that has developed through a lot more experience than the average five-year-old which enables you to learn a foreign language equally efficiently.

So if age is no reason to avoid your linguistic goals, what about environment? The idea that we can soak up language by immersion alone is also a misconception.

Myth #2: You can learn a language only if you’re exposed to native-speaking environment

Imagine that you have no previous exposure to Vietnamese and you’re sitting in a room of native speakers for two hours.  You witness bursts of laughter, concerned expressions and screams of assumed outrage without any clue about the conversation’s subject.  In the end you almost surely couldn’t translate Vietnamese any better than you could at the beginning of the stressful ordeal.  The language has to be made comprehensible somehow.

The fact that you’re reading this shows how technology allows us to choose our exposure to the input that makes language comprehensible.  Perhaps you can’t immerse yourself in a language, but no matter where you are, if you can access the internet, you can access these learning tools.  Whether you wish to learn basic vocabulary or improve pronunciation, you’re interacting with the solution right now.  The world is at your fingertips.

Myth #3: Bilingual children should use only one language both at school and at home – False

Ultimately, with native proficiency in any language, we all have the upper hand.  The brain can transpose its already established linguistic principles onto any other language.

This relates to the obsolete notion that a child must only be exposed to his target language for maximum learning efficacy.  For example, a child of a Spanish-speaking family in the U.S.  should speak only English in school and at home (No Spanish allowed!) to avoid confusion.  Studies prove, however, that honing Spanish at home would boost his English learning at school.

Many reasons for intimidation when it comes to learning a language are founded on misconceptions—myths.  If you’re an adolescent or an adult who’s studying English, research shows that you’ll learn faster than even the youngest, most pliable brains.  You have the advantage of experience, and with passion, dedication and discipline, you can reach your language goals.  After all, since you’re reading this you obviously have the resources.

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