All ages are good to study a language
If you want to study a language, we are going to give you some advice about it. We will be clear that in childhood languages are acquired, whereas when it is adult learning. It is true that when we are children we are born adapted to choose native speakers, their accent, etc. But as we grow, each stage of our development provides some form of linguistic benefit, and it is easy to deduce that this makes it much easier for us to express ourselves and act. As the elderly offer certain difficulties in learning a foreign language, we could come to believe that it is best to start studying a language at an early age or never study it; Although, science gives us more complex answers about how we relate to language throughout our years of life. And it shows us that for the study of the new there is no age. What is clear is that each age gives us the tools we need to learn a language.
The differences, advantages and disadvantages, between children and adults when it comes to studying a language
According to experiences, when we are children we hear different sounds much better, while we can acquire and recognize different accents; On the other hand, when we get older, our attention span has developed much more and this makes it easier for us to acquire more vocabulary.
Some researchers conclude, given their experiences, that adolescents obtain certain advantages over children when it comes to learning a language, when they study with a teacher who explains the grammar rules.
Multiple experiments have been carried out, on one occasion three separate groups comprising 8-year-olds, 12-year-olds and young adults were compared. It was the adults who received the best and highest marks than the other two groups of minors, at the same time that the 12-year-olds were also superior to the youngest.
However, the minors turned out to be more outstanding in implicit language. That is, in listening to those who speak their native language and imitating it. The most curious thing about the investigations is that they captured that newborns cry with an accent, because they try to imitate the voice they have heard while they were in their mother's womb.
What is the best way to study a language?
Naturally it will depend on the age and taking into account the circumstances of the students. Of course, children can learn a language by themselves, but it is on the basis of living in an environment in which they have to live with the foreign language they have to learn, or else attending a language school for children. But the reasons for the study do not pressure him and will depend on several premises: age, willingness of the parents to teach him, if he can read.
Research in this regard has shown that the child develops their abilities to solve difficulties, while generating all this with a considerable increase in flexibility in the mind.
In the market and online there are all kinds of offers so that adults and children can choose the method that best suits them for their characteristics and thus, be able to study the chosen language with ease.
Whatever age you are, the following tips that could be considered universal may come in handy.
Some tips for personal study of a language
- Create a suitable atmosphere in your home, with posters that refer to the chosen language.
- Listen to songs of the language you study on purpose at your age.
- Join groups that, like you, study the same language on their own, in order to practice it. Of course, learning with people who have the same concerns and goals and doing it while having fun is a great help. However, at the end of it all, if you don't take seriously the commitment you made when you started studying a language, outside help will be of no use to you.
- Connect with YouTube to learn children's songs or songs for your age in the language you study, to watch movies that are available for all ages.
- Set yourself a daily goal that is easy for you to achieve: learn five words a day, the conjugation of a verb, etc.
- Write a kind of journal in the language of study, in which you comment each day on what you have done. As is logical, the words that you do not know are substituted with the corresponding one in Spanish while you look in the dictionary which is the correct one. After a few dates you will see that you need less and less to use the Spanish vocabulary.
- Dedicate a reasonable time to study so as not to tire of the language, that you always have the feeling of power and of wanting more.
Remember that studying on your own demands responsibility
Whether you are old or young, learning a language because it excites you is something worth admiring. The human being is never finished doing, it is built every day based on challenges. No goal that you set out to achieve in your life will be easy to achieve, it requires a commitment. But current technological development allows us to achieve goals that were difficult to imagine before, and all this has been the result of the common effort of societies. This current development puts at your disposal , small or larger, a wealth of wisdom, so that you can achieve what past generations could not achieve and not even dream of.