How Small Children Learn a Language

There's a fundamental difference between the way small children learn a new language and the way adults and teenagers do.

Everyone knows that small children can pick up a language the way a sponge soaks up water. There's a very good reason for their amazing ability. All humans are born pre-programmed to learn to speak whatever language we hear spoken around us. It becomes our native language - and learning our native language is as natural to us as walking on two legs.

So when a baby is born, it immediately begins to pick up the sounds, rhythms and intonations of its parents' language. First it starts to coo, then usually before its first birthday, it starts to babble. According to the scientists who study the sounds babies make, it's already possible at this stage to distinguish between a baby who will grow up to speak English and a baby who will grow up to speak Mandarin as its native language.

Some time around or after its first birthday, an infant starts to say its first words. These are typically names for important people in its life - Mamma, Dadda; important concepts - no, mine; everyday objects - car; and animals - dog.

Then, as the infant becomes a toddler, it starts to create its own mini-sentences:- Mummy here, Daddy play, my toy.

Before it's five years old, a small child’s language has really come on. The child has worked out the basic rules and patterns of its native language, although it's normal for children to over-generalise at this age and make up sentences like:- I treaded on it and it hurted my foots.

Finally, somewhere between the ages of eight and eleven years old, the child discovers the exceptions to these rules and patterns and learns to produce the 'correct' adult version:- I trod on it and it hurt my feet.

And then - the native language learning programme in the brain shuts down. It's done its job and has turned a language-less baby into a native speaker of a language. Of course, this means that if you want or need to learn a language as an adult or teenager, you have to use a completely different learning strategy.

Get an Alcuin language course - with a learning strategy for adults and teenagers.