You Want to Learn a New Language, But Have You Missed the Boat?

Anyone interested in learning an additional language as an adult has probably heard some people say there is little point in trying once you are no longer a child. Usually this has to do with the belief that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, or more specifically that synaptic pruning will have settled in long ago and you won’t be able to pronounce new sounds. As we say on our website, synaptic pruning is a metaphor for describing the maturation of cognitive intelligence and behaviour in children in terms of “weeding out” the weaker synapses. In other words, when it comes to language skills, the human brain will weed out the ability to make certain sounds if they are not heard or practiced often enough in early childhood.

So why bother, right? (Cue one of our dad's favourite Homer Simpson quotes…) 

While facts about synaptic pruning could certainly lead someone to be defeatist about additional language learning later in life, this blog post is trekking out to slay that dragon in your mind. The simple answer to the title question is: No, it’s never too late to learn. A more nuanced answer is that yes, synaptic pruning in the area of language will have settled in before you reach adulthood but that does not render learning additional languages an absolutely lost cause. Here are 4 concrete actions anyone can take in order to put language learning back into their bucket-list bucket. 

1. Don’t choose just ANY language - choose the right target language(s) for you.

This may seem impossible - “You mean, speak lots of different languages in order to decide which one I want to learn? That makes no sense!” - but it’s not actually impossible to test out whether learning certain languages might be easier for you than others. Everyone reacts to languages differently, and finding one that excites your brain will increase your chances of sticking with it. Choosing a language almost at random might not work for you, just as perhaps having a second language class rather arbitrarily assigned to you in high school (out of an incredible small pool of options at that!) may not have ultimately panned out for you. 

Certainly keep in mind that if you took a second language in high school just because you had to and then you never stuck with it afterward, it might not actually be the best one to go back to as an adult. But it doesn’t mean that time was wasted either; studying one additional language even for a short time can absolutely make it easier to learn a third language or more, if for no other reason than trying one language on for size made you familiar with or at least aware of grammar structures and other language functions that can exist outside of English. The reason to “shop around before you commit” is that some people have more success with the sounds of one language over another, or with one language’s grammar over another; some genres of writing in one language pique more interest compared to others, and so on. Even though my native language is English, to my surprise I found that Romance languages were more difficult for me than Mandarin. When I finally heard Mandarin in a class, I just knew it was a good mental “fit” for me. 

And now, the HOW

There are so many fun ways to get curious and gather relevant information about different languages without going to the extent of signing up for 8 different classes and spending weeks or months of your time. If you really don’t have an idea of where to start, try watching a list of various foreign language movies in any genre or genres you want, preferably ones that have garnered a lot of awards. Ask yourself which of those literally “speak” to you. Could there be some cultural touchstones in any of the movies, enhanced by the language spoken, which could point you in some direction? 

Music is even easier to acquire and consume. It’s a fairly low budget and low time-consuming commitment to create one playlist of songs in any genre from several different artists, each singing in a different language, and then go for a walk, and listen. Then ask yourself which language(s) sounded the most like you could pronounce it/them, or with which one(s) did you feel you could piece out sounds that you are pretty sure are individual words? Could your brain be gravitating to those sounds/that language?

2. Be clear about your goals and what level of achievement would make you happiest. 

When you picture yourself “knowing” the language you are excited to learn, what are you doing in your mental image? Are you tucked into a bay window of some fabulous mansion’s library, engrossed in the sunlit pages of a novel written in your second language? (Ok maybe the mansion library is unattainable but you can still imagine yourself doing long-form reading.) Or is your dream to converse with a group of friends at high verbal speed, belly laughing and all? At their core, these are two very different skills. Being good at one skill will absolutely contribute to improving others for various reasons but keep in mind that full fluency does not have to be your goal. 

Doing a deep dive into some but not all of the aspects of the seven language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening, grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation) is perfectly fine, depending on what your idea of ‘good enough’ is. Not everyone has to be able to listen to and understand a radio broadcast of their second language at top news-anchor speeds and also be able to write their diary entry, speak to a taxi driver, and finish reading that graphic novel in their second language all in the same day. Language teachers will tell you you must improve all of those seven skills to achieve fluency, and they would be right, but it’s not critical to go for full fluency when you aren’t being graded or using the language for an important, life-or-death job. It’s your brain, and it’s your hobby, after all! You’re allowed to simply enjoy the process, fast or slow. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. 

And now, the HOW

As a beginner, if you can, it is definitely best to start off learning any new language by taking classroom lessons or being tutored by a professional. But after a while it is possible to move on to self-study especially if you have picked a particular skill that interests you the most. Of course it is always beneficial to become “well-rounded” in your language pursuits by studying what’s called comprehensible input (reading and listening) as well as practicing comprehensible output (speaking and writing), but if you are just learning for pleasure and you aren’t planning to take any kind of test, then you do have the option to set out to be a fluent reader but perhaps not a fluent speaker, or a fluent speaker but not a fluent writer, and so on. Take as much or as little time as you want, starting and stopping, going in peaks and valleys of studying as the rest of life tends to fill in your time. Your brain will still reap the benefits of you persevering and getting better over time, even if it’s little by little, particularly if you never give up and always come back to it.

3. Don’t be intimidated by errors or feeling like you have to get “the perfect accent”.

I’m not going to lie - it’s very satisfying and fun to get good at achieving a native-speaker-like accent. You’ll never stop getting compliments! But if you simply cannot master certain sounds in your favourite second language, that should not deter you from learning it. Pronunciation is only one of those aforementioned seven skills, and really, “perfect” is in the eye of the ear-holder (see what I did there? DAD JOKE ALERT!). Sometimes people forget that literally everyone has an accent; they think that their own voice is somehow neutral and it’s all those other people out there who are the ones who have accents, but of course that isn’t true. If you have ever had a misunderstanding in your native language because of accidentally blurting out the wrong vocabulary word or flubbing your pronunciation of a word (which, let’s be real, literally everyone has), there is no reason to be overly shy about making errors in your second or additional language(s).

4. Once you have been at it for a while, don’t be turned off when you reach a plateau.

Technically you will never even stop learning your own, native language - think about that! Sure, you are fluent now, but you don’t know everything there is to know about grammar nor do you know every single word in your native language. If you focus on why you want to learn your target language and connect concrete achievement milestones to that, then you can comfortably ignore or just put off aspects of the language that don’t fully build toward your goal, at least until you are ready to address them. For example, if you want to get through a set amount of time listening to native speakers discuss a topic (in other words, to increase your listening fluency) do listening tasks. Listen to podcasts and watch videos in your target language, and don’t worry as much that, say, your writing is at a plateau right now. When you are ready to improve your writing, you can refocus on that aspect of your goals. 

And now, the HOW

Refreshing/rethinking the tools you use, or reinvesting in tools that have worked for you in the past that you have fallen off of using are keys to pushing through a plateau. Using Mandarin as an example, even if you are not learning Mandarin, thinking about language in the following way may help you identify your own areas of plateau and find ways to keep improving. When it comes to reading, Mandarin learners can be faced with four roadblocks to fluency:

a) understanding a character in terms of knowing the meaning in English when reading, but not actually knowing how to read it aloud as a Mandarin word.

b) being able to read a character aloud in terms of pronouncing its Pinyin, ie. as a sound in Mandarin, but not actually knowing the meaning in English.

c) being able to “read” a character in terms of pronouncing its Pinyin but not knowing its tone. Ex. What if you know that 行 means OK/Alright and is pronounced “xing” but aren’t sure if it’s 1st tone (the “flat” note), 2nd (the “rising” note), 3rd (the “dipping” note), or 4th (the “falling” note), or is the arguable “5th” tone which is basically a quick, “dropped” note. 

d) knowing the sound and meaning of a Mandarin word in terms of being able to use it when speaking, but not knowing what it looks like in writing and therefore not being able to read it despite “knowing” it aurally.

The tool I use to combat this is something I developed called Bilingual Boats (they look like rowboats!).

I created them because the other character practice sheets out there did not allow me to engage with my reading material fully in the way I wanted to. Bilingual Boats help me when:

• I need the English definitions, the Pinyin spelling, and the tones to be shown together, or
• I know the English definition but still need the reminder of the Pinyin and the tones, or
• I know how to pronounce the word in Mandarin, but still need to record the English definition, or
• I know English meaning and Pinyin spelling but need a reminder about which tones to use

This demo video explains them fully:

 

We believe in this product so much that we have turned it into a digital download to make it that much more accessible for all our fellow language learners out there who are studying any character-based language. But wait - there's more! 😜 Sign up for our newsletter and we will send you that digital download of our Bilingual Boats for free.

Another way to push through plateaus is to mix or alternate extensive AND intensive reading, or extensive and intensive listening practice. Improving these input skills will help your output skills (speaking and writing) because they will expand your vocabulary and exposure to grammar used in context. One might think that “intensive” is for short passages and “extensive” is for long passages, but it’s the other way around. When it comes to language learning, "extensive" practice means you read or listen kind of voraciously but only with materials that are at or below your current level. Such materials will usually contain a lower word count and fewer words you don't yet know. When you avoid needing to stop to check your dictionary as often, you get through reading or listening activities more quickly, thereby racking up a more “extensive” bank of works you have completed. “Intensive” refers to longer, in-depth materials that require more focus and patience, but they are of course worth working on so that you also spend time reaching just above your level. In other words, extensive reading or listening helps you maintain and consolidate your knowledge whereas intensive reading or listening helps you move beyond what you already know. (One thing I love about Bilingual Boats is that they are great for both extensive or intensive reading and writing).

At the end of the day, if you are picking up a new language for pleasure, you can’t really do it “wrong”. Just be like Dory from Finding Nemo (but hopefully without the chronic short term memory loss!).

只是不停游泳! = Zhǐshì bù tíng yóuyǒng = Just don’t stop swimming!  

– Rebecca