At what age is it best to start learning a foreign language?

The answer to this question depends largely on what goals we have set for ourselves and how much foreign languages are given to us. However, if we are talking about proficiency in a foreign language of the bilingualism type, then we can undoubtedly state that the sooner the better. That is, with childbirth it is better than 3 years, at 3 years it is better than 7, and so on...

Not a few studies prove that the period for learning a foreign language at the mother tongue level is limited to 10-12 years of age. After this age, a person's ability to perceive in depth the peculiarities of a new language decreases. However, scientists do not agree on this point. Some of them consider that difficulties with learning a foreign language after puberty are mostly associated with the inability to pronounce the foreign language perfectly, i.e. There is almost always a distinct accent of the mother tongue. The very ability to learn a new language does not diminish, and in favor of this opinion are the many examples of people who began to learn a foreign language in adolescence or even after, reaching a level excellent knowledge of one or more other languages.

After all, what is the best childhood age to learn a foreign language?

If we are not talking about the cases where children are bilinguals, the best age for learning a foreign language is between three and four years of age. Approximately at this age, children have already learned and laid the foundations of their mother tongue. From here on, you can safely start learning a foreign language on two levels: playful and sound. Especially suitable are easy songs and poems that develop children's auditory memory and connect certain visual images of objects with specific sounds.

Only after the age of 6 can certain grammatical rules of the foreign language be introduced.

Why at Different Ages Learn Differently

Foreign-language words learned at a young age lead to stimulation of auditory memory in the brain. In this way, an unexplained mechanism is triggered according to grammatical rules, which, however, works flawlessly and "suggests" what is right and what is not.

When learning a language at a later age, the frontal part of the brain is activated, which is associated not with the auditory, but with the rational mechanism for learning a foreign language.

Children learn a foreign language more easily, but adults have more experience with learning mechanisms

In conclusion, we could say that learning a foreign language at a later age is not necessarily more difficult than that in childhood, but simply different. The adult uses different learning mechanisms and draws on his previous experience, which in many cases can be extremely useful.