Learning Languages Beyond the Critical Period

Can you really learn a language in 5 minutes a day?

What does it mean to be fluent in a language?

Can you really learn a language with automated software?

Can you teach yourself a language?

Many language experts believe it takes concentrated effort over a lengthy time to learn a second or third or tenth language (what have you) beyond the critical age for language learning. Erik Lenneberg’s Critical Age Hypothesis has been studied and interpreted to refer to anywhere from 5 years old to puberty to 18 years old.

Other than age, there are many factors that contribute to language learning. Some of these include your extrinsic and intrinsic motivations for studying and learning a language, the teaching and learning approach and methods of instruction, the skill of the teacher and techniques used in language instruction, how similar or different the native language and the target language are or how much they have in common.

Some people have a “knack” for learning languages. Are you learning a language by immersion, in a city or country where the language is spoken natively? Or are you learning it in a sanitized classroom? Memorization of sentences or vocabulary will probably not lead you to fluency in the language. Intensive study of numerous hours per day for a few months may lead to breadth of knowledge but not depth of knowledge that comes with more sustained, lengthy periods of study and especially with immersion studies.

Some people claim “learning Spanish is so easy.” They are probably referring to spelling or pronunciation. It takes much more than just spelling to learn another language. Russian and Greek use a different alphabet. Chinese uses thousands of logographs. Japanese uses two syllabaries and logographs. Those are just the writing systems. You also need to learn the phonology, vocabulary, and syntax of the target language as well as idiomatic usage and how to appropriately use the language in society.

What is essential are opportunities like interaction with proficient speakers, using the language in context, the chance to experiment with and use the target language creatively (with novel utterances), and using the language in real-life situations.

Proficiency and fluency in the various language skills are evaluated by many classification schemes and organizations: ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), the National Reporting System (NRS) for Adult Education - Educational Functioning Level Descriptors for English as a Second Language, and CEFR (Common European Framework Reference for Languages) are just a few.