An Early Start to Foreign Language Learning

Today, there are 6 to 7,000 languages ​​in the world. Millions of children around the world began learning the second or even third language before going to high school. For example, over 200 million students in China are reading English at elementary school, but only 24,000 in English in the United States (Glod 1). The lack of bilingual rhythm is becoming an increasingly serious problem as the US competes globally with other economic powers.

When children and adults begin learning foreign languages, they develop cognitive skills, especially children. According to the American Foreign Language Education Committee, children who begin to learn foreign languages ​​in early childhood show a specific cognitive advantage over children without foreign languages. Studies of early learning education in Canada show that bilingual children develop persistent concepts faster than children without bilingualism. In other words, they know that objects with different names in other languages ​​remain the same no matter what they are called, and that the function of the object does not change. It also provides superior psychological flexibility and creative thinking skills over colleagues who speak only one language to their children.

The advantage of learning multiple languages ​​at a very young age is no longer a matter of guess. Scientists observed differences in the brains of people who learn foreign languages ​​soon. People who learn multiple languages ​​in early childhood hear and process all these languages ​​in the same area of ​​the brain. At the same time, those who learn languages ​​after this critical period treat new languages ​​in narrower areas that are far from their mother tongue.

Early language learning is most effective and effective, but it is possible to learn languages ​​throughout their lifecycle. Teenagers and adults can learn foreign languages ​​despite great difficulties. In fact, if they are immersed in a new language environment, they can learn the language well, but the special aspects such as accent are not as fully developed as the language they have learned previously I do not. Individual differences also vary the extent and duration of developmental sensitivity from individual to individual. Some people can master almost all aspects of foreign languages ​​until adulthood