In the first 3 years of a child's life, they acquire most of their native language, and they do it with no textbooks, no drills, no flashcards, no explanations and no language software. They learn by interacting with people and their surroundings.

How Do Kids Learn Language?

The first teachers in a kid's life are their parents and anybody else they can interact with. As kids start to become aware of the world around them, they begin to want to communicate. Talking is fun and it gets you what you want!

Kids seem to just absorb language, but it is actually much more complicated than that. Linguists believe that there is a build-in language apparatus programmed into the human brain. Because the brain is wired for language, all it takes is input. Once a kid hears language around them, the sounds, words and structures get plugged into this framework.

Language ability develops along with a child's overall mental and physical development, but without the constant language input around them, they will not become competent speakers of a language.

How Do Adults Learn Language?

Wouldn't it be nice if we could all absorb a second language the way kids do? A child who is exposed to two or more languages will pick them all up just as effortlessly. There is no genetic code that causes you to speak a certain language; it is all environmental.

But adults can learn something about second language learning by looking at how kids learn. Kids have a totally different way of learning the grammar rules than adults do. Adults study grammar analytically. In many cases, we may study a language from the grammar point of view first, and only later begin trying to speak the language.

With kids, it is exactly the opposite. Kids first hear the language, experiment with it, and internalize the rules rather than studying them. This method, by speaking and listening first and developing an intuitive sense of grammar, is what makes kids learn so effortlessly.

But, without some direction from adults, they will make mistakes. There is some conscious grammar learning involved. For instance, kids will often misuse past tense verbs, by saying things such as "I goed to the pool," or "He falled down." What is happening here is that they have actually learned the rule too well, and need to be taught the irregular forms of the verbs such as "went" and "fell!"

A New Way of Learning a Second Language

For adults who want to learn a second language, it can all be a bit discouraging. Kids soak up language like a sponge. There are some linguistic theories that language learning gets tougher as you get older. Then again, some of us just seem better than others at learning languages.

The fact is that many adults have trouble with languages because they don't go about learning them the right way. Now the tables are turned, and we can learn something from our kids! They have a built-in aptitude for language, but we have our own resources for learning languages. Let's look at how kids do it...

They are motivated. Communicating is fun for kids, and it's also a matter of survival. Put yourself into a situation where you need to use your second language to survive, and make studying and practicing fun.

Kids learn by doing, but also need to learn the rules. For adults, this means that you shouldn't chuck your textbooks right away. Even if you plan to get out there and talk your way to fluency, keep those study materials handy for the little grammar quirks that won't be so easy to figure out.

Although kids learn most of their native language by age 3, they learn at different paces. Some kids are slower than others, and they shouldn't be compared. We all learn differently, and it may take some time, so go at your own pace.

Finally, one of the biggest challenges for adults is that we're learning a NEW language, which is totally different from our first language. In this language, the subject go here and verb goes there, and so on. You have to keep your mind flexible and open. This is one reason why kids learn so easily. You have to get out of your first-language zone to get into the second language.

For more information on language learning, visit us at www.polyglotus.com

Peter Freeman