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If you’re having trouble learning a new language, consider the story of Genie Wiley.

As a 13-year-old girl, Genie couldn’t speak a word in any language, because for a decade, her abusive father kept her confined to a crib in a locked bedroom, never speaking to her. Deprived of stimulation for 13 years, even as an adult she never developed more than a child’s capacity for language, despite much work with psychologists and language specialists.

Working with Genie in the 1970s made linguists reconsider language development in early childhood. Specifically, they hypothesized that there is a “critical period” in early childhood in which a child must learn language. After that age, it would be difficult to impossible for someone to become fluent in a language. Many researchers apply the same hypothesis to second language learning.

So is it easier to learn English as a child?
The short answer: Yes.

The long answer: It’s not that simple.

General assumptions posit that children learn languages faster than adults, but research shows that kids and adults just learn differently.

How do children best learn language?
Early in development, children have yet to acquire the categorical thinking skills in their first language that allow them to memorize complex conjugations and grammatical structures. So young second language learners generally develop grammar by trial and error.

“The more mistakes you make, the faster you become a confident language learner.”

Benny Lewis
7 Languages
Fluent in 3 Months

Because their wellbeing hinges on communication, children generally favor coherent meaning over grammatical perfection and are more willing to make mistakes, says a 1976 study by Susan Oyama at Harvard University. Likewise, desperate to communicate, children generally broaden their vocabulary more rapidly than adults, and they tend to retain it longer.

How do adults best learn language?
Drawing from categorical thinking skills and constructions in their first language, adults can generally learn the grammar of a second language more quickly than children. This is why high school and college classes teach tense and conjugation at a faster pace than primary schools.

However, because adults tend to learn better under explicit and repetitive grammatical instruction, they experience difficulty in immersion environments. Their independence and fluency in a first language can make adults hesitant to communicate imperfectly in their second language.

So who learns language more effectively?
As it turns out, present research is inconclusive. Children seem to do better with pronunciation and vocabulary retention while adults acquire grammar more efficiently.

One advantage children do have in learning a new language is their ability to distinguish sounds that don’t occur in their first language. By contrast, adults are so attuned to the sounds in their first language that it’s difficult–though not impossible–to hear new ones.

Yet, when it comes to ultimate attainment (the highest level of proficiency a learner will reach), researchers Ehrman and Oxford argue in a 1995 study that, while age might offer different paths to development, motivation, beliefs about oneself, and time spent using the language are better indicators of a learner’s ability to reach native-like fluency.

“Truth is, nothing comes by itself. You need to motivate yourself, create a system, and stick to your plan as much as possible. There is always work at play.”

Lydia Machová
9 Languages
Language Mentoring

At best, research on age-based linguistic aptitudes can help teachers and students plan lessons that target their natural strengths. What research can’t do is prescribe which age group will be more successful using a new language. E-NEWS
如果你在学习一门新语言方面有困难，想想安妮的故事。安妮自小便受到养父的虐待，有十年的时间安妮都被养父关在房间里，从不和她交流，导致安妮成年后她的语言能力也从未超过儿童的水平。语言学家们经过研究，提出儿童学习语言有一个“关键时期”的假设。在这个年龄后，一个人想要流利的掌握一门语言就很难做到了。
我们一般认为儿童学习语言比成年人快。但是研究表明，孩子和成年人只是学习方式不同。
在发展的早期，年轻的第二语言学习者通常通过尝试和错误来发展语法。你犯的错误越多，你就越快成为一个自信的语言学习者。
孩子们非常渴望交流，他们的词汇量通常比成年人扩展的更快，也往往保留的更久。
成年人更加倾向于在明确和重复的语法指导下来学习语言。由于成年人的独立性和母语的流利性，会使成年人不愿意用第二语言进行不完美的交流。
儿童似乎在发音和词汇记忆方面做得更好，而成年人学习语法的效率更高。
“事实是，没有什么是自然而然来的。你需要激励自己，建立一个系统，并尽可能地坚持你的计划。”