Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleGoetz
To be fair, you most likely didn't learn so fast compared to the 22–28yos because you asked the teacher to correct your mistakes. You learned so fast because you were 12, which means you were not past the second critical period yet.
Once you pass the second critical period, learning languages for almost everyone becomes immeasurably more difficult.
The first critical period is while baby or toddler, and it marks the point where you start having trouble learning distinct sounds like the difference between aspirated and non-aspirated p as "different" sounds. To explain, the "p" in "pet" and the "p" in "happen" are the same sound to native English speakers, but to Spanish speakers, the "p" in "pet" does not exist, and to Hindi speakers, the two letters make words mean different things! English speakers don't even hear the difference unless they're told to listen for it. This is one reason Hindi is difficult for native English speakers to learn past a certain age. Also, one of the telltale signs of a gringo Spanish speaker is their use of the "pet-p" instead of "happen-p" at the beginning of words like "pajaro" (parrot) and "pelota" (ball).
The second critical period is around puberty, and it marks when, for most of the population, it will become nearly impossible to learn a new language to fluency.
There are exceptions, of course—usually those who already know multiple languages and thus "know" how to learn another or those who are musically-inclined (i.e., have an "ear" for sound).
Granted, this is all half-remembered from my linguistics class nearly ten years ago. But the fact remains that children find it much, much, much, much, much easier to learn a second language.
|
Well i quite agree with you, still why like ive met nobody in brazil that learned english so early? it might not be that amazing there but here its pretty much a hell of a nice thing, trust me, i have music inclination i also can understand a bit of french, italian (90% spoken but i NEVER studied or never watched for real an ita movie but anything on youtube in ita i can understand quite well and not all brazilians can do that AT ALL), i also speak a bit of spanish, my native language is portuguese-brazilian (different from portugal).
I think im an ok learner at languages and i wont give up on japanese, if you wanna help me out with it, feel free, ill be truly thankful XD!
