Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Later language learning

Do you think that age has something to do with your ability of
learning or acquiring a second language?
According to some studys adult will never fully acquire a second
language :-(
Whats you're opinion about this argument?
Bye bye :-)

 Whats you're opinion about this argument?
It's not fair! ;-)

 learning or acquiring a second language?
Yes, but not only learning a second language: learning in general. I teach 
computer skills to seniors (I call them "kids over 40" so as not to offend 
them. The old geezers! :-) and for some of them, retaining what they've just 
learned is very difficult.
A typical conversation between me and a student:
-- [me] You can copy text by selecting it and clicking EDIT/COPY.
-- [student] I didn't know that.
-- [me; to myself] Funny. I told you that yesterday. Twice. No. three times.
-- 
Joey DoWop Dee
Remember: It is To Laugh

 [...] The old geezers! :-) [...]
One wonders, do old Ge'ezers speak Sabaean? :-)
--
Cingar

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One never thought of it before, but one certainly wonders *now*! :-)
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 -- [me; to myself] Funny. I told you that yesterday. Twice. No. three times.
My girlfriend is just like that student of yours, when it comes to
computers. It's not because of her age, though.
-- 

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Well, I'm glad of *that*! :-)
(Hm. Or maybe I'm *not*...)
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 wrote in message
news:1172657735.9...@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
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I think it is true for learning in general, not just for language learning,
but only because most people don't learn how to learn, and thus have
difficulty with the discipline required.
Joe from Massachusetts

 Bye bye :-)
Ciao

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Well, the ability to learn a language "naturally" decreases
dramatically after the very early teens.
I am not inventing this, of course, I've read quite a lot about it
(the most illuminating book is still Pinker's The Language Instinct) .
To put it quite simply, the neurons that were dedicated to that
wondrous phenomenon of "hearing chunks of language / distinguishing /
classifying / inferring the rules / speaking", which comes absolutely
naturally to baby humans, no matter what (or how many) languages
they're exposed to, have to start being used for something else.
Experiments have shown that siblings of different ages, who moved from
one country to another, have different skills in the new language
depending on their age - though maybe, in some cases, the differences
are not so obvious to the untrained ear. The speech organs too become
less flexible, thus making it impossible to pronounce exactly like a
native would.
After 10, 11 (more or less) other abilities come into play: a musical
ear, memory, logic ...(as well as motivation, necessity, training,
exposure etc etc)  that's why there are people who are absolutely
hopeless with foreign languages and others who may learn to sound
pretty much like natives.
I don't really think that exactly the same applies with other types of
learning, especially because, fortunately, we can continue to learn
quite a lot for much longer. Of course here too personal abilities and
motivation play a very important role. I have an idea that a lot of
older people convince themselves that they have more difficulty than
before, but, maybe, it's just that they have too much on their minds
or don't have the time, don't feel like, find it hard to concentrate.
Personally I'm 41 (in two days..) and I want to keep on learning new
stuff for a long time still. I don't find it more difficult, what IS
difficult is to organise myself... but to be honest I've always been a
bit like that, and I'm even a bit better than in my teens now...
Ciao
Claudia

 bit like that, and I'm even a bit better than in my teens now...
Good for you, and a very happy birthday to you!