Why can’t I learn a foreign language the way I managed to learn my mother tongue?

We all can learn words and phrases in order to start speaking a language. Moreover, that’s how it worked with us when we were kids — we heard things, learnt things and now all of us are capable of communicating using our native language. So why can’t I do that now?

Firstly, children learn things more quickly and they learn differently from adults. There are certain aspects of language learning that come more easily to a younger learner. For example, the ability to naturally acquire the same accent as a native speaker is easier for a child than it is for an adult. This means that adult learners often need to make the most of different learning strategies as opposed to children in order to be successful in learning a language. Compared to adults, children have more nerve cells that can actively create new connections. This is why they can learn new languages, learn to play an instrument, or pick up a new sport more easily than adults can. Another factor is time. Children have more time to spend learning – it’s a full-time job for them throughout their school years. Not many adults have the luxury of dedicating that amount of time to their own learning and, as they progress in their careers, they have even less time as they take on more responsibility.

Secondly, the learning process  works fundamentally  differently when we learn a foreign language, as opposed to learning your native language.  You already speak your mother tongue and you unconsciously compare a language you learn to your mother tongue. This is perfectly natural, although  it CAN bring some confusion to us as well. Every language is unique and has its individual traits, e.g. English has got so many tenses while Russian has got so many different endings for nouns and verbs (and so many exceptions as well!). A new language works as a new world of rules, sounds, words and phrases, e.g. when words like «симпатичная» and «sympathetic» come across, being a Russian you would think that «sympathetic» means «pretty» or «beautiful» (because that is what the literal translation for this word is). It is hard to stop thinking in your mother tongue as well. These are two major reasons why it is practically impossible for us to learn second languages as quickly and easily as we learnt our first.

We can of course however get really good at learning a second language and with time become fluent at it. Many people have before! An anxiety-free environment can help learners to achieve it.  Learners need to be exposed to interesting and understandable listening and reading material, to keep motivation high. At our lessons I will make sure you are given interesting topics which you will want to SPEAK about.