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elchivito · #10 11-07-2013, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zulfiqar

As Aklim said - you need full command of your first language to actually learn another. Half attempts dont work.

I speak multiple languages but to learn them I had to master my mother tongue and keep it in practice without which it would be impossible to get into the finer details of other languages which for me includes English.

If you're speaking of adults, no argument. But as bot stated, and I know personally and professionally to be true; children can learn two or three languages at once without confusion. It can be the tower of Babel for a while, but eventually they sort it out without issue. My son babbled along using whatever vocabulary he felt most comfortable with till about age three, when he began to distinguish, responding when spoken to in the same language, and choosing which language to use depending on who he was talking to. The girls did the same thing with English and spanish.
From birth to roughly pre-adolescence, actual hardwiring is taking place in the brain. Neural pathways are created in response to spoken language. Once those pathways are created, they don't go anywhere. Memorization takes a backseat in this learning scenario. They're still there in Bot's old noggin. If he takes a spanish immersion trip he'll be amazed at how fast the language comes back to him.
The growth process stops at about age 12, and anyone older than that who learns another language must rely solely on memorization. I see this all the time in school. Give me a kindergartner straight from southern Mexico who doesn't know a word of English, and she'll be able to use simple expressions to express her needs by Thanksgiving, and writing sentences by spring. The same kid entering school here at the age of 13 will find it infinitely more difficult to pick up English.