In a world where culture, traditions and lifestyles vary, the quickest and clearest window to bridge these differences has been language. It is the cheat code to learn about a culture different from yours. But apart from learning a different language, the one which is native to you is the bridge you have to form human connections. It is what helps you to be understood and it is how you understand; as the famous saying goes ‘communication is all we have, at the end of the day’.
Well, if communication is all we have then language is our greatest asset – one that has the ability to create as well as to destroy.
So, the question arises when the right time is to start learning a language, especially one that isn’t native to your tongue. A principal of a nursery school said, “At a young age, children don’t learn a language – they acquire it”. This certainly implies that the best time to pick up a language is at early childhood, when there are fewer conceptions formed and the mind is like a sponge – soaking up everything that it interacts with in order to gain information about the world it has entered. Studies have shown that young children excel at learning explicitly. Which means they have the ability of picking up a language just by listening to a native speaker and by imitating them.
Studies have shown that babies can hear all of the 600 consonants and 200 vowels that make up all the languages of the world.
When to start to specialise in the ones we are learning, tuning into the sounds we hear most frequently, we start to let go of the recognition of all the consonants and vowels. That means with specialising we start to shed skills we don’t need. The earlier age you start to learn a new language, the wider your skill set is also probable to be – since it already stores the memory of sound.
Anotnella Sorace, a scholar in the field of linguistic development states that early years are absolutely imperative for acquiring a language. Studies have also shown that if children are not taught human speech early on, it is difficult to make up for it later. Danijela Trenkic, a psycholinguist at the University of York also relied on a study to support the claims language is better picked up at a younger age as opposed to picking it up as an adult. Studies relied upon by her show that when a family moves countries, the children pick up the language faster than the adults.
Apart from a young age probably being the best time for a child to learn languages there are various other benefits that contribute to the holistic development of the child. Studies have shown that having a large vocabulary actually enhances creativity and helps one come up with unique ideas. In fact, there have been studies and research that also show the negative implications which comes with not learning how to communicate. But, let us not indulge in the emptiness of the glass half-full and rather, quench our thirst with that which is provided and available.