How to learn a language after 40
Hi, I'm Chris. I'm the owner of OuiCommunicate.
Learning a language as an adult can seem like a daunting task. But it needn't be.
Very often, the idea we have of the scary thing is less scary than the thing itself.
It's true for French also!
Does it work?
The lady in the video was just like you. She started French with me as an adult and got so good… we actually did a podcast together in French!
She used the exact same learning material I propose to you today. And the same teacher.
Read the review she left us on My Business…or read the transcript below.
Let's talk about age
If you are reading this article, age probably matters to you and causes you to wonder if you are still capable. Is your mind past it and can you learn French?
It is hard to deny that we don’t live in an “ageist” world. Everything needs to be associated with “young” – from trends, to ways of thinking, to inventions. Even the internet has the connotation of being “young”.
We are somehow pressured into thinking that everything young is at the forefront of modernity. And we forget that we are basing many of our values on a human state that lasts for a very short while and stands at the very opposite of maturity. It’s quite funny, in a sense. We are knowingly following a trend that we know cannot be wise or mature.
Many people feel worried to find themselves in a state that is the opposite of young. They figure that by default they are now “old”. The self-doubt slips in and they wonder what’s left in the old tank.
The truth of the matter is that the benefits of “young” only serve for a very few limited advantages. They can perform better at competitive sports, they can handle hangovers better and they can get through a day by only sleeping 4 hours.
To believe that there are any other physical or mental advantages is incorrect. Or at least, they’d be theoretical and underused by young people anyway. In a word, the “young” people are not outperforming you.
The advantage of age
Young and old are not so distant as you might think. When approaching the task of learning a language, both are essentially facing the same difficulty: they think back on their school years and try to remember how learning works.
Older learners have a foggier idea of their days in school or college. They remember that they sat in class while the teacher told them stuff and occasionally did homework. They perceive studies as a period in their life that is contrary to the stage of aging. It causes worry.
Young people have no better idea how school works despite being involved with it. Their lack of maturity prevents them from seeing the “larger picture” and to properly understand the rules of the game. They go to school, day in/day out while on full automatic mode.
Even teenagers believe that sitting in a French class is enough to teach them the language. Most that I’ve met have no method or comprehension of what is expected of them. They often think the miracle will “happen” by attending.
The issue that I am pointing at is that young and old are both influenced by their experience in school or college. The status of school as the Gold Standard wrongly shapes the idea of how a language is best learned.
Because of the time gone by, older adults have a better chance at separating the school experience with the present task of learning a language. Young people being still involved in an assisted way of living will find it much harder to develop the necessary self-discipline, and step out of a school-like behaviour.
The advantage of maturity
As we mentioned above, because of the ever-present idea of “young” in all facets of life, we find ourselves in a constant scramble for modern inventions. Coffee tasted just as fine 300 years ago, but now the machine needs a timer and a USB charger.
The fact that all the smart things we ever need to hear have been said centuries ago by the Greek Philosophers carries no weight. We still think that somehow, “young” will outdo this wisdom of the ages. An Elon Musk and his angular car is seen as brainy and inventive. We don’t quite know why we think this. We just do.
A mature learner has the advantage of being able to put events into perspective. They are less prone to falling victims to fads. “There ain’t nothing new under the sun” can only be truly said after a number of years walking this planet. Soon enough, we see that true breakthroughs and far and few between.
In the field of education and language teaching, I unapologetically declare that every single nonsensical invention was made by, and targeted towards young people. Specialists now decry a lack of basic reading abilities among college graduates all because of modern reforms in the way kids learned to read.
Instead of encouraging students to make lateral connections and find depth in meaning, modern testing invented Multiple Choice Questions tests that did anything but develop thinking.
Today, there are all manner of phone apps and learning platforms that promise fun and effortless learning. If we are not careful, common sense finds itself competing with the latest trend, battling for the customer’s attention in the internet marketplace.
Yet one one of the two learning methods has proven benefits: the good old paper-to hand-to brain method. It is a verifiable fact that the marvels of architecture, philosophy, mathematics, literature and art were all done to the highest level before “modern” came to us.
Certainly, technology is a valuable aid in the fields of health and mechanics. But has it ever done anything for the quality of our learning and our thinking? Indirectly perhaps, but not as a main purpose.
Our apps recognize plants leaves in an instant but don’t teach us about plants. They take our photos without making us photographers. They tell us about language but don’t teach us how to learn one.
What to do first
The very first thing before learning a language young or old is to do a self-check on your beliefs regarding education and languages. It’s the same as evaluating our ideas of what is “romantic”. How much of it is cultural?
Did you see a romantic film when you were a kid and did you take on board the idea they were portraying? Did you perhaps read a novel that was romantic or did someone tell you what was romantic? Why might you believe Venice is romantic and where did the idea come from?
Take a pen and paper and write down your beliefs about language learning. Perhaps you believe it is complicated or that it takes years. You might believe it’s quite simple and that a small phrase book is enough.
Whatever your answers, you must be aware that this will shape your experience and your approach to learning a language. We can only ever accomplish things that are in line with our beliefs, which makes this phase particularly important. No salesperson closes a sale if they approach the customer thinking it probably won’t work.
Most people have a mental model of learning that is based on high school. They picture chairs, desks, a teacher and a blackboard. They will seek to recognize this in the language school of their choice.
Similarly to the idea of “romantic” it defeats reason. We all know that our time in high school didn’t lead to much knowledge, but we still somehow consider it the type of setup to look for in a language school as adults.
We also think that the role of a teacher is to place the knowledge in our mind, without quite understanding why. As such, we think that the teacher must be there at all stages of the learning experience. We also think that they will make the leaning more fun, as opposed to something solitary and boring.
Once you have gathered all those beliefs, try to ascertain how many of these are grounded in reality. Or at the very least ask yourself where they come from. Ask yourself the same thing about your age and where your beliefs about “old” come from.
What to do next
Hopefully, the first part of the exercise has made it clearer to you how you are approaching the mission of learning a language. What frame of mind are you in?
Next, we should ask ourselves what is a language? Is it a loose collection of words with different sounds attached to them? is it a system of communication? Can it be broken down into parts? Does it have a beginning and and end?
Write down all you believe French to be. Think of the language you already know and try to describe it. After all, you are considering learning a language. It might be helpful to ask yourself what it is.
We can also ask ourselves which importance the speaking part plays in relation to the writing. Is the accent important? Is spelling important? Be thorough!
You should now have quite a collection of thoughts in front of you: Your beliefs about learning, about age and those about language.
A lot of the mental blocks you were facing can be found in those lines you wrote. The big advantage in being “older” and not involved with school is also to be able to distance ourselves more easily from the social conditioning. It will be easier to reconnect with time-proven methods of learning that involve study time, pen and paper.
It will also be easier to accept the notion than anything valuable contains a degree of hardship. Your mature critical thinking will give you an advantage over young people who will be looking for the latest hack and minimal effort.
To conclude
I would almost say that the older you are the more advantaged you are when learning French.
If you are lucky to have been born before the 1930s, you will have escaped the dreaded Standardized Testing whose only benefit is to recognize the correct answer between several others, a skill that doesn’t go far towards actively using a language!
If not, there is still hope. Keep in mind that the idea we have of an obstacle is usually harder than the obstacle itself. In my years teaching, I have never seen the slightest sign than any person’s brain performed less well after a certain age. Even compared to young people!
These ideas of young VS old are largely developed by a business logic that has extended to the rest of society. Improvement for the sake of improvement leads the charge and with it, the thirst for any product or concept deemed “young”.
To all you 40+ learners of language, don’t let it fool you. These marketing tactics don’t apply for things that truly matter and human beings were built to perform past the age of 26. Lets us not confuse the peak performance of a professional athlete with the needs of an ordinary person.
Yes you can learn a language at a later age, I have videos to prove it and I’m waiting for you to start.
