Hi there

Today we are talking about children learning a second language. Do not waste any more time! If you do have children, it is never too early to start learning a new language but any day that passes by can be too late. Many people get anxious or confused thinking that if their children are exposed to more than one language at one time, the children will get mixed up and won’t be able to speak one or the other. It is actually possible that a very young child may experience a delay in the first language skills development.

But reflect for a second. I do not need to tell you, specially if you are a monolingual person; it seems impossible at this stage to even consider the possibility of learning bits and pieces of another language, let alone to become fluent at it… If you had started at a young age, you would have never realized that you were learning two language at a time. Even less learning a language would have been a hard experience. So, is it not worth the while delaying a bit the development of the speaking skills of our children in their first language and make them bilingual from an early age??

When you start at an early age, children are amazing. For example, if one has to move to a foreign country and has young children who mingle with the locals, after a brief period, those children will start making amazing progress with their new language skills while the adults will remain at the same stages of knowledge of that language.

What is the secret then? You need to feel like a child, to open your eyes in a new light, even to open your heart with renewed energy. Stop automatic thinking, do like children do, for then anything is new and they look at it, apprehend it, understand it without prejudice. A new language is like a new toy that you have to mould, to build custom made for you. You take the bits and pieces, you get to know them well and then you start using them in your own way, as you do with your own language. There you are you are entering a new language and day by day you are increasing your vocabulary, your grammar, your fluency, you have done it! And you thought that to learn Spanish was a dream!

You thought it impossible but you have done it! You have learnt a new language, it was possible to learn Spanish!!!