Shelley
Is It Good to Learn A Foreign Language at An Early Age? The age of English learners is becoming younger and younger. The problem whether it is better to learn a foreign language as a kid has come to be a concern. Personally, I think the advantages of learning a foreign language as a primary school kid outweigh the disadvantages. The younger the learners are, the better they are at language acquisition. Kids are hardwired to learn language. Take infants as the best example. They like babbling out and mimicking the voices, which is exactly the way they learn their mother tongues in the first place. Young learners, such as primary school students, with strong imitative ability inherited from infancy can easily get a perfect accent as that of native speakers. On the contrary, the older the learners are, the less likely they are to get rid of their native accent due to the influence of their mother tongues. Some people say early language learning might burden children’s study. It is important to note that children are curious about new things and an early exposure to a foreign language enables them to know a new culture; a new culture is like a new world in which curious children might be willing to discover novelty. Also, it is much more beneficial for children to explore a cultural world than be immersed in an electronic virtual world on PC, iPad or the like. In addition, building a solid language foundation during primary school study will make the advanced learning in secondary school easier. Thus, learning a foreign language at an early age will not be a burden to children but their key to a new world as well as a booster for the secondary study . In conclusion, it is better to learn a foreign language at a younger age such as at a primary school age. It will not only help one learn in a more efficient way but also benefit a lot for the further study. Learning language at an early age should be encouraged.
Dec 2, 2015 7:22 AM