Mike Smith:
This week, we’ve been talking about how—and why—to teach your student a foreign language. So when should you start?

When it comes to language acquisition, earlier is usually easier. Young children learn languages at an astonishing rate. Think about how quickly your child learned to talk! When children are young, the brain learns new languages more easily—in fact, they use a different part of the brain, so forming sentences and recalling words is a more automatic process for young children than for older language-learners. Children who learn languages earlier also develop more accurate pronunciation.

Early language learning can be low pressure. Have your child listen to stories on tape, sing folk music or action songs, and read picture dictionaries in that language.

If you’ve already missed that first window of language learning, don’t worry. Your student can learn a foreign language all the way into high school. In fact, a high schooler should take at least two years of one language to prepare for college.

Would you like to learn a language as a family? Practice your foreign language at the dinner table and throughout the day. Everyone in your family—no matter how young or old—can have fun learning another language!

On our next program, we’ll explore ways to meet native speakers, because conversing with others is the best part of learning a language. And until then, I’m Mike Smith.