5 Reasons Why You Can Learn Any Language

•  1. Most of the best language-learners are teenagers, and adults.

This means that if you are a teenager, or an adult, you will have an equal playing field. The theory that you can only learn a language well if you are a child has already been disproven by some of the most famous polyglots around the world. Although it can give you an advantage early on, you do not have to have any prior experience, or be bilingual in order to do this well. In fact, as Benny Lewis (a well-known polyglot) has said, adults have the advantage of knowing how they learn best. Teenagers, and adults have had years of learning, and have had many different experiences. Children, on the other hand, have had very few years of learning, less experiences, do not understand grammar rules, and are not as focused on the mechanisms that build up a language. Therefore, teenagers, and adults are more likely to distinguish patterns, and can compare their mother tongues to other languages that they speak, in order to learn information quickly.

• ·     2. Once you find the learning-style that bests suit you, and your needs, you will be unstoppable.

As you all know, everyone has preferred ways of studying, or to go about retaining new information. The same pertains to language-learning. There is no wrong way of doing so. Some people like to study flash-cards with words in their native tongue on one side, and the words in their target language on the other. Some people like doing traditional grammar exercises, while some like to be completely immersed as much as possible. Every language learner retains information differently, but is ultimately capable of achieving mastery, or fluency in a language.

• ·   3. No matter how different a language is from another; most languages have similarities.

It may seem hard to believe at first, but I have experienced this first-hand. Before starting to learn Russian, I thought that it would be impossible to retain vocabulary, but as time has passed, I have realized that Spanish and Russian share some words that are identical, but that are pronounced differently. 

                                           For example,

Atmosphere = atmósfera, атмосфера

Music = música, Музыка

Opera = ópera, опера

System = sistema, система

This especially holds true if you are learning a language that belongs to the same language family group. Even more so than in the previous example, it will be more likely that these languages share similar grammatical structures, vocabulary, and, oftentimes, expressions. Let's take German, and English as an example:

Bed = Bett

Fish = Fisch

House = Haus 
Warm = warm

As mentioned in the comparison of Spanish and Russian words, the German and English languages also share words that are similar, or identical, but that are pronounced differently. This can make language-learning more enjoyable.

• 4. There are many free applications, resources, websites, and videos that are just as good, or that are even better than paid ones.

I have found that some of the best resources that I have used to maintain 7 languages have been free of cost. Many of them have complete courses, links, and tips on how to learn what is essential in each level of language-learning: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. A common myth is that you have to spend a lot of money on textbooks, workbooks, courses, audios, or CDs in order to become fluent in a language. Although it would be a good idea to own at least one of these, it is not necessary. We have information right at our fingertips with a simple click of a button, and a search on Google, or on YouTube. The best part about all of this is that you can spend less than an hour a day using free resources, and achieve satisfying results, as long as you are consistent with your learning.

• 5. You do not have to have a “good” memory in order to learn a language.         

I added this bullet-point, because I cannot stress it enough. I have personally struggled with learning vocabulary, and memorizing information all of my life. I would often find myself spending countless hours trying to cram information into my brain, and not retaining most of it. Luckily, there are several simple solutions to this problem. Spaced-repetition, which is a method in which you review information in intervals, allows your brain to remember words, and concepts in the short-term, as well as in the long-term (stay tuned for a blog post on what I do in order to learn vocabulary, and expressions). You can also learn how to be confident in what you are saying, or learning from the very beginning, and get much better results.

Although there are more reasons why anyone can learn a new language this year, I decided to write about the 5 that I think are the most important, and that are rarely mentioned. If you thought that you could not learn a language before reading this post, I hope that you thought about that a little differently. Have you started learning a new language recently? If so, which obstacles have you faced?