The Earlier the Better !. Review on Studying a Foreign Language

Just a few comments from personal experience to compliment the excellent remarks about this subject already submitted by members.

Although it`s never too late to learn a foreign language,it is always best to start as young as possible.It is never too early to start as well! If you are a couple with two languages between you,in our case English and Kutchi(similar to Gujerati)do not deprive your offspring of the opportunity to become fluent in both.Use both languages equally if possible and it`s amazing what the child`s developing mind will grasp and absorb.

Where we lived in Kenya,our son was surrounded by Kiswahili. As he grew up he also became fluent in that language.A lot of the workers on the campus spoke Kikuyu and of course he picked up a fair smattering of that.So by the time he was going to school,he was fluent in three different languages and a knowledge of a fourth.The poor lad was later subjected to Latin at school,not quite as useful as the French he also had to study.

My wife grew up with Kutchi and Gujerati from birth and can switch from one to the other mid-sentence.She started with English whilst still pre-school and by the time we met was fluent in that.

I,on the other hand,grew up in England and only had English.From the age of eleven at school,I studied French and German and only have a very basic fluency in both.As a adult I studied Spanish(very basic),Dutch(forgotten most),Swedish(four hours a day when I lived in Sweden and still can`t remember more than a smattering)and Kiswahili(never really got to grips with that)I should have learnt Gujerati by now,in order to converse with relatives but it`s much too easy to speak English !

I really do wish that I had learnt languages in my early childhood for I am very enviable of those that are truly fluent in more than one.

If you do have kids,get them learning from the earliest possible time! It pays off for them in the future.