Is it really possible to learn a foreign language after 60?
Studies show that the oldest language learners have the strongest willpower. In addition, life experience, discipline and patience play key roles in the language learning process. Older learners can usually draw from a large reserve of memory and learning strategies. In this respect, they clearly have the better cards than adolescent learners.
Brain research is also encouraging. The brain of a person of advanced age is still malleable, “plastic”, as described by scientists. Short-term memory is affected by our aging processes, but not long-term memory, which is responsible for language comprehension and factual knowledge. This is because biological degradation of the brain caused by age, or the decline in learning ability, does not occur in a healthy person until after the age of 80.
Luckily for us, learning a foreign language can be crowned with success even in our later years.
What’s the point of learning new languages at a certain age?
There are as many different reasons for learning a foreign language as there are people – perhaps you’ll recognize yourself in some of the reasons mentioned here?
Traveling and learning about foreign cultures
Of course, it’s much easier to make new contacts in the destination country and to tap into cultural idiosyncrasies if you speak the local language.
Meeting new people
New contacts can be made not only in a foreign country, but also while learning the language at home. In a course you may meet people with similar interests, which can lead to new friendships.
Lifelong learning & staying mentally fit
For many people, education and training are priorities with a high personal value. Their entire lives have been characterized by curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. In addition, it has been proven that learning languages keeps you mentally fit. It acts like a workout program for the brain and challenges the memory. As a result, this mental jogging counteracts the aging processes of the brain.
Personal interest
Often there are specific individual reasons for wanting to learn a particular language even at an advanced age. The great mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, for example, was so interested in the publications of his Russian colleague Nikolai Lobachevsky that he learned Russian. He was already 63 years old when he began studying Russian. Family ties or ties to a specific country can also be decisive factors for studying a language.
How does it work to learn successfully at a certain age?
As you get older, you learn differently – but not worse – than when you were still at school. Here are a few learning tips.
Be patient with yourself
Basically, with increasing age, short-term memory decreases and you need longer and more repetition to utilize your long-term memory. Therefore, do not put yourself under unnecessary pressure to learn a language without errors in the shortest possible time. Plan a little more time and choose to learn only a few new vocabulary words a day and repeat them more often.
Learn from life
If you can apply what you learn right away, you learn especially effectively. Therefore, when learning, you should start with the vocabulary you are most likely to use. So, if you are planning a trip, start by learning how to say hello, goodbye and thank you, how to ask for prices or directions to a hotel. This way, you’ll strike up conversation right away during your trip and increase your vocabulary that way.
Practice outside of the learning situation
Create as many opportunities as possible to use your newly acquired foreign language. Meet friends who speak the foreign language and have conversations with them. You’ll become more confident and secure with the new language and lose your inhibitions! Read books and magazines, listen to music in the target language and watch movies in the original language. Immerse yourself in this foreign world.
Book a language course
Since learning a foreign language on your own can be exhausting and boring, it’s recommended to join a language course. This way you get to know new people who have the same goal as yourself. In a course you not only read and practice the target language, but you also hear it – with the correct pronunciation and intonation.
Use your experience
One advantage you should use as an older learner is your ability to attach new knowledge to old. This allows you to draw from a wide range of appropriate learning techniques and use tricks as well as mnemonic devices to outsmart your flagging memory. At the same time, you have a wealth of experience to help you grasp the complex system of language.
The clear conclusion is, it’s never too late to learn! Good luck, your hard work and perseverance will pay off.
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