Andrea Marcela Rivera Fuentes Grupo: 2

LEARNING A LENGUAGE AS AN ADULT

The Second Language (L2), on the other hand, refers to the language learned after the L1
has been acquired. A language can only be referred to as your L2 if the learning occurs
after you have acquired your L1. If you are an adult and agreed to learn a second language
is very important recognize that the process is different like if you were a child and if you
asked any random person walking down the street who the champion of language
learners are, they would probably say children.
This seems like such an obvious truth that it’s hardly ever challenged. Clearly everyone can
speak their native language fluently, which they learned as a child, but loads of people
have trouble getting a grasp on a second language (or third if they grew up bilingual).
But beyond the obvious differences, such as adults being more willing and able to learn in
a formal learning environment, there are some hen children learn new things about
language, they use the same part of their brain that they use for motor control. Adults, on
the other hand, make use of the part of their brain in charge of higher cognitive functions
—the part of the brain that develops later.
How else do adults differ? Well, they have a ton of knowledge already. And that can be
both a bad thing and a good thing. Sometimes the sounds and words we’ve learned when
we were little make it much harder to pick apart the words from other languages because
we’re trying to force them into the mold of our first language.
We think slow and fast because the mind has two different systems. System One operates
automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control.
System Two allocates attention to the effortful mental activity and therefore is slow. For
example, rote memorization belongs to System Two, whereas expression of our feelings
and thoughts, i.e. speech, belongs to System One.
There are lots of things people miss about being a kid, but being able to learn a new
language doesn’t have to be one of them.