[laurieg]

Older second language learners have a harder time, but I don't think it's because of some kind of "weakening of the brain" with age. I think the real reasons are:

* Older people can't remember the difficulty of learning their first language. They've been using it comfortably for years.

* Older people have bigger vocabularies so the gap between their first and second language is even larger.

* The discomfort of learning new things is less familiar for older peoples

[robocat]

“Studies comparing the rate of second-language acquisition in children versus adults have shown that although children may have an advantage in achieving native-like fluency in the long run, adults actually learn languages more quickly than children in the early stages (Krashen, Long and Scarcella, 1979.)”

“Adults are quite strategic in their learning, compared with children. They are generally self-motivated, use time effectively, and can apply themselves to lengthy tasks.”

My personal opinion is that the #1 block to fluency as an adult is the concentration on written resources and trying to apply rules. Children learn by mimicry, but adults learn by resources, which creates errors. You can tell by listening to people that have learnt English as a second language, and understanding the source of the errors they make.

[avip]

Strangely missing: older people (40s) usually take care of X pretty small kids + N pretty declining elders while having Y hours of work + Z hours commute daily.

Seriously - I don’t even have 2 hours a day

[exeldapp]

I agree. Maybe there's some truth in the whole "brain plasticity" talking point but how long does it take a child to become fully comfortable with speaking and writing a language? 8 years? Longer? Compared to an adult who can accomplish that in about a year. And that is when the child has no choice but to use that language, since they know no other.

[treeman79]

Learned a few things like violin art and other stuff as a way to spend time with my kids. turns out I learn much faster than they do.

The only difference is I’ve seen is I’m much more focused but they have much more free time. An hour of my focus learning is probably worth a week of their efforts.