Would it be easier learning a 2nd language when you're a baby/toddler or in highschool?

It is much easier to learn languages before you are about 12.

Some of my family members speak both English and French.They learned when they were little.As for being confused?? That happened later.giggles :)

Baby-toddler. It’s been proven that those who learn more than one language when young utilize different parts of their brain when learning new languages – even as an adult!

Several studies on how a brain develops support the theory that, when born, it is like a lush forest. For the areas that are stimulated, the child is more likely to pick up skills and knowledge. Once they reach about the age of 13, any of the undeveloped areas start to starve and become more like a desert. These patches, no matter how much they are stimulated, usually remain undeveloped or take a great effort to adapt. So, the sooner a child is exposed to a variety of learning environments, the greater chance they have in picking up a new skill. This is nurture.

Nature is another matter. There are some factors within each of us that are hard-wired and can turn out to be very different than your parents or siblings. My earthy sister once confided in me that she is amazed that her daughter could be so fashion- and appearance-obsessed when both of her parents have little interest in it.

So, back to your question on picking up a language more easily. Yes, it is probably better to expose children to a second or multiple languages at an earlier age. Another sister’s two children both studied French; one as a teen and one at about 6. The younger picked it up much more quickly, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the age difference has anything to do with it. He may just have a natural talent for it.

My twin cousins, who are about 7 or 8 I believe, have had a Spanish-speaking nanny since before they were born. They speak both languages fluently, and have never had any trouble keeping the two languages separate. My sister, on the other hand, started taking Spanish classes in 7th grade, continued all through high school, and completed a minor in Spanish as a university undergraduate, but still doesn’t speak as fluently or as well as our little cousins. I think that pretty much answers the question!

The younger the better, little kids are like sponges, they absorb everything and have the ability to put things in order in their mind better than when older. I know quite a few bilingual families who had their kids speaking both languages from an extremely early age. What is more, most of the kids who have been introduced to such a background, pick up a third language more easily too!

I’m just going to echo what the others have said, the younger the better. Learning seems to be a lot more natural when we are younger. It gets harder the older we get.

I agree, the younger you are, the easier you learn languages.

I’ve known quite a few kids who spoke one language at home, and another at school or in public. None of them ever confused the languages, as far as I could see. Even as toddlers, the ones who spoke Spanish at home, for example, never tried to speak Spanish to me.

It helps if you or someone close to the child are fluent in the second language. A child who “learns” Spanish from Dora or Diego won’t become fluent.

I even knew a little boy who learned Swedish from his father, Korean from his mother, and English at daycare. Like others have said, a child’s brain is programmed to learn to speak and they will quickly and easily absorb more than one language. Think of immigrants who struggle to learn the language and always speak with an accent or with some errors or grammar. Their children will easily learn both the parents’ language and the local language without any accent or errors. Even children who are deaf and learn sign from their hearing parents, will naturally develop a more fluent and grammatically correct form of sign.

There’s a very interesting book about language development called “The Language Instinct.” I read it in college, and the first half of the book gives many examples of how children learn to speak and what happens when they don’t learn a language or are deaf. The second half of the book gets into a detailed study of syntax, which is like reading a foreign language and not nearly as fascinating to the average reader as the first half of the book.

As a toddler you have fewer learned obstacles to work through.

It is never too late to learn another language and is a lot of fun. Just remember you can learn to speak foreign words or you can learn to speak the language. The first only requires sitting in a class and learning vocabulary, the second requires learning the culture and experiencing it.