Am I Too Old To Learn French? (No, Your’e Not)

If you are an adult reading this you are probably wondering if it is worth your time trying to start learning French, well it is absolutely worth it.

I’m sure you’ve heard some myth that you can only learn French up until a certain age and after that it’s pointless.

This really is a myth and basically you are never too old to learn French.

Age Doesn’t Matter When It Comes to Learning French

The truth is that it doesn’t matter what age you are. You can learn anything at any age. Of course you can argue that the younger you start, the longer you will have to master it, which is of course true.

However, that does not take away from the fact that it doesn’t matter what age you are, learning French is still possible.

This is also not just some theory, you can find plenty examples of people doing this. You can look at any French learning community online and you will find a whole range of ages of people learning French and a lot of them will be reaching fluency.  

Your Brain Is Always Capable Of Learning French

On a biological level it really doesn’t matter how old you are, your brain is designed to learn until the day you die.

There is no sudden cut of point where you can no longer learn a language, or anything else for that matter.

I am sure you have learned plenty as an adult, learning a language is just the same. The French language is just a bigger task than you might realise which is why so many people give up, but biologically nothing is stopping you from conquering it.

Well, sadly there is one thing that can stop you learning, which is a degenerative brain disease, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

However, these problems are not common in younger healthy adults and hopefully if any of us do have to suffer from this, it will be many years after learning French and doing whatever else we want from life.    

(You can read more about – Why Learning A Language Is Good For Your Brain)

Children Will Find It Easier To Learn French

I don’t think we can ignore the fact that kids will learn a language faster and easier than adults. I think this fact plays into the myth that you can’t learn as an adult.

We can certainly still learn as adults, we are just not as efficient.

Little children have no real concept of the world, let alone language. So their entire existence is to try and make sense of things and be able to communicate. Once we reach a certain point that ability slows down a little, which is why we struggle with learning French a lot more as a adult, but that ability doesn’t go away fully. 

Kids and Adults Learn French Differently

Following on from above, how adults and children learn is very different. As adults we can already understand concepts, which makes our way of learning very different.

I can explain to you how French grammar works and you will understand it straight away. I just have to quickly explain that when you see an H at the start of a word, it is silent. I can’t do this with a child. They probably don’t know what an H is, let alone how to actually read.

The same goes for things like vocabulary, we already have an understanding of the word already, it’s just that it is in our native language.

Children will learn very differently and it is done more subconsciously. If you think about when you learn about grammar in school, you are usually about 12? You are certainly old enough to speak the language fluently before you are taught about the concepts of grammar.

This approach is very different to how we learn as adults, which may involve us looking into grammar right from the start to get an understanding of how French actually works. 

While the kids may find it easier it still takes them a few years, our approach can actually give us the edge. If we put in the time and effort, we can make faster progress than a kid.

The problem is that we don’t do this and you will also find that kids really start to accelerate their language skills very quickly after a few years, which makes them seem incredibly efficient compared to an adult.

Mastering The French Accent And pronunciation As An Adult

You have probably noticed that anyone who has learned French as an adult has a terrible accent and actually struggles with proper pronunciation.

To be honest it is a difficult skill and 99% of adult learners can’t get to the point where they sound fully native.

It is possible with enough work, but the problem is that no one puts in the work, myself included.

Most of us don’t care. We want to get the point where we can communicate effectively and that is more than enough and we don’t put any energy into mastering our French accents, we are happy to sound a bit off and no one we speak to seems to mind as what we are saying is clearly comprehensible.

(You can read more about – How To Improve You French Speaking Skills)

French and English Are Very Common

Another reason why you are never too old to learn French is because French and English are very common. If you can speak one, you will be able to learn the other.

A lot of the English language originates from French so you really have a head start if you wanted to start the language today. When you get deep into it you will see so many cross over words and its little things like this can give you the advantage and help you reach your goals.

However, even if you wanted to learn a language that was maybe not so similar to English, you still could, it would just take a little longer. 

(You can read more about – What Is The Most Important Aspect Of Learning French?)

Why Do We Think It Is Impossible To Learn French As An Adult

I think it’s important to have a quick look at why we think it’s impossible to learn French as an adult.

Most people you speak to will have not even tried, they just wrongly assume it’s impossible. However, some people will try and then do not get anywhere. These are the people we need to look at and make sure we do not make the same mistakes.

People Give Up Too Soon

This is probably the most common issue. French is hard. It’s a big language and it’s got plenty of weird rules. It’s not helped by the fact that it’s spoken fast and doesn’t look how it sounds.

It really is not an easy task and people just give up too soon. It is going to take you a very long to time to get comfortable with the language and if expect quick results, you will give up.

The sad thing is that is if they kept going they would make progress.

Life Gets In The Way

Learning French is a huge commitment and we are very good at finding other things to do. I spent pretty much all of 20s saying “It would be great to learn French, if I had the time”. 

Sadly I probably did have the time. I just didn’t realise it and wasted my time doing other less useful things.

It’s an easy trap to fall in to and I think it’s very easy to let life go by and not actually do what you want to do.

If you want to learn French, do it, start today and find the time, don’t let life get in the way.  

We Don’t Do Enough

Not doing enough is probably what leads most people to give up, or allows them to let life to get in the way.

Learning French takes real time and effort. One 5 minutes lesson a day will not get us there. It’s just not enough. We need to get comfortable with the language and the only way we can do that is to spend a lot of time with it.

If we can just do this, we will see results, no matter what age we are.

Conclusion

It does not matter what age you are, you can still learn French. If you want to do it, start today.

There is nothing stopping you. It is going to take you time and effort but your age is not a factor in this; all that matters is that you can spend time with the language and get comfortable with it.

So long as you do this, you will be successful, no matter your age.

(If you are wanting to learn French you can check out my unofficial French Course and get a grasp of the basic structure of the language)