Can Anyone Learn A New Language?

When it comes to learning a new language any one can do it, literally every single one of us is capable.

It doesn’t matter who we are, our age or even where we are from …we can all learn a new language. We will need to put some effort in, but we can do it.

Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. Apart from a few rare exceptions, such as being medically unwell, we can all do it. The human brain is hardwired to communicate and since language facilitates communication, we can all learn languages relatively easily.

We All Have Our Native Language

If you think we can’t learn new languages, then you need to stop and think about how we already all have done it.

Everyone has already learned a language and this is because our brains are designed for it. We are all born as a blank slate, but we are programmed to try and communicate. This is why as soon as we are exposed to a language; we will quickly take it on board. This is why kids are able to absorb multiple languages with extreme ease.

Our native language shows us that our brains are capable of learning a language. It may seem like we didn’t learn it, as we can’t remember doing it, but it happened. We went from no language, to one language.

However, our brains still have that same internal system that can learn languages; it doesn’t go away, which means we can learn as many new ones as we want to after.   

There Is No Age Limit To Learning A Language

The big push back you will hear is that “you can only learn a language as a child” and there is some assumption that after a certain age this ability stops.

It is true that kids can learn languages faster and more efficiently than adults, but that does not mean it is impossible when you are older. The reality is that you can learn anything, at any stage of your life.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, but so long as your brain is healthy, you can learn new things. If you have some sort of degenerate brain disease, or a brain injury, then you may struggle to learn, but that is very rare.

This means that for most of us, we can learn languages right up until we die. We may need to learn in a slightly different way to children at times, but the internal system we used as kids is still in our brains and we can still access it.

There is also proof of this all over the world, as you can find countless people who have learned languages at all different stages of their life, even when they are deep into their retirement.

If you want to learn a new language today, you can!  

(You can read more about – Does Age Affect Language Learning Abilities?)

You Don’t Need To Be Extremely Intelligent To Learn A Language

There is often a belief that you need to super clever to learn a new language and if you can learn multiple, then you are clearly some extremely intelligent genius …while this is true for some language learners, it is not always the case.

There are plenty of examples of “low educated” people learning a second language. Just think of any immigrant that has come from a poor country and is now speaking the local language with no problem. They probably have no formal qualifications, but that doesn’t mean anything, they are still able to learn.

You can the same for footballers; they often put little to no effort into school as they are focused on their sport. The classic joke is that they are all stupid …yet they are able to play in different countries and learn the local language. Some players play in multiple countries throughout their career and can speak multiple languages. 

This just shows your level of education has nothing to do with language learning. It doesn’t matter who you are, you can do it.

Learning A Language Just Takes Effort

The truth is that anyone can learn a language so long as they do one simple thing …put the effort in.

If you can spend enough time with the language, you will start to make sense of things. With enough effort you can learn any language you want.

Too many people do not understand just how much effort is needed, so they try and learn for a while, but get nowhere and then give up. This doesn’t mean they can’t learn, it just means they didn’t put enough effort in.

I think we see kids learn languages really effortlessly and assume we can do this too, which just isn’t the case. Adults do learn slightly differently, but it is still entirely possible to see success in a language, it just requires a lot of effort.

Language Learning Is All About Immersion

When it comes to actually learning a language, many people avoid immersion and this is a mistake.

If you want to actually see success in the language then you need to be surrounded by it constantly. This plays to your brains natural ability to want to communicate and this is exactly how you learned as child.

If you bombard your brain with the language then it will just try and work out what is going on. It will not like that it can’t communicate properly and it will start trying to make sense of things …the more of the language you give yourself, the more your brain can decode it and make sense of things.

The great thing is that anyone can do this. We all have access to the internet and we can all immerse in a language and start learning it. We can also do other methods on top, such as learning new vocabulary, which is only going to help us to learn even faster.

(You can read more about – Is Learning A Language Through Immersion Effective?)

You Can See This In Real Life

You can see proof that immersion works in real life. If you look at anyone who moves to a different country you will see one of two things happen. They either learn the language or not.

This doesn’t come down to the person …it comes down to what they do.

Anyone who fully integrates into the society by making friends and getting job will be fluent in no time. They immerse in the language and learn it easily.

Then you have those who do not immerse in the language. Some people move to a country and basically make no effort. They make friends with other ex-pats and stay in that community and never really interact with natives or the language. This is how people can live in a country for years and never learn the local language.

They will give you 100 reasons why they haven’t learned it, but the reality is that they haven’t put the effort in. They are scared of the discomfort so they keep themselves comfortable and stick to their own language.

These people could easily learn the language if they decided to.

Learning An Accent Can Be Hard

When it comes to learning an accent, we also assume this is not possible. I get why you might think this so, as 99% of people who do speak a second language do not have a great accent, their accent is heavily influenced by their native one.

This does not mean it is not possible, it just means that no one really bothers to make an effort to master this skill.

Most people just want to be able to communicate and once they reach that point, they stop. I think this is fair enough. However, if you really wanted to, you could learn the accent too. It would take a lot more work and you have to ask yourself if this level of effort is worth it.

Most people obviously think it is not worth the effort, which is why they do not try and reach this goal.

However, it is possible. Anyone can learn a language and then take the extra time to perfect their accent. If you want to do that, you absolutely can.

We Don’t Learn Languages As We Don’t Believe In Ourselves

The fact that people ask “can anyone learn a language?” shows us what mindset we all have. We believe it is not possible and this is just wrong.

We have so many things telling us we can’t do it, but when you look at them, they are all wrong, but for some reason we let all these limiting believes win.

Learning a language is not easy and I understand why so many people think it is not possible, but the reality is that we can.

The sooner you believe this, the sooner you can actually start learning and start making progress.

I know I delayed learning a language for years, simply as I felt that I wasn’t made for languages. This is the worst mindset to have and I am glad I found out that I could learn.

I have now proven this to myself that I can learn a language just as well as anyone else and now it is time for you to try it and to prove to yourself that you can do it.

Anyone can learn a language. It is as simple as that!  

(You can read more about – How To Learn A Language From Scratch – A Basic Guide To Get Started)