When is the best time to learn a second language?

"You may not need those DVDs, flash cards or picture books on the day that your baby is born, but researchers say that you shouldn't wait too long before introducing a baby to foreign languages. According to the critical period hypothesis, there's a certain window in which second language acquisition skills are at their peak. Researchers disagree over just how long that window is -- some say that it ends by age 6 or 7, while others say that it extends all the way through puberty -- but after that period is over, it becomes much harder for a person to learn a new language. It's not impossible, but children in that critical period have an almost universal success rate at achieving near fluency and perfect accents, while adults' results are more hit-and-miss."

by Molly Edmonds.

"Children can learn almost anything if they are dancing, tasting, touching, seeing, and feeling information" (Dryden & Vos, 1997).

"Every healthy child is born with 100 billion brain cells, and each cell makes up to 20,000 connections. Whether these brain cells make connections or whether they die depends on if a child lives in an enriched environment" (Buzan, 1984; Diamond, 1988; Ornstein, 1984, 1986).

"Up to Age 12 - The brain is now a super-sponge. It is during this period that the foundations for thinking, language, vision, attitudes, aptitudes, and other characteristics are laid down. After this stage of development, the windows close; the fundamental architecture of the brain is complete (Kotulak, 1996)." Therefore, it is easier to learn a foreign language in these vital years by Janette Vos.

I would add to all this that when parents are choosing for their child to learn a new language, they must keep in mind that if they keep the language living, the child will see an interest to it.

This support outside the classroom is essential and I can personally measure the progress of a child by the way parents are implementing French at home and in their family life.