Mother Tongue: Language Learning Stages

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More than one parent has noticed that you spend the first

few years of a child’s life waiting until they can walk and talk, and you then spend the next 15 or so years getting

them to sit down and shut up (apart from a brief period

during the early teen years in boys when they speak in

grunts).

That’s a bit cynical, but the fact remains that

parents look forward to their children’s first words.

Learning a first language goes in a set pattern of stages,

some of which you can see even in children who are deaf.

Learning your first language is completely different from

learning a second language when you’re older.

If you’re a human being, you are pre-programmed to learn language and you will pick it up without explicit lessons, without textbooks and with

next to no help at all.

It’s well known that the best time to learn a language is

when you’re under the age of 12, as your brain is hard-wired for picking up language and

learning grammar.

After that age, the language circuits are fixed and

picking up languages is a lot harder, as you’ve probably

found out if you’ve travelled internationally.

This article is mostly about learning a single language as a

first language.

However, if your family has two languages – say, the

mother is Japanese and the father is Australian – then the process is the same but the

child will pick up two languages.

If you have a bilingual household, it’s a good idea to talk to your children in both languages and let them pick

up both.

It won’t be detrimental to their English, as many parents fear, and you’re probably likely to

speak to your children in your first language (your heart

language) anyway. So keep it up.

Your children will soon learn that Mum’s language is for use

with Mum while Dad’s language is for Dad and for out

and about.

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