Why can children learn any language?

In some of our blog-post, we have been talking about children. If you have read some of those blog-post, you have seen good comparisons, and good lessons to apply in your Spanish learning process.

You may be wondering, why do we mention children that often? This is because, for us it’s a fact that children can learn anythingyou put in front of them, easier that anyone else, especially languages.

And on today’s article, we want to talk about the way they see things, and how this helps them understand everything easier. We know that applying these tips will help you learn Spanish.

They are eager to learn

Have you ever seen anyone with a bigger want to learn than children? Well, maybe the newbies at the university, but children are way more interested in learning than newbies. Children ask questions all the time. Every single day there are at least 10 different questions about all the things they see. They just want to learn, that’s it.

We want you to have that same desire, the same hunger to learn Spanish. And as children learn a lot of things because they are eager to learn, you will learn Spanish too, if you are eager to learn it as they are.

They don’t think they have a language for default

No one has a language for default. You can be born anywhere, and two days later go to a country where people speak a completely different language, and learn this language instead of the one where you were born.

From their teens, some people start to think they don’t need any other language. They’re good with the language they already know… their “language for default”.

Children, on the other hand, do not think that because they already know a language they can’t learn another one. They just do it, they see learning another language just like adding to their vocabulary. Children see learning as an amazing and fun thing to do.

For example, you teach a child this sentence “that is your BED” and then you say in Spanish “Esa es tu cama”. The child would repeat until he learns the sentence, and then it would be a normal part of his vocabulary. His Spanish vocabulary.

He won’t complain nor would he be saying “I already know English, I don’t need to learn any other language”. Children see learning as an amazing and fun thing to do. How do you see it?

They are open to new things

As we just mentioned in the last point, children don’t close their minds by saying “I CAN’T”, “I DON’T” or “I WON’T”. They are opened to new things all the time and make the required efforts to learn.

Do this, ask a child if he would like to learn something that would help him be better and enjoyhis life in the future (That’s what languages do)? The child will say yes. Children do not discriminate when they are learning good things and that helps them learn languages. Children are open to new things all the time.

You have to be like them. They don’t say “this is too complicated, I won’t learn this phrase or word”. Just put the work like some children do, and the results will come.

They aren’t scared

Children ask questions all the time because they are eager to learn. They aren’t scared of losing what they already know. They aren’t scared of people laughing at them. They aren’t scared of being embarrassed. They don’t care what other people think of them… they just focus on learning.

While they are working on their learning. You don’t think children are stupid, you don’t think children are silly, neither have you thought they are dumb.

To you and to everyone else, they are just children learning. And as you can see, they don’t have those silly barriers for themselves.

However, we as grown-ups, we have those silly barriers, we are scared of everything. “If I ask, I will look like I’m a retard or like I’m stupid”, we say those things to ourselves all the time. We are always scared of what other people will say. And this is like walking backwards from progress.

Children are not like that, that’s why it’s easier for them to learn languages and for us, it’s difficult to learn anything. Don’t be silly, focus on your learning process and you won’t have any regrets.

They listen and apply when they are corrected

Everyone makes mistakes, especially children, they are just getting to know the world around them. So, it is easy for them to forget or to say things wrong.

What do they do when this happens? They don’t beat themselves up saying “I should have done this or that”, they just correct the things they get wrong, and they keep on going.

So the process is simple, pay attention, listen and correct the things you get wrong. You don’t need to be worrying about past things, they are gone. Just follow those steps and your Spanish learning process will be easier.

Children practice

As soon as they learn a new thing or are corrected. Guess what they do? They repeat, repeat and repeat to themselves what they just learned. After that, they go to a friend or they go to mom or dad and they say “I learned this today…” and they add the sentences or words they learned.

So, if you want to learn Spanish in a natural way, follow what children do, apply every single step above and you will see how fast it will take you to speak Spanish in a natural way.

Keep tuned, we are still working on something especial for your Spanish learning process here at spanishtomind.com

Diego Cuadros is a blogger and a Spanish online teacher. He uses stories to help Spanish lovers understand fast-speaking native speakers, so they don't freeze and panic in conversations.

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