How can I learn like a child? And that might seem a little strange,
contradictory right? Like, why should I learn like a child? I should learn like an adult.
But the thing is, is that children are really good at learning languages in fact they can
actually learn multiple languages simultaneously and they learn those languages very quickly and
so there's actually a lot of things that we can actually implement
into our adult learning in learning like a child. So, we're going to be going over three key aspects
of how children learn languages and how we can actually implement those key aspects into our
own learning so we can learn a language faster so first key aspect is exposure and so this is
something that children you know they don't have to try hard to expose themselves to the language
it's something that they're exposed to every day and we've talked about this as well as far as
getting something daily and the power of exposure can actually really be under estimated and so I’m
going to briefly talk to you about the Hart-Risely study and the Hart-Risely study was conducted
in 1999 and it has been coined the 30 million word gap study this was really gave us a better
understanding as far as how much language a child was exposed to and in correlating that data to
how much their vocabularies increased compared to that exposure and they typed it out they coded it
and they analyzed it and they had 30 000 pages of transcripts so this was a really huge study that
they ended up doing and the really interesting aspect of this is this is what their vocabularies
were at three years old uh 36 months and the correlation is the ones that had the larger
vocabularies were the ones that were exposed to more language and it was a lot of exposure and
so in some instances though on the lower spectrum the kids were exposed to about 15 million words
during that period compared to the children with the larger vocabularies they were exposed to 45
million words and so there is a direct correlation between the amount of a language that we're
exposed to how much language we can actually produce and so this can be a really powerful thing
to unlock for us as adult learners because we tend to want to study a language and we want to you
know focus on vocabulary and then memorizing that vocabulary but really that can be actually a kind
of a slow process and the quicker process is to actually expose ourselves to mountains of content
and the more we actually expose ourselves the more uh data our brain has to kind of process
and categorize and help us make sense of the language and so this is what polyglots would have
in common and we talked a little bit about that in the previous unit and that's something that they
mostly all have in common is they expose themselves to mountains of content on a daily um
basis and so the more consistent we can be with that and the more uh content that we can expose
ourselves to the faster we're going to going to learn that language so key aspect number
one that we can take away from children expose ourselves to the language as much as possible so
the second key aspect is actually using what they know and so children are you know experts at this
because you know they're not worried about making mistakes they're not self-conscious they just
use what they know and you know there's no fear in it and so that is definitely something that
we can learn as adults is uh or something that we can incorporate that the way children learn
language into our own learning and um if we're really nervous and worried about making mistakes
and self-conscious of the way people are looking and the fear of other people's opinions and
all of that stuff it can really hinder our progress because if we're going to learn and
use the language we need to use the language and so we see this in in children all the time so as
young as maybe 12 months old and they only have a vocabulary of a few dozen words they use what
they know to get what they want right if they're uh hungry for an apple they say apple if they
you know milk apple banana hungry please and so there are these one word sentences and as that
child grows up maybe now they're two years old and their vocabulary is getting bigger and now those
sentences turn into two or three word sentences I’m hungry now or need potty and you know they're
not grammatically correct or they're not perfect by any means but they're using what they know to
kind of get their point across and that is one big key aspect that we as adult learners
can really incorporate and can really help us expediate the entire learning process and so
using what we know and regardless of how limited our vocabulary is
um and if we're new to the language we are nervous we don't have the enough vocabulary to
um speak our mind or communicate what we want but that shouldn't limit us and if we are afraid to
use the language and we never use it then it's going to be really tough to get to the point of
fluency and to be able to get to the point where you can just clearly communicate what you want to
and so the second key aspect of what we can learn from children is to be more confident
and worry less about what other people think and just use what we know to get our point across
the third key aspect of what we can incorporate from the way children learn languages into how
we can learn a language as an adult and that's accepting feedback and we touched a little bit on
this before when we talked about a language parent and so a language parent is just somebody that can
and just dial the clock back a little bit and think of either when you were a child
and your parents were correcting you on something that you said or maybe you're a parent yourself
and you see this in your kids all the time and we sometimes do this unconsciously but like my
daughter recently um has been having a hard time saying toothpaste with a th she would say toof
with a f and so we would model that language for her and she says oh daddy I want some tooth
or toothpaste and i said oh okay here is your toothpaste and you don't necessarily have to say
no you don't say toothpaste you say toothpaste you don't have to you know be condescending or
you know give direct feedback but sometimes you just need to model the correct language
and what we can learn from children as far as the way they accept that feedback
is some kind sometimes it's unconsciously or not sorry not unconsciously like they're not awake
but uh subconsciously to where they're just okay that's how it's done then that's how I’ll do it
and we as adults tend to be a little apprehensive and a little sensitive to critiques or feedback
and sometimes it's the way it's given and that's something to be aware of as well is sometimes that
feedback can be malicious and if it is then that's something that we need to be aware of and take
that with a grain of salt if somebody is angry and being malicious and mean you know we don't have to
take that feedback that way so what we really want to do is we want to find a language parent
that can give us that feedback in a kind way and that can model the language correctly for us
and not correct every little mistake that we make and when we do receive that feedback we
want to be like a child and we want to be able to be accepting be humble and take that feedback and
it's going to really help us make that progress yeah and be accepting even if it's repetitive and
that might be something that can be a challenge because let's say there's just one sign that is
really ingrained in us and we've been signing it that way for a couple years and people keep giving
us that feedback and saying uh it's actually this way and so we want to make sure that
when we do receive that feedback even if it's multiple times to be humble and try to accept it
and don't be too sensitive and be as accepting of that feedback as possible
and of course we're looking at constructive positive feedback and at some point we receive
a lot of constructive feedback or sometimes we don't receive enough feedback i was working
with one person and they're like i don't i haven't gotten feedback in years and so
you know finding somebody that can be a mentor or finding somebody that can be a language parent
that can that is understanding that is working to help you and is there to prove provide you
that positive and up building feedback is really important and if you haven't found somebody like
that yet then i would highly encourage you to do so and that could be a tutor that could be
a friend that could be maybe a deaf one at a school or you know whoever you can find that can
that is of a higher level than you that is patient that is kind that can give you that constructive
and accurate feedback that can go a long ways okay so i forgot to mention one more thing um that
has to do with learning a language like a child and you may have picked up on this theme or you
may not have so the first key aspect was expose yourself to as much as the language as possible
the second one was use what you know and the third one was get feedback from somebody and
you know this is kind of a reoccurring theme exposure comprehensible input use what you
know comprehensible output feedback and getting that feedback can really expedite the entire
learning process and it's really important that we and that's something that children
do they have that they're exposed to that comprehensible input and they use that
comprehensible output and they're getting that feedback from the parents and so if we can figure
out a way to accomplish all three of those as an adult learner then we're going to really
learn a language quickly and just to give you a quick idea of how quickly that process can be
a child from 12 months old to six years old in a five-year period their language on average is 14
000 words that they can use expressively their understanding is double that 28 000 words that
they can receptively understand and that is huge we've talked about high frequency language and you
know if we're learning the words of high frequency it doesn't actually take a lot to be fluent or to
at least be comfortable in using the language and so in some cases that could be as little as
one or two or three thousand words and so in a five-year period
and these children are learning uh 14 000 words and can receptively understand 28 000 and you
know if we can figure out how to do those three things expose yourselves use what we know and get
that feedback we can actually learn at that same rate as well and so that can be really encouraging
to some of us that are like this is going to take me years but in in reality it really doesn't have
to be that long of a process to get to the point where you're comfortable using the language you