Age matters when learning a new language

What is it about?

This article explores the importance of native language abilities in the learning of a new language in adulthood. This paper shows that Tamil-English bilingual Singaporeans who report Tamil as their first language have varying levels of Tamil and English perceptual sensitivity - the ability to distinguish between similar-sounding speech sounds that differentiate words in a language. It was further found that the younger participants' (19-33 years) ability to perceive non-native Mandarin Chinese tones depends strongly on general intelligence and to a lesser degree, their perceptual sensitivity in Tamil. On the other hand, the older participants' (55-70 years) ability to perceive Mandarin Chinese tones is solely dependent on their perceptual sensitivity in Tamil. This suggests that younger participants use a combination of linguistic and cognitive skills when distinguishing novel language speech sounds, while older participants rely exclusively on language skills accrued over a lifetime. The change in reliance on fluid intelligence abilities in early adulthood to crystallised language abilities in later adulthood sheds light on the shifting “cognitive architecture" of the human brain during ageing. These findings suggest the importance of considering age-related differences when developing language learning programmes for adult learners.

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Photo by Joshua Ang on Unsplash

Photo by Joshua Ang on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The study is unique as Tamil-English bilinguals are understudied as a group and while a lot of work has been done on English speakers learning a new language in adulthood, less research has focused on bilinguals and on top of that, Tamil-English bilinguals learning an unrelated language such as Mandarin Chinese. This is one of the first studies to do so and adds to the body of literature on minority languages.