Scientists Say This Is Why Children Pick Up New Languages Faster Than Adults

As most know from experience, children are better at learning languages than adults. Language emerged as a survival strategy when we evolved from earlier apes, allowing us to communicate and coordinate with others. Tellingly, the boomer habit of speaking on the phone has been linked to better mental health. But before puberty, children are highly dependent upon their ability to ask for help, whether to express hunger, thirst, pain, fear, or any other survival challenge. From an evolutionary perspective, kids learn languages quickly because they need language to survive.

Yet, while evolution explains why we've adapted to language acquisition at an early age, it doesn't explain how. According to cognitive scientists Dr. Eleonore Smalle, the key is in the way we commit language to memory. Humans learn language through both implicit, unconscious memory and explicit, conscious memory. Unconscious language acquisition occurs from passive listening, such as when a background song is in a foreign language. On the other hand, conscious language acquisition occurs through disciplined instruction, such as practicing for an oral Spanish exam in front of the mirror.

Infants learn language largely through implicit, unconscious acquisition. Through natural language exposure, their brains readily store speech patterns, rhythms, and sounds, sometimes even before comprehending the meaning. These memories provide an unconscious framework for the child to experiment with and employ speech. However, around the age of 12, the brain starts to imprint fewer unconscious memories as it loses neuroplasticity. Although debated, the brain may even perform "synaptic pruning" to specialize itself for language acquired up until adolescence. By adulthood, most people must unlearn these ingrained language rules and rely on explicit, active learning.

Passive versus active language learning doesn't tell the whole story. While it's true that children's brains subconsciously record more language memories than adults', they're also more adept at learning language rules. Such was the finding of a 2024 research study from the University of Western Ontario.

To study how children and adults pick up novel language rules differently, the researchers provided the participants with a bank of real and made-up words that they were instructed to sort based on a rule. Unbeknownst to the participants, however, there was a second rule that words of living things (animacy words) were to be sorted differently. Critically, these animacy words were paired with specific made-up words to identify them, like "gi lion." As the participants sorted and learned the patterns, many unconsciously followed the hidden rule and hesitated when inanimate words were paired with the made-up animacy words, like "gi rock." And, of course, the children picked up on the hidden rule more quickly than adults.

This childhood propensity for language acquisition also sheds light onto childhood bilingualism, since children are quicker to adapt to and employ different language rules. Around 50% of adults, on the other hand, have an inner monologue in their native language that forces them to translate a newly acquired language, stalling their ability to juggle between the two.

Fortunately, adults can still employ their unconscious memory to learn new languages faster. Experts recommend passive listening exercises, whether by leaving the TV on in a different language or by listening to foreign-language podcasts. After all, adults were once children, too, and our brains can still adapt — albeit slowly.