The Five-Minute Linguist - Bite-sized Essays on Language and Languages Third Edition - Caroline Myrick
40. Can Monolingualism be Cured?
The Five-Minute Linguist - Bite-sized Essays on Language and Languages Third Edition - Caroline Myrick
Katherine Sprang [+]
Foreign Service Institute
Katherine Sprang holds a Ph.D. from the German Department at Georgetown University, with primary specialization in Second Language Acquisition (SLA). She is particularly interested in how excellence in teaching can help language students achieve superior foreign language skills. She works currently at the Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State, as Coordinator of FSI Regional Programs and Training.
Description
Adults and children learn languages in very different ways. Children have a sponge-like ability to absorb linguistic information, but that does not mean that adults can’t learn languages and learn them very well. However, to a great extent, speaking, writing, and understanding a foreign language are a matter of developing skills—like learning to play the piano—that can’t be mastered without practice.