Lingotopia

This is a follow-up to my previous post  Learning Shanghainese like a Child , in which I described how I learnt Shanghainese as an adult like a child. In this post, I'll elaborate more on why we don't learn languages like children as adults but at the same time on how we can adapt the language learning tricks of kids to our needs. Many adult language learners dream of learning a language like a child again. It seems so effortless. Children seem to pick up languages quickly, learn to speak accent-free and just happily chat away. But in fact, language learning means a lot of effort for children. We just don't remember it. It takes a year until kids can utter the first words. Another year until they talk in simple sentences. By the age of four, they already have impressive linguistic skills but in general, can't read or write, still have pronunciation problems, and still make many grammar mistakes. When they enter school, they start to learn about grammar, fin...