So just where did this hideous stereotype about adults learning foreign language originate? It came from some very old science.
There used to be a theory on “brain development” from the 1960’s which taught that there was a “crucial period” an individual had before the brain lost its “plasticity,” making learning a second language too difficult. (Lenneberg, 1967)
It was a believed if you didn’t get your second language learning done before puberty, your goose was pretty well cooked.
Modern studies have shown though some differences between how a child and an adult learns a second language do exist, the older learner has the distinct advantage. The adult learner of Spanish can learn the language faster because of the following:
The adult’s maturely developed brain has the superior ability to understand the relationship between semantics and grammar.
The adult’s brain is more mature in its ability to absorb vocabulary, grammatical structures, and to make more “higher order” generalizations and associations.
The adult learner’s better-developed brain is better at “putting together all the pieces” with a more developed long-term memory.
The biggest obstacle for the adult is the emotional factor. Adults have bought into the myth that they just cannot do it. They are also afraid of making fools of themselves. I have often thought this is the reason children seem to learn Spanish faster than adults do