Learning a Language Where It Is Spoken

Immersion alone does not work

This is the myth worth killing early. A child surrounded by a language they never have to use will not acquire it. Plenty of expatriate children live somewhere for years and speak nothing.

Necessity is what does it, and if a parent translates everything, necessity never arrives.

Create the need

Send them to buy the bread. Let them order their own food. Let them ask the direction. Stand back and let it be uncomfortable for thirty seconds.

That thirty seconds is the lesson. Rescuing them removes it.

Fifty words beats a course

The first fifty words, drilled properly, unlock daily life. Greetings, numbers, please, thank you, how much, where is, I want, I do not understand, more, finished, yes, no, water, food, toilet, help.

Get those solid before any grammar.

The two things that produce fluency

Other children, and a schedule.

A local class, a sports club, a neighbour's kids. Children teach each other language faster than any adult can, and they do it through play with no explicit instruction at all.

Plus something regular. Two hours a week with a tutor, every week, beats a month of intensive study and then nothing.

Adults have to try too

A parent who refuses to attempt the language teaches a child that it is optional. A parent who tries badly, publicly, teaches something much better.

Do not expect literacy for free

Speaking comes from the street. Reading and writing come from instruction. If the script is unfamiliar this is a separate project.

Six months

Rough marker. A child in daily contact with other children who speak it will be functional in about six months and comfortable in a year. Less contact, longer, and it may never arrive.