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Pretty much anyone can become fluent in pretty much any language at pretty much any age. It's not even true that young children learn languages faster than older children or adults: if you expose different age groups to the same amount of instruction in a foreign language, the older ones invariably do better, both initially and in the long run. Learners of any age can achieve a brilliant, even native like, command of the vocabulary of another language, including such challenging structures as idioms or proverbs.

This article explains the "foreign language effect". It says that speaking a second language improves rational decision making and open-mindedness. It also discusses impacts of speaking a second language on our memory and elements of our personality.

Scientists from the Higher School of Economics (HSE) together with colleagues from the University of Helsinki have discovered that learning foreign languages enhances the our brain's elasticity and its ability to code information. The more foreign languages we learn, the more effectively our brain reacts and processes the data accumulated in the course of learning.

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa is a neuroscientist and Professor of Education and Neuropsychology at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. She's also been a consultant to Punahou for Mind-Brain Education. In this interview, she discusses the benefits of knowing multiple languages and states 10 key factors leading to successful second and multiple language acquisition: 1. Timing and The Windows of Opportunity 2. Aptitude for Foreign Languages 3. Motivation 4. Strategy 5. Consistency 6. Opportunity and Support (Home, School and Community) 7. Language Typology and Similarities 8. Siblings 9. Gender 10. Hand Use as a reflection of cerebral dominance for languages.

Researchers at the University of Washington developed a play-based, intensive, English-language method and curriculum and implemented the research-based program in four public infant-education centers in Madrid, Spain. Based on years of UW's I-LABS (Institute of Learning and Brain Science) research on infant brain and language development, UW's pilot bilingual education method utilized the following brain-research principles: 1. social interaction 2. play 3. high quality and quantity of language from the teachers. 4. Use of "infant-directed speech", or "parentese": the speech style parents use to talk to their babies, which has simpler grammar, higher and exaggerated pitch, and drawn-out vowels. 5. Active child engagement. The country's extensive public education system enabled the researchers to enroll 280 infants and children from families of varying income levels. Babies aged 7 to 33.5 months were given one hour of English sessions a day, using the UW method, for 18 weeks, while a control group received the Madrid schools' standard bilingual program. Both groups of children were tested in Spanish and English at the start and end of the 18 weeks. Children who received the UW method showed rapid increases in English comprehension and production, and significantly outperformed the control group peers at all ages on all tests of English. By the end of the 18-week program, the children in the UW program produced an average of 74 English words or phrases per child, per hour; children in the control group produced 13 English words or phrases per child, per hour. This 3 minute video succinctly captures the study: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE5fBAS6gf4

A new studysuggests that children who speak multiple languages are better at understanding other people. And not only those who are fluent, but those who are simply exposed to another language in their daily lives.

Here's the link to the original University of Chicago study referenced by the Atlantic article, published in The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21652258-children-exposed-several-languages-are-better-seeing-through-others-eyes-do

This was a research study conducted about vaccine rhetoric with participants that spoke different languages. The researchers found that depending on whether the participant viewed a foreign language as more trustworthy, they might be more inclined to follow the advice of that language over their own language. The opposite is also true if they find their first language more trustworthy and persuasive.

A CEO of a company that runs about 32 charter schools around New York is cutting foreign language from the curriculum because "Americans don't learn foreign languages well".

Eva Moskowitz is the CEO and founder of Success Academy Charter Schools, responsible for about 9,000 students in 32 charter schools around New York City. Moskowitz sat down for an interview with the American Enterprise Institute this week, and talked about how to fit everything she deems important for students-coding, recess, science five days a week-into...

Answer by David Bailey, CEO of Spotnight, on Quora. I've learned several foreign languages as an adult. I was able to learn French to conversation fluency in 17 days using the following techniques. Note that I had previously learned Spanish to fluency so this was not my first foreign language.

A movement by parents and lawmakers to get computer coding classes to count toward foreign language credits in school. Supporters say that it will expose students to coding and will provide them with a valuable skill in the workplace.

A movement by parents and lawmakers to get computer coding classes to count toward foreign language credits in school hit a snag this month - but advocates aren't giving up. Sen.

Alcohol consumption, in small amounts, can improve a person's ability to speak a second language. It was also focused on how people who drank the alcohol had better pronunciation in the second language. Although a small amount of alcohol can be beneficial to using language, it is actually reversed if too much is consumed.

This article outlines a study done that found that low levels of alcohol intake can improve bilingual speaker's use of their second language. Although it may seem alcohol would impair language ability because of the executive functions needed when speaking, alcohol lowers social anxiety and increases confidence - which is helpful when learning to speak a second language.

A really interesting study combining linguistics and behavioral economics. "To judge a risk more clearly, it may help to consider it in a foreign language: A series of experiments on more than 300 people from the U.S. and Korea found that thinking in a second language reduced deep-seated, misleading biases that unduly influence how risks and benefits are perceived."

Quick comparison of the differences between child and adult second language learning: suggests that children will be able to attain greater fluency in L2, whereas adults will learn the L2 imperfectly.

With the advances of technology, it is presumed that humans will soon be using ear pieces and microphones to help translate or speak in a different language. However, it is argued that computers and technology will be unsuccessful at doing so. Computers and technology aims for perfection and therefore won't be able to communicate or translate the imperfect human language. In the article, the human language is compared to coding on a computer. The two are actually very different in that language is constantly changing and imperfect, however coding is pre-set and there is a general understanding for it.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder's 'The Tower of Babel' (1563). Wikimedia Commons Wouldn't it be wonderful to travel to a foreign country without having to worry about the nuisance of communicating in a different language?

SPANISH LANGUAGE TEXT. There is no English translation that I know of for this article. Comprised of eleven interviews of fairly "high-class" individuals (including authors, journalists, doctors, lawyers, professors, religious officials, and more), the focus of this article is profanity, and whether or not said individuals use profanity while speaking. Interestingly enough, eight out of the eleven individuals used profanity fairly regularly. Most of those eight were fairly shameful about their use of profanity, or only used them in particular contexts-including, interestingly enough, during homilies/sermons. Only one person (Pilar de Río) declared that they used profanity freely and enthusiastically, while others, though admitting the merits of such language (particularly its expressive power), did not view them in such a positive light. Two additional members of the eleven interviewees primarily used "muletas" or "muletillas," or, as we know them in English, crutches or filler words. This article is quite interesting if examining profanity in different cultures and languages, as it is a Spanish-language article from El Ciervo, the longest-running magazine in Spain's history. Do note, again, that this source is a SPANISH LANGUAGE TEXT, and that some proficiency in the language will be needed to interpret this text, even with the help of online dictionaries.

Generalized benefits of learning a foreign language.

This article discusses the over-emphasized importance of perfecting a second language, and what we should really be focusing on when working to acquire another language.

"Sorry" is one of more than 10,000 American words Germans have borrowed since 1990. Language experts here say English is the main foreign language that has influenced German over the past six decades. This cultural infusion is pervasive, with English used by journalists, by scientists and even at the highest levels of government. To some language experts, like Holger Klatte, the widespread Americanization of German is problematic. Klatte is the spokesman for the German Language Society, which has 36,000 members worldwide. "Languages do tend to affect one another, but the influence of English in Germany is so strong that Germans are having a hard time advancing their own vocabulary," he says.