Learning a language through immersion and shamelessness

23 Mar, 2025

From Ali:

Kids learn languages faster because their brains are more pliable, sure. But that's not the whole picture.

Kids do two things better than adults in terms of learning language.

1. They fully immerse themselves. At school or in a new country, they are using the language all the time, and are not switching back to their native language when they want to. They are forced to speak it all the time.
2. They are not afraid to sound dumb. To put together sentences with bad grammar with the few words they know.

Do items 1 and 2 to drastically improve at a language. Go somewhere where they only speak that language, and just form bad sentences until they get better.