Do you remember how you learnt your native tongue? 

No one does.  But, you know that nobody ever sat you down with an English textbook and explained to you how grammar works.  There were no drills, tests or lists of vocabulary for you to memorize.  You picked it up naturally because you were observant and motivate.  Most of all, you wanted to speak.

Kids seem to learn languages magically, soaking it up like a sponge.  You learn most of the rules of your native language from age 2-4, but there are always new words and phrases to learn.  This is not just the case for native languages, but any language at all, as bilingual kids can tell you. 

So, how did it happen?

Language learning in kids occurs primarily by simple trial and error.  You listened to the big people around you, you imitated them, they corrected you, and you learned without realizing it.  It's not as easy as it sounds; it may have taken lots of observation and correction, but it worked so effectively that it has stuck with you your entire life.

Here is an example: subject-verb agreement.  This is a rule of English that you probably don't even know about, but you use it everyday.  And the big people around you when you were 2 years old didn't know about it either, but they helped you learn it.

In English, we say "I walk," "you walk," "they walk"... but "he walks."  With the third person we add an "s" to the end of that verb, and with irregular verbs like "do" and "is" it gets even more complicated.  Try explaining that to a 2 year old!

As a kid, you probably said "he walk" and "she walk."  Somebody might have corrected you, but your tiny little attention span probably wasn't aware.  Through those corrections, and your observations of everyone around you, you learned and internalized the rule.

This is called "immersion."  You were immersed in the language and you had no choice but to learn it. 

The other factor that makes childhood learning so effective is motivation.  Little kids want to say things, get things, assert themselves and be understood.  They were immersed in a language environment, and they understood that communicating was the only way to get the things they needed.  Without even being aware of it, they master it.

Linguistic evidence suggests that kids have a special language learning aptitude and that it disappears gradually as they get older.  Kids definitely have an amazing ability to soak up language, but what is now being questioned is whether this is something we lose or something we simply forget how to use.

One key difference between the way kids and adults learn language is that kids don't need any explanation.  Learning grammar doesn't come naturally for adults; it is tougher for us to internalize those grammar rules the way kids do. 

The best way to learn a language is to be immersed in it.  You must be forced to interact completely in the new language, and you can begin to think in it as well.  With the proper motivation, you can immerse yourself in a new language and learn it like you're a little kid all over again.

Peter Freeman
Polyglotus.com