Anyone can learn languages faster than children!

The biggest misconception in language learning.

By far the most common thing people say about language learning is that it is easier for kids. They say they wish that they had learned more languages when they were younger and often like to mention a kid they’ve heard of who already knows 5 languages.

People chalk this up to some vague notion of brain plasticity. They say after a certain age it is impossible to learn or impossible to speak like a native.

Let me give you the most amazing thing about this massive and widely held misconception.

The majority of a child’s language learning advantage actually comes from the method they use and NOT the state of their brain development. Remarkably, adults can emulate their language learning method to learn languages faster than children.

There is a laundry list of reasons why this has been completely missed by the language learning industry until now. Instead of covering that here I’ll focus on children’s advantages, disadvantages, and how you can emulate their learning method to learn languages fast.

Children’s Language Learning Advantages

The three key advantages children have for language learning are brain plasticity, time, and learning method.

You can’t do much about brain plasticity but you can conquer time and learning method.

What is a child’s time advantage?

There is the general sense of time where adults have jobs while many children could spend all day watching TV. Far more importantly, a child’s time advantage is the time they spend in the target language. Imagine if you spent every waking moment in Spanish and it was the only way to communicate with anyone around you. You would very quickly learn the words that you need to exist in that world because of the time you spend in the target language and it’s importance to your life. Neither of these has anything to do with your state of brain development. Further, this is a real world situation that happens all the time. People move to a new countries and are able to communicate effectively within a year.

Why is a child’s learning method better?

The leading reason children learn faster than adults is because they learn using comprehensible input and it’s easy for native speakers around them support their learning.

What is comprehensible input?

Regardless of the method used, this is actually how every language has been learned every single time.

Comprehensible input is hearing the target language used in ways you understand.

If I hold up an apple and say “Do you want an apple?” in any language while gesturing the apple towards you, that is compressible input. When this happens, your brain subconsciously associates the words with the situation. If your brain makes a few associations for the word “apple”, when you hear that word used, you will understand what it means. If you get more associations from comprehensible input, you will be able to say the word “apple” without hearing it first. It’s easier for your brain to know what a word you have heard means than it is to locate a word you want to say.

Your ability to understand a word and to access a word you want to use is the direct result of the amount of comprehensible input you have received for that word.

You already know this is true because you didn’t learn your first language my memorizing flash cards. Instead for example, your mother said “up” as she picked you up and she said “more” as she fed you more food. You know this is true because you have heard people use slang and then started using it yourself without needing a definition. You never had to look up the word “Bravo”, instead you only had to see someone demonstrate excellence and hear people say “Bravo!” enough times to infer the meaning. You know this is true because you don’t have to memorize the names of players on your favorite hockey team, you just need to hear “McDavid passes the puck to Draisaitl” enough times to remember their names.

How native speakers naturally help children learn.

Since children have no native language they are forced to learn languages the way we evolved to learn languages for x number of years. They associate meaning with words directly, that’s comprehensible input.

You can look a kid and know roughly what level of language is appropriate to use. We don’t use big complicated words and sentences around toddlers. Instead, we annunciate words and keep it simple so that the language is comprehensible. Kids get bedtime stories where they get comprehensible input by associating words with pictures. It’s common for kids to get obsessed with a movie and watch it over and over again. They do this because the movie starts interesting and not very comprehensible. As they watch the movie again and again, it becomes more and more comprehensible and their language proficiency flourishes.

Why it’s difficult for adults to emulate this learning method.

The main problem for adults is that as soon as someone knows one language, they think the path to learning a second language is now to use translations between languages. NO! You need to use same method you used to learn your first language, associate words with meaning using comprehensible input.

As an adult learning a new language, nobody has a rough idea of our language level just by looking at us. People also have the tendency to use the easiest form of communication. This is a major problem when learning a language from a teacher who knows your native language. Instead of trying to explain things to you comprehensibly in the target language like you would with a child, they will think they are helping you by using your native language. Unfortunately this is not helpful and puts the learner in an awkward position because it is difficult to criticize the method of someone who is actively trying their best to help you. Many teachers get caught up on grammar and having the student hear the word only one time and then try to say it correctly. This is nothing but a giant waste of time. The language learner actually has to hear the word used an 10 different sentences the understand. They need to hear the word over and over again. You don’t need to know grammar rules, you need to have associations with words and the world around you. Your brain is a pattern recognizing machine and your grammar will improve as you get greater amounts of comprehensible input. If someone uses poor grammar in your native language, it instantly just sounds wrong. You may not be able to explain the exact grammatical rule it violates.

Your massive advantage to learn faster than children

While children have the advantages of brain plasticity, time, and naturally use the best learning method, adults have their own advantage that we can use to learn faster! We have the advantage of intentionality. By this I mean that we can learn how we learn, and intentionally use that to learn fast! Kids are not smart. If you had to compete with one on a calculus exam, who do you think would win? Kids cannot intentionally get comprehensible input whenever they want. They only haphazardly get comprehensible input throughout the day.

We invented the Bravo app to help anyone emulate the superior learning method children use. The Bravo app gives you interest based computer generated comprehensible input at the press of a button. Now your phone can give you beautifully refined comprehensible input anytime you want. You will feel like nothing is happening because language learning happens subconsciously and then you will be shocked how much you have learned by day 3.

When learning a language, you never have to try to memorize anything.

Simply put, it’s all about the amount of comprehensible input you receive.

For a more detailed explanation, read my post about activating your language reflex.

I would not be surprised in the least if you are skeptical of this because it sounds too good to be true.

Take some time to really think about this and you will find that your own experiences around language learning make much more sense under this framework.

We offer the Bravo app at just $5 / year and each paid account unlocks a free account so you can easily put our theory to the test and see for yourself. It is nothing short of a truly magical way to download languages into your brain.

Instead of haphazardly getting the comprehensible input you need to actually learn a lanugage, you can get a hit of comprehensible input every time you press a button and learn faster than any human has ever been able to before.

Bravo marks a great leap forward in language learning technology.

- Colton