#175 Are you too old to learn English?
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0:00 Intro
0:45 Episode 175
5:44 Mini-Story


Hi, I am Georgiana, your English teacher and founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast.com. And I am here to help you speak English fluently with no grammar and no textbooks.

In this episode, let’s find out if you are too old to learn English?
Is it too late to learn a language? Is it possible to learn English as an adult? I'm going to answer these questions.
- In the second part, we are going to meet Tom and his adventures to learn English.

Before we get started, go to my website SpeakEnglishPodcast.com to get the transcript. It's free! 

Ok. Let's start!

Some time ago, a 95-year-old student from Greece sent me an email. He wanted to tell me how my method helped him learn English.

He is learning English and listens to this podcast. The truth is that I admire people who don't make excuses. And that's what inspired me to do this episode.

There is a widespread belief that if you don't start learning a language when you are very young - ideally as a child - it is practically impossible to learn it.
Some even bash those who are studying a language, saying things like:

"You're wasting your time and your money!"
"Unless you go to the country, you'll never learn the language!"

Well, I'm here to tell you that's a myth. You can learn English as an adult and become fluent in English. Many of my students have learned English at an advanced age and are perfectly able to speak it fluently.

Children indeed seem to learn their mother tongue effortlessly.
The younger you are, the easier it is to create new brain connections and consequently learn anything quickly.

However, studies show that the brain never loses the ability to learn.

For me, the determining factor is the attitude, not aptitude.

Attitude refers to how we feel about something. Aptitude, relates to the ability to do something.

A bad attitude - that is, being negative, complaining, or making excuses - will not help you learn anything. It is crucial to have a good predisposition to learn. In other words, be more positive and less negative. Sometimes this bad attitude leads to limiting oneself. For example, some people think:

"I am not good at learning languages."
"I am too old for this."

Certainly, this attitude does not help at all. On the other hand, children usually have a good attitude.

For example, they never say things like:

"But there are so many words I don't know yet!"

"I make a lot of mistakes! People are going to laugh at me!"


“I will never speak English! I'd better not even try!"

In reality, kids don't care how long it takes, how many mistakes they make, or whether they mispronounce a word. In fact, kids hardly get frustrated when they don't get something right the first time.
They just keep trying. They don't set mental limits for themselves as we adults do.

So, I recommend you to be inspired by the attitude of the 95-year-old student I mentioned before.


Speak English Now Podcast with Georgiana

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