Paths to Proficiency: Language Acquisition from Childhood to Adulthood

Language acquisition is a remarkable process. People acquire language in various ways andachieve different proficiency levels. Most children learn their native language during the first years of life and expand their linguistic repertoire during their school years. Some children grow up speaking one languages at home and a different language at school, and yet, despite being fluent, may exhibit specific gaps in their knowledge of  the second language. Other children swith to their second language and forget their first language. As for adult second-language learners, while many struggle, others develop a native-like level of proficiency. The talk explores different linguistic profiles of these language learners and their different paths to language proficiency, and provides recommendations on how to be successful on a language learning journey at different ages. 

The speaker is Dr. Natalia Romanova, the founder of Lingversity and adjunct Professor at the George Washington University. She has over 20 years…