New publications
You should start learning foreign languages from the age of 10
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Experts have long proven that learning foreign languages stimulates the brain. The latest research by experts in this field has shown that the optimal age to start learning a language is 10 years. At this age, children perceive information best, actively use foreign languages, and the structure of white matter improves.
Using two languages at the same time is quite a strong stimulation for the brain, and this is a powerful factor that will help prevent dementia in the future.
The experts came to these conclusions after scanning the brains of twenty people who began learning a foreign language at about the age of ten (the study was conducted when the participants were 30 years old). The experts also created a control group, which included 25 people.
During the scan, scientists noted an interesting feature: positive structural changes appeared in the areas of the brain that are responsible for learning languages. In addition, this study confirms earlier findings that people who began learning foreign languages in childhood have a more developed brain.
Earlier studies also showed that if a child stops being interested in images that are already familiar to him and strives for new ones, then in preschool age such children develop better and show good results. As studies have shown, if a child quickly got bored with the images that parents showed, then in the future they were distinguished by good thinking abilities, as well as more developed speech.
The experts wanted to check whether children who speak two languages well from early childhood are different. The experts divided all the participants into two groups. The first group was first shown a colored image of a bear, and the second group - a wolf, then they were swapped, i.e. for the first group the image of a wolf became new, and for the second - an image of a bear. As it turned out, children who spoke two languages well got used to the images faster and switched their attention to new ones, compared to children who spoke only one language.
As experts have noted, it is quite problematic to collect data when conducting research with young children. The visual method of memorization is quite good, since it takes a few minutes, but it is quite possible to predict how a child's thinking will develop at a later age.
Learning a foreign language is quite difficult for an adult, but such tasks are much easier for children. In addition, as studies have shown, learning a language at an early age is extremely useful for a person’s cognitive abilities and preventing senile dementia.
Experts have also found that communication with children should begin as early as possible. For example, in one study, scientists found that mothers who responded to the babble of their eight-month-old children contributed to their development. At about one year and three months, such children made more sounds, words, and used more gestures, compared to their peers whose mothers did not communicate with their children.
[ 1 ]