Becoming Fluent

How Cognitive Science Can Help Adults Learn a Foreign Language

By: Richard Roberts, Roger Kreuz

Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan

Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Adults who want to learn a foreign language are often discouraged because they believe they cannot acquire a language as easily as children. Once they begin to learn a language, students may be further discouraged when they find the methods used to teach children don't seem to work for them. What is an adult language learner to do?

In Becoming Fluent, Richard Roberts and Roger Kreuz draw on insights from psychology and cognitive science to show that adults can master a foreign language if they bring to bear the skills and knowledge they have honed over a lifetime. Adults shouldn't try to learn as children do, they should learn like adults. Roberts and Kreuz report evidence that adults can learn new languages even more easily than children. Children appear to have only two advantages over adults in learning a language: they acquire a native accent more easily, and they do not suffer from self-defeating anxiety about learning a language. Adults, on the other hand, have the greater advantages - gained from experience - of an understanding of their own mental processes and knowing how to use language to do things. Adults have an especially advantageous grasp of pragmatics, the social use of language, and Roberts and Kreuz show how to leverage this metalinguistic ability in learning a new language.

Learning a language takes effort. But if adult learners apply the tools acquired over a lifetime, it can be enjoyable and rewarding.

©2015 Richard Roberts, Roger Kreuz (P)2015 Blackstone Audio

Very helpful

If you want to understand how the brain works when you are learning a new language this is for you. There are not magic tricks to become fluent but a lot of us make mistakes that can be avoided and also having the right tools helps a lot.

Must read for everyone!

Not only was I astonished by this book for its methodology in learning a new language, but I was blown away by how many methods can help you study anything you are trying to learn in general. Additionally, there is a psychological undertone through all of the points this book makes! Going deeper than just how to memorize words or learn sentence structure! 10/10

Great if you approach it for what it is.

Let's start from square one with what this book isn't: a strategy guide for learning your new language. Those leaving bad reviews seem to primarily have expected that, and if that's the case, this isn't your jam.

That said, this book has a wealth of compiled answers to what may be your most frustrating questions about your language learning difficulties. Why you may not have thrived in a classroom setting. Why you may have, but those strategies don't work for you now. Why your continued hard work may not yield an appropriate amount of results.

This book is written by researchers of cognitive science and presents itself as such. It's heavy in terminology and expects you to reflect on the findings and statistics to construct an understanding of what works by explaining how things function. That isn't to everyone's taste, and that is fine. The tone can also come across as a bit dry at times for that same reason, and that can be a deal-breaker for some.

Personally, I think this is a perfect counterpoint to the Benny Lewis style of "guerilla language learning", so to speak. Where one is about radical action and execution, the other is about deep understanding of the mental process that takes. Neither is solely right or wrong, because each serves an independent goal that, taken together, is greater than the sum of its parts.

The one thing I'd like is an appendix that boils down the principles to make it easier to make sure that building your learning plan follows the most effective mental mechanisms, but it's nothing that isn't covered in the actual content if you listen with intention. All in all, definitely recommended not just as a language learning aid, but for the deeper concepts of learning in general.

affirmations

I had an idea of how I could get better at learning Spanish and was already doing it. It was nice to hear the affirmations as it motivated me to keep going.

Humorous and Enjoyable

Either I'm a huge nerd or this book really is as entertaining and informative as I think it is. The perfect blend of examples and stories of Richard paired with the scientific topics make for a really enjoyable listen.

Considering learning a new language, read this!

As a 35 year old that recently decided to learn Japanese this book reinforced some discoveries that I've made about learning as an adult. I've also learned some new learning techniques that I will be implementing into regular study. As I have found with most psychology related sources the material transcends language learning and a lot is helpful for teaching yourself most new information and some skills.

One of the best books about language and psychology

I wasn’t expecting much when I picked this book from audible. I thought it would be one of those books that would give me a nice feeling about how I could love to learn languages as an adult. But after having a listen to it, I quickly realized that this book is really about psychology — and not only that a good one to learn that could give anyone real insights to what we should all know about the capacity of your brain vis-à-vis culture and language learning. So it’s a great book and I think everybody should read it. It’s short enough and is extremely very insightful.

Fantastic Resource

Fantastic read that will encourage all to learn and acquire new languages throughout their adulthood.

Learning strategies

This book had plenty of information of how NOT TO study foreign language but very little in the way of learning strategies. There are a few, and maybe there are more but they are easily forgotten due to complicated, vague, convoluted explanations. If you're looking for how the mind works when acquiring a foreign language, benefits of studying a foreign language, or why certain things you've done in the past have often times been helpful, this book is fine. Just don't expect the authors to give you examples of best practices to retain conversational foreign language competencies in long term memory.

An unexpected surprise.

This book is so much more than a book about adults learning a foreign language. It should be titled becoming fluent with our life.
It is a look at how our brain works and why it does the things that it does and how we learn, through experiences and through actual mental work.
I found it fascinating and an excellent read/listen in this case.
I would recommend this book to anybody who is an adult learner of any age just to encourage them to continue being a lifelong learner.