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You may ramp up adult-level conversational ability faster, but it takes much longer to reach any state of native-like fluency. For example, I lived and studied
by timr 4y ago
You may ramp up adult-level conversational ability faster, but it takes much longer to reach any state of native-like fluency.
For example, I lived and studied in Japan, and while I probably jumped from zero to ~middle-school in terms of basic communication ability in about a year with daily classwork and total immersion, I was nowhere near the average toddler in terms of basic fluency after that time. Even now, I can make myself understood in most adult-level contexts where a toddler would be helpless, but nobody would ever confuse me for a native toddler.
It's not just accent, either -- little kids still routinely teach me vocabulary and grammar.
- musicale 4y agoIf you had three years of paid vacation where you had to use the language exclusively for everything, your skills would probably improve to toddler-level or beyond. Though admittedly you already know many things that they have to learn at the same time. Having to communicate with your family (and probably close friends/significant other/etc.) exclusively in the language probably makes a big difference as well.
- timr 4y agoI think a lot of fluency is having someone carry you around 24/7 and talk to you like a baby for a few years. Much of the rest is just having patient people around you for another 3-4 years who will listen to you babble like an idiot and correct you when you're wrong. I agree that if I could do nothing but spend 3 years in total immersion, I'd probably accumulate an adult-level vocabulary (again, the ramp-up is steep), but I still wouldn't sound like a native at that point, whereas a toddler would sound like a native...but have a toddler vocabulary.