Prologue

Adulthood is the perfect time to expand one’s horizons through the study of other languages. All too often, however, the pleasure that should be inherent in learning to speak another language is marred by negative thoughts and experiences—past and present, real and perceived. As a result, we wrote this book for adults of all ages who want to study a foreign language but don’t know where to begin.

Growing older confers on adults knowledge and abilities that more than offset any age-related decline. Through this book, we strive to show adult foreign language learners how to take advantage of their considerable strengths. To do so, we have drawn upon relevant research from cognitive science, as well as our own experiences teaching, conducting research, learning languages, and working and traveling abroad. Nothing would give us greater pleasure than to know that this book has encouraged adults to think about the advantages that only experience can bestow, and then to apply those advantages to language learning.