We Englishmen, being far northerly, do not open our mouths in the cold air wide enough to grace a southern tongue. - John Milton (1644), English Poet Each new language is a wonder of nature that we are all capable of discovering. The teacher can only stimulate, inspire and guide. It is up to you, the learner, to explore the language and absorb it gradually on your own terms. You should have the confidence that it is a natural thing for you to do. Milton was obviously wrong when he suggested that his northern countrymen were physically unable to learn southern languages. Seeing language learning as an extraordinary task can be a self-fulfilling vision, preventing you from achieving your potential. If you do not believe you can speak another language, you will certainly not succeed in doing so. You have to believe you can learn in order to achieve success. Accept the fact that you were born with the ability to learn to speak a new language, to be a linguist. You just have to find the way to develop this ability as an adult.
We generally accept that everyone has an equal gift for learning their first language. Why should we assume that we require a special "gift" to learn a second language? Some people even claim that an ear for music is essential to language learning. A good place to test this theory is at a karaoke bar, where it can be easily demonstrated that there is no correlation between singing ability and language skills. We can all learn if we have the right attitude and if we find the method that is most suited to our nature.
Some people may have better language learning ability than others, but this innate learning ability is not the decisive difference in language learning success. Why are so many Dutch or Swedish people good at learning languages while Germans and English, not to mention Americans, are generally not as good at it? Why are French Canadians in general more successful in learning English than French people from France? Why are Chinese people from Singapore usually better at English than Chinese people from China or even from Hong Kong?
I do not believe that some nationalities have a better innate ability to learn languages than others. It is more likely that the big difference is attitude. The successful foreign language speakers take for granted that they will have to communicate in another language, and do not feel that it is an unusual thing to do. It is just expected. It is natural to them. Many Dutch or Swedish people realize that they need to speak foreign languages because few foreigners are going to learn Dutch or Swedish. Similarly, a large number of Singaporeans and Quebecois know they need English, and simply accept that they are going to be English speakers. There is no resistance. These people can all naturally visualize themselves as fluent speakers of English.
