Can You Really Speak Like a Native If You Learn a Language After Age Seven?

"Do you think that’s true?" No.

I have a good friend who came to the US at age 9 with zero English. His native language is Amharic. Today at age almost 40 you'd never even remotely guess he didn't have English as his first language.

No, it’s not true. It is true that learning a language as an adult means you will be more likely to retain a foreign accent than if you learn as a child. It’s also the case that adult learners usually have at least a few sounds that they absolutely cannot hear the difference between, no matter what: examples are English natives who learn Finnish being unable to hear the difference between “a” and “aa”, and Japanese natives who learn English being unable to hear the difference between “r” and “l”. But adult learners can achieve native-like pronunciation without being able to hear those differences! Japanese ESL speakers can get the R and L sounds right every time without being able to distinguish “rake” from “lake” when listening. I personally am learning Mandarin in my 30s and while I absolutely cannot hear a difference between “shu” and “xu”, I can pronounce them differently because I have studied descriptions of the tongue positions and practiced until Chinese people told me it sounded right (and yes, I know both the consonants AND vowels are different, but I can’t hear the difference between French “tout” and “tu” either). As for age 7 being the cutoff, that is just not accurate. We don’t know at what age native-level language ability becomes unlikely, because it almost certainly varies by person and circumstances, but the actual range is definitely closer to like 13-14. And finally, for worldwide languages like English, there are so many native accents that an adult learner who in fact has a foreign accent can be perceived as having an accent native to some other place. Plenty of American native English speakers mistake Germans with lightly German-accented English for British native speakers.

This varies from person to person. It's definitely harder, and harder still if you never go live in an environment where the language is spoken, but I am a native English speaker who has lived in Spanish speaking countries and I have seen non-native speakers pass for native in both directions. I think some people have a more natural ear and can pick up and imitate sounds better than others. I also think even the most convincing native-like accents acquired later in life probably don't survive being very tired, or very drunk, because they always take a little bit of effort.

Through full immersion over time, yes. If you move to a country that speaks the language and are surrounded by it and using it every day, it can happen. I have a coworker who is originally from Belgium and a native French speaker. He's been living here in the US for about 20 years now since he was 18. He speaks perfect English and has only a slight hint of an accent that you'd only notice if you were speaking to him for a while and really listening for it. But in casual conversation his accent is so faint it could almost be mistaken for remnants of a regional US accent. Now obviously not everyone can move to a country just to learn a language. But if you're already moving to an English speaking country, it's possible as long as you're willing to immerse yourself in the language and be patient. As in, if you go move to the UK for example and live in a community with a high proportion of people who speak your native language, that's going to hinder your progress learning English as you aren't then being forced to use English in your day to day life.

It depends on what you mean by like a native. Can you achieve fluency? Yes. Will you have an accent? Yes. I see a lot of learners get caught up over the accent. But I want you to know that it’s ok. It’s very difficult to achieve a native accent in an acquired language and the vast majority of learners never will. English is so widely spoken as a second language that as a native I expect to interact with others who have different accents than my own. Even among us native speakers there are many accents, and ultimately all that matters is that people understand you. If you work hard enough you can achieve fluency and you will be understood.

The idea you’re referring to is called the [critical period hypothesis](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period_hypothesis)* in linguistics and neuroscience. Second language acquisition and bilingualism research suggests that the average is 6-8 years old, but the range for “native” acquisition of like language could be as wide as 5-13 depending on the individual. It’s based on the idea of neuroplasticity (essentially that, and I’m simplifying a lot here, the brain prunes away a lot of your growing synapses to save energy as you grow into your environment, cutting away the unnecessary bits for your survival based around your childhood environment/exposure; you can of course grow back and form new connections when the environment changes into adulthood, but it’s *much* harder and growing something new is different than retaining something that would otherwise be lost). It’s *not* based on anything physical in your mouth, but more so your neural architecture. I’ll drag up my old cog sci lecture notes and see if I can add any interesting papers, because I remember finding this fascinating when we discussed it in my university classes! —— *To be clear, this is the *scientific* definition of a hypothesis, meaning an idea within a field that has strong scientific backing for the moment but is subject to further change/ongoing testing as the field advances. It’s not a guess, like the colloquial meaning of “hypothesis”. Gravity was a hypothesis before it became a theory.

It depends on the person. I remember being told by a teacher that it is until 12/13 years of age, but again, we are all different regarding learning so you shouldn’t really pay too much attention to that.

Maybe not 7. My sister in law had no English at all when she first came to the UK at age 8. She's now \[foreign\] accentless & fully bilingual \[she works as a translator\]. Conversely, I grew up in one town then moved to another, with a vastly different accent, at age 30, and I will never have the new town's accent.

no.

The critical period is up to about 12

In 6th grade (age 11) my school offered 3 languages divided throughout the year (German, French, spanish). We could then choose what we took in the subsequent years. I wound up taking 2 years of French and 2 years of Spanish. 1 teacher from each put more emphasis on pronunciation and culture. After school, I joined the navy and toured the Mediterranean. Often asked by my shipmates to act as interpreter and a couple times in France, have locals ask where I was from (who were then amazed when I said US). In my opinion, "speaking like a native" has much less to do with when you learned the language, and much more to do with the care taken by the one teaching you.

The age varies somewhat from person to person, but is generally around 10. It's not an absolute rule - people have acquired languages to native level after this age - but it's true for the overwhelming majority of L2 learners. Note that this primarily applies to /phonology/ - many people learn after this age to speak with the vocabulary and fluency of an L1 speaker, but only a vanishingly small number learn to speak with native level pronunciation.

Is it easy? No. But I've met several people who have done it not just after seven, but as adults.

Yeah, maybe hitting perfect native-level pronunciation is harder if you start later, but I’ve met people who learned English as adults and sound crazy close to native. It’s all about practice (and maybe a bit of talent lol). I started learning English at like 12, and while I still have an accent, I’ve gotten way better just by mimicking native speakers in movies and recording myself. Shadowing helps a ton! Also, some accents are just harder depending on your first language like, Spanish speakers often pick up American English pronunciation faster than Japanese speakers, and that’s totally normal.

Anecdotally, I know an American who moved to Italy in his early 20s. He’s now in his sixties and is so fully immersed in the language he has actually basically lost his English. It’s wild. A New Yorker born and raised who can barely string an English sentence together. His Italian however, is perfect and native level.

I think you have it backwards. If you are immersed in a language at age seven, you will *definitely* speak it natively. If you are immersed later, there is a chance you won't. However, almost everyone who moves to a new country at say, age twelve (or even later, possibly through high school), will also learn to speak the language natively. I have a met a few people who were counterexamples, i.e. moved with their family at age 10-12 and didn't learn the new language natively, but they are quite rare. There are some people who can even learn a language to a native level as an adult, if your definition of native level is being indistinguishable from other native speakers in a normal conversation. This is rare, but it is possible.

Yes. Early learning of a second language conditions the brain for learning additional languages but is not essential. Early exposure to multiple languages is also a plus for hearing differences in pronunciation. But learning a second or third language to native proficiency as an adult is common. Foreign Service officers and expats routinely do this.

definitely. i didn't really focus on my speaking skills until i was in college. took about two years to become C1. then another year and a half at work to be C2.

You kind of have to define "sound like a native" here. Because I used to work with international grad students and professors, so I know people have learned to use their second language at a very high proficiency level even though they started learning it later in life. But they might not sound exactly like a native speaker you might encounter at a bar simply because they don't care to. We were using technical and highly specialized language because of the necessity of our job, and that's the area where their proficiency is at the same level as a native speaker working the same job.

Yes you can. It takes a lot of effort, but it is doable. Id say the cutoff is probably closer to 25 than 7.

My father came from Cuba/Spain to the US when he was like 15 He’s in his late 60s now and he speaks like he is a native speaker. Obviously this is many many MANY years of speaking English, but it is possible

Yes you can. It’s not true.

I do think that after a certain age when your muscles start to form you're unable to naturally acquire a 'proper' (native-like) accent in the language you're learning. Exactly what age that is depends on the individual.