MSML or Spanish

[ss20ts]

She speaks fluent English without an accent even though she came to the US as an adult. That part I have never been able to figure out.

Certainly unusual. Native ability plus intelligence and motivation, I guess. My hat's off, to her. In a similar vein, I read an article about a Polish girl of 16, who came over here to Toronto Ont., with her folks. She knew NO English at all when she got here. 18 months later, she won the Senior High School English prize for the entire city - population 2.5 million+. I've tried to learn a little Polish, and I can tell you I won't be winning any prizes in Warsaw!

Language plasticity - the ease of learning new languages - has started to dry up, usually around age 12. That's right around the time most school systems start teaching languages. That's why - or partly why - people take languages in school and can't use them later. The rest of it is - as you said, horrible teaching.Your son did well to go "right to the source." Best decision possible.

As to how fluent ClepKing will be in 6 months - that depends on a lot of things ... but how fluent will he be if he doesn't work at it for 6 months?

That's interesting that our language plasticity dries up around around 12. Certainly explains why kids in the US struggle so much learning a language in junior and senior high. 

The Polish girl is absolutely amazing. She had to have worked on her English skills practically nonstop. She was one determined girl! 

Our grandmother came to the US when she 18 during WWII. She knew English while in Germany, but that doesn't explain why doesn't speak with an accent. It's mind boggling to me. I know other people who came here as teenagers and adults who didn't lose their accent. It's fascinating to me. I know how hard it is to keep one's accent. I fought to keep mine when I lived in the southern US and I'm from the northern US. It's not like a Boston or Queens or Maine accent. It's a blend of western New England and Midwestern. Almost like the generic accent they use for tvs and movies.