Am I too old to learn French?

If trying to remember all the right words in conversation fills you with dread - this is for you! Check out this statement: “ You have the capability, but you just lack the confidence.”

I think I cracked it! For us ALL!

I have repeatedly referred to “Brain freeze” but I just HAD to look into what on Earth was going on in there!  

Why? Because I want to manage that awful moment beyond the smaller hints and tips. 

I want to know just what’s going on in my body. I want to deal with it before it happens, not merely react to it all the time!  The time has come! 

You will see:

• What “Brain Freeze” actually is

• How our thoughts direct our hormones, which then direct our language learning! Seriously! 

• How our (older) age actually helps us

Are you too old to learn French?

You are here to take a deeper dive into what “Brain Freeze” actually is, how our thoughts direct our hormones, which then direct our language learning! And How our (older) age actually helps us.

I have repeatedly referred to “Brain freeze” but I just HAD to look into what on Earth was going on there!  Why? 

Because I want to manage that awful moment, and go beyond providing smaller hints and tips. 

I want to know just what’s going on in my body and in my mind. I want to deal with it before it happens, not merely react to it all the time! 

The time has come! 

So, we‘re not getting younger. And we might well have moved to or be thinking of a move to France. 

Deliberate conscious learning is more resistant.

Recent studies in learning a second language, as we’re older, have shown that our subconscious learning abilities, as opposed to those of deliberate conscious learning, are more resistant to aging (Polony et al., 2016), and even improve with age (Ristin-Kaufmann and Gullberg, 2014), So, if you’re feeling ‘old’ think again! I’ll repeat this again at the end as it’s pretty important! 

Back on planet “I want to learn French” . . . we have an idea of where we want to live  in France but we’re worried about feeling lonely. We worry about not being able to make friends and lean into our French community. So we get learning French. 

But it’s not a gift to open in the post and we’re suddenly bilingual. We KNOW learning French will help us for thirty-plus years - 

First, it will ward off neurological decay and keep us sharp. Secondly, it will actually help us find friends. Then, it will help us deal with purchasing and employment situations.

We will fine-tune our determination, and our organisational skills, and seriously test our patience . . . 

But with all the studying from books, YouTube, Private lessons, group lessons, AI applications . . . nothing seems to prepare us for that moment we just can’t say what we want to say. Our brain totally freezes up! 

But there’s a LOT more going on behind the scenes than just managing how to bust through it! 

Brain freeze is self-sabotage.

Let’s look inside ourselves . . .

Brain freeze is self-sabotage We are not a victim of it - we made it happen. 

Let’s look even closer at that: Brain freeze is a reaction to a thought.  

The physiologic effects of fear.

The thought is usually based on the feeling FEAR.

It’s pure biological physics: 

We can’t find a word, we are going into a situation where we worry our French won’t won’t be good enough, we are trying to learn a whole bunch of words in French  . . .

And somehow, we worry we are being judged, it won’t be good enough, or we just won’t remember and then, in conversations, we will look stupid. 

Whatever the thoughts, they trigger a physical reaction in our brain.

And because we think those thoughts a LOT, it becomes a habit.  That means it becomes automated into our thinking without us even realising it.

That’s the moment we can forgive ourselves because we got to the point where all things associated with language learning become associated with negative thoughts and therefore an automated biological response. A negative one.

Why are we scared?

What does that look, or FEEL like? 

Well, firstly, let’s look inside . . . 

When we feel danger, which is the translation of our thinking about learning French, our body has a biological reaction.  The thoughts turn to chemicals, as it were, and have a DIRECT influence on the body. 

To protect you, the body has an automated response, totally indistinguishable from logic. You need to fight or get away.  That means physically, you need more blood to your arms and legs.  Nothing new. However, where does all this blood come from? 

If you’re feeling butterflies in your stomach, or maybe a little queasy, that’s the translation of your thoughts into ‘fight or flight’ hormones. You’re having the blood vessels in your intestines and stomach squeezed so there is less blood going through.  That’s because, to protect yourself from immediate danger, you don’t need to eat - you need to fight or get away. So we shut the digestive system down.

Now how about this . . . all because of these simple FEAR thoughts, to protect yourself, you don’t need to think either - you need to react fast! It’s pure instinct.  

Now you can almost feel what’s coming next - your immune system and your creative, thinking brain are also shut down - the blood vessels are also restricted to be able to divert blood to the reactionary part of our brain.  You can’t stand in front of a big danger and play around with all sorts of possibilities, you need to just react, fast! So it’s logical. 

You can’t react fast and think fast at the same time. Often, in confusion, we try to do both at once, and that’s when we get that dreaded Brain Freeze.

French speaking gives you butterflies!

Generally, when you’re in a conversation and later you realise what you heard, or what you could have said, that is when your automatic system, your survival instinct was taking over.  And it’s recognising this internal voice that will help you switch swiftly from one system to another. So actually, you learn how to think more quickly.  

Now neuroscientists kindly inform us that we enjoy neuroplasticity until well over the age of 75. So we can learn to listen to that inner voice, and feel those physical effects of stress hormones, such as cortisol, running through our system.  And we can react more favourably for our language brain.

The difficulty for us is that our adrenal system, in a FEAR moment, will send out a LOT of energy. Running away or facing a danger is especially exhausting.  We sit for an hour in a lesson, struggling to ‘get it’ or we pour our mind into books trying to lap up all the grammar.  But we know we want to learn a language and we try to override our system. Our body is screaming “Get away” but we’re trying to activate our thinking brain!  Both can not possibly work at the same time.  

It’s embedded deep in our automatic system, so we can’t. Cortisol, designed to be in short bursts, can be so destructive when we keep pumping it into our system.  We get super tired, we get sick, we have digestive problems.  Learning French is actually making you ill. Now you know why.  

So until we stop the cycle of FEAR, we are remaining in autodestruct. 

So, how do we make that shift?

How to overcome your fear. 

Bearing in mind that by living in FEAR, we are shutting our conscious brain down and making us actually LESS intelligent, we need a switch to change this.  And fast! 

But we won’t always be able to flick it the first time.  It takes a lot of self-awareness:

Listen to that inner voice of fear before you learn or go into a conversation. How is the fear manifesting itself - hands, foot shuffling, tapping feet, tension in your shoulders, worries about others who are nearby hearing you, worries about not saying the right thing, worries about having regrets about what you say . . . whatever it is for you, it will take you time to see how it shows up. 

If you start feeling that, you’re on the next step: dealing with it. 

If you recall that the reaction has closed down your thinking brain, you need to get oxygen into those restricted blood vessels.  It’s just physics. Chances are that in your tension you’ve held your breath a little longer than normal, or experiencing shallow breathing.  

Those of you who have seen some of my earlier mini-lessons, you may remember “The Power Pause”. I stick by it as it will deliver oxygen straight to where you need it!  To the brain.  

It’s simple: Breathe in, deeply.  Hold it and exhale slowly. Repeat. In a conversation situation, just take a deep breath and let your mind lean into what you’re wanting to say. It just gives you a second to ‘flick the switch’ into your thinking brain. 

Now, about dealing with those thoughts in a more long-term way to stop them popping up when we least need them. 

The state of mind in which you approach your French will translate as positive, or destructive hormones. So you have to tell yourself a new narrative.

Make your learning REAL.

This means, in my world, you have to make your learning REAL - Rewarding, Effective and Adventurous Learning. If you find a way to take on one tiny thing you can feel good about with your learning, instead of cramming vocabulary and grammar, then you’re going to feel good.  You’re going to send happy hormones around your body - and feel rewarded with some increased confidence.  Certainly, taking on this approach is adventurous in its way if it’s all new to you!

It’s HOW you learn and your APPROACH to learning that makes the difference as to your brain interpreting your thoughts into chemicals. 

Which means . . . back to the beginning . . . you can stop the brain freeze by how you think, by how you go into ANY situation! Being that little bit older gives us a great edge - the edge of pure satisfaction of being able to tap into personal experience.  We’ve been through many difficulties in life, we know what determination is and we have the experience of previous success.  Which means it’s not such a journey into the unknown.  

And now you have the next challenge - finding your own switch to flick! I can say, it is still a journey for me, but once I knew about all this, an exciting journey of self-discovery began and it was “Au Revoir” to unconscious self-sabotaging thoughts! 

In conclusion, recent studies in learning a second language, as we’re older, have shown that our subconscious learning abilities, as opposed to those of deliberate conscious learning, are more resistant to aging (Polony et al., 2016), and even improve with age (Ristin-Kaufmann and Gullberg, 2014), So, if you’re feeling ‘old’ think again!

We are already the learners we want to be - and everything you need is already right inside you. Go enjoy and make it REAL - Rewarding, Effective and Adventurous Learning. You have the capability, so don’t lack the confidence. 

The following FREE masterclass is available to you to guide you through being able to speak French with confidence.  And if you speak with more confidence, you also hear more easily - really.  Take a peek . . .  https://www.simplyfrenchonline.com head for LEARN and then Masterclass. 

So, do you think you're too old to learn French or on the contrary, do you enjoy it more because you chose it?