Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign language at primary school rather than secondary school.Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages ?

The age which is suitable to start studying foreign language is always a controversial issue. While some specialists claim that it should be at primary school, others insist that is too early. In my opinion, I strongly agree with the former idea because the advantages of this outbalance the disadvantages.

In the first place, the opponents believe that the mind of primary school students has not developed enough to learn another language. Therefore, if we force children to learn, it will lead to their brain harmfulness. Ironically, if it is true, by no means could they study math in their school, which is much more difficult and complicated. Moreover, many real cases prove that children at primary school have ability to learn new knowledge very fast and easily, especially language. As a result, they can learn foreign language better than anyone. For example, my 7 years old cousin can remember 10 new English words after only once read.

In the second place, it is said that when children even have not caught their native language yet, how can they learn a foreign language. Because of the differences between grammar in two languages, their mother tongue skills could be affected negatively. Nevertheless, the paradox here is that if children begin learning a external language at the age of which they are already proficient in their native language, they may find difficult to use another language with the grammar structure is totally different. Consequently, studying foreign language at early age could help to avoid wrong grammar use. For instance, because I start to learn English at secondary school, I usually use Vietnamese structure to speak English and it takes me a long time to correct.

In conclusion, the best time to learn a foreign language is influenced by many factors but it should be early to take advantages of children's ability to study language.