26 - America the Bilingual Season 2 - Are you too old to learn another language

Even at 16 we may be too old to learn a new language and speak it without an accent. So what about us adults over 50? Should we even bother trying? Hear longevity expert Laura Carstensen debunk some common assumptions. And hear the story of one intrepid fifty-something language learner who refuses to give up on her efforts to become a bilingual—and to reduce global greenhouse gases, which for her are related quests. The America the Bilingual podcast is part of the Lead with Languages campaign of ACTFL — The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. This episode was written by Steve Leveen, and our producer, Fernando Hernández (who also does our sound design and mixing). Check out the rest of our cast at America the Bilingual-dot-com, including Beckie Rankin, Carlos Plaza, Mim Harrison, and our bark-lingual pup, Chet. Our main musical theme is “Quasi motion”, By Kevin Macleod, under a Creative Commons Attribution License. You can find more of his work here: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/kevin_macleod/ Financial support comes from the Levenger Foundation. Our thanks to Susan Golden, Jason Martin, Roch Hillenbrand, Phil Pizzo and the Stanford DCI staff Thanks for listening, for America the Bilingual, this is Steve Leveen.