<p>I’ve seen a number of children go through the same process, and I’m asking this question because I’d love to understand them better.</p>
<p>Children, after relocating to a country with a language with which they are entirely unfamiliar, will often acquire a near-native accent, while adults rarely do. I ask about accents in particular as language acquisition is a very broad subject, and I’d like to focus the question on only the differences between adoption of near-native accents in adults, and the adoption of the same in children.</p>
<p>If the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period_hypothesis" rel="nofollow noreferrer">critical period hypothesis</a> is to be believed, most of the commonly-accepted windows have been passed by 3-5 years of age. Despite this, there continues to be a significant difference from adults in the rate of near-native accent adoption, and in the plateau reached in average accent adoption, well into the early teens if not later. What would account for this inverse relationship between age and near-native accent adoption?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-20T12:27:08.563Z
When Googling "critical window theory" the top pages I get are information on the critical window hypothesis of hormone therapy and cognition

(for example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3780981/). To remove ambiguity, can you please link to information on the correct hypothesis you are referring to?
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-20T21:45:02.953Z
@ChrisRogers Done! [Here's more info as well](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period#Second_language_acquisition), in case you're interested
TheEnvironmentalist
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-24T11:42:04.613Z
Very interesting question, had it asked to me some time ago and couldn't come up with a good answer. [Perceptual narrowing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptual_narrowing) is a satisfactory explanation in the early stages of development, but it seems to [slow down to a crawl](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0163638384800223) after about one year of age...
David Cian
<developmental-psychology><language><children>
Why do expat children acquire accents more effectively than adults?
TheEnvironmentalist
# Why do expat children acquire accents more effectively than adults?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-09-19)

I’ve seen a number of children go through the same process, and I’m asking this question because I’d love to understand them better.

Children, after relocating to a country with a language with which they are entirely unfamiliar, will often acquire a near-native accent, while adults rarely do. I ask about accents in particular as language acquisition is a very broad subject, and I’d like to focus the question on only the differences between adoption of near-native accents in adults, and the adoption of the same in children.

If the [critical period hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period_hypothesis) is to be believed, most of the commonly-accepted windows have been passed by 3-5 years of age. Despite this, there continues to be a significant difference from adults in the rate of near-native accent adoption, and in the plateau reached in average accent adoption, well into the early teens if not later. What would account for this inverse relationship between age and near-native accent adoption?

**Tags:** developmental-psychology, language, children

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: When Googling "critical window theory" the top pages I get are information on the critical window hypothesis of hormone therapy and cognition  (for example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3780981/). To remove ambiguity, can you please link to information on the correct hypothesis you are referring to?  
> **username_0**: @ChrisRogers Done! [Here's more info as well](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period#Second_language_acquisition), in case you're interested  
> **username_2**: Very interesting question, had it asked to me some time ago and couldn't come up with a good answer. [Perceptual narrowing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptual_narrowing) is a satisfactory explanation in the early stages of development, but it seems to [slow down to a crawl](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0163638384800223) after about one year of age...  

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## 0 answers

