Preschool children are naturally inquisitive and eager to learn new skills such as a foreign language. They also have the ability to learn them much more easily and completely than older children and adults. In addition, instruction need not be formal. Preschool children benefit from a simple immersion in the language when they simply hear and react to it in as normal an environment as possible. It is unnecessary, and can even be detrimental, to formally instruct them in the structure or grammar of the foreign language.
Children who learn a foreign language at a young age are much more likely to develop native, or near native, pronunciation and intonation. This is because they find it simpler to mimic the speech patterns of all languages at a preschool age. This skill can help make their use of a foreign language indistinguishable to that of a native speaker.
Preschool children are able to subconsciously differentiate the area of the brain concerned with language learning, according to the Center for Applied Linguistics. This skill means that after learning one foreign language from an early age, even if only to an elementary level, they are later more easily able to learn additional foreign languages. Unfortunately, this ability appears to disappear at age nine.
Complete fluency in a foreign language may only be achievable when learning it from a preschool age. This fluency is greatly sought in airline employees, diplomats, overseas media correspondents, teachers, healthcare providers and other professions. Even if foreign language ability is not strictly necessary in the workplace, it may aid communication with clients, customers and colleagues.
Because language learning is a cognitive ability rather than a linguistic one, children who learn a foreign language at a young age develop advanced critical thinking and creativity skills, according to the President of the National Network for Early Language Learning. This may mean that they outscore peers in both verbal and math tests. Additionally, there appears to be a direct, positive correlation between the length of time young children spend learning a foreign language and their overall academic achievement.