What age is best for learning a new language?
i've heard it's easier as a child...
17 Answers
Anytime before you're dead is good. It doesn't matter when you start, you can learn at any age.
....I've heard something like said before, not sure who said it....
The best time to start learning was when you were a child. The second best time is now. 
Well -
When is the best time to plant a tree?
Answer - about 30 years ago.
A similar idea could be said about learning a language.
In other words "the sooner the better!
Yes, children exposed to languages at an earlier age learn faster. Well ,now that we're all older ,what is there to do but study harder. If it takes a little longer it's still worth. I'm old and only been learning Spanish for 11 months. I think rodneyp has got it right .I'm not dead yet. Buena suerte.
How old are you ? That's probably the best age ....
Children don't learn any faster. Studies have long ago debunked that theory. In an adult has the exact same level and type of immersion, with the same lack of responsibility and distractions as a child, they will learn at the same pace. Of course, achieving that level of immersion is almost impossible.
Any age but mine right now ! 
The younger the better Ideally, in a formal way, from about the age of 9 or 10 years old but younger children can enjoy learning languages informally through games and songs from around the age of 3 years old, and even younger children are still listening, absorbing and imitating their parents and siblings from the time they can create sounds.
We learn our native language/mother tongue informally, first, through the medium of our family, then many children go to nursery/playgroup, and later we learn to develop our vocabulary and understanding of how to use language at school. During all this time we depend on the signficant adults in our lives to correct us and above all, provide us with as good a working model of how to use language as possible!
When I used to work as a teaching assistant in the infant department of a busy primary school I encountered young children; many who had English as a second language. They came from diverse countries such as Spain, France, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico and various parts of Africa and Asia. Many of these children would be learning to speak at least two languages, including their mother tongue, some three languages, and they would be succeeding in doing so. Some bright children could speak better English than children for whom it was their native language
The point that I am making using examples is that the ideal time to learn is during early childhood when the brain is still continuing to grow and develop. Many adults have not had the opportunity to do so and for them therefore I would say start as soon as possible, while your motivation to learn is still strong! It will probably take you considerably longer to learn and become proficient in speaking, understanding writing and reading the language but, be patient with yourself and don't give up and you will reach your own top level which will be different from another person's top level; as our own potential will differ from that of other people.
I hope this helps 
I learned Hungarian from age 2, English from age 4, Spanish from age 14 (and again recently), German from age 19, Italian from age 40.
I don't remember learning my first two - they just "happened".
When I learned German, it caused me to forget most of what Spanish I learned.
When I studied Italian, German phrases kept popping into my head.
Last year, in a restaurant while vacationing in Panama, I asked for "ein vaso de agua" 
I'm enjoying Spanish, possibly helped by an earlier exposure (even though that early study was a coerced school requirement and I wasn't very motivated).
I don't know that my learning is any slower than when I was younger. It's an apples-to-oranges comparison: When I was 2 years old, I was immersed in my target language and had nothing much better to do all day than babble....
rodneyp said
Anytime before you're dead is good
Does this mean that foreign languages cease to exist in heaven?
Edit:
I assume that's where I'm destined to end up.
Generally children do not learn from books , but from their pals, playing. Therefore it is easier. Otherwise in any age you can learn, but in old age , you are learnig more slowly , and you forget more easily. I suppose the main difference is the prononciation, because children can pick up the perfect prononciation, the older not.
Generalmente los niños no estudian de libros, sino de compañeros, jugandos. Por esto lo parece más facil. Por lo demás, hombre puede estudiar en cualquiera edad, pero en la edad vieja , puedes estudiar más lentamente e olvidar más rápido.
Supongo la más grande diferencia es la pronunciación, porque los niños pueden coger la articulación perfecta, los viejos no.
42...
In answer to Eddy's comment, I fear that in hell the temperature is -40C and you have to learn Finnish. As for learning later in life, remember, it's perfectly possible to write without an accent.
In my opinion children are not embarrassed to speak another language and other children won't correct them. Adults might correct their language, but then child are used to being corrected by the parents anyway. That is what I find much more difficult about learning Spanish now, I'm reluctant to speak it. But I didn't care when I was learning Afrikaans as a child.
Any age is fine, it's all up to your motivation and attitude.
Never let the "age" factor hinder you, age is only a number.
