The language you acquire will stay with you for a lifetime, and the language you learn will help you for a lifetime.
At first glance, they all seem to be the same. In fact, what the author wants to tell you is that if you acquire your mother tongue and second language easily from a young age, you will never forget them in your life. But after puberty, you start to learn your second language and only help you when needed. If you don't continue to learn, it will not stay with you for a lifetime. Unless you convert the learned language knowledge into acquired language knowledge or skills.
Recalling my own language learning experience, it can be divided into two stages: the language acquisition stage and the language learning stage. The author was born in Shanghai, China, in the first stage; from birth to elementary school, he spoke Shanghai dialect, commonly known as "Shanghai dialect". This is the first language I acquired, which can also be called my mother tongue. It was acquired entirely through natural communication. There is no memorizing words and learning grammar. However, during this period I also acquired Chinese (Mandarin) at the same time, and I didn’t learn Chinese grammar by memorizing any single words. It was probably after I entered elementary school that I started to learn Chinese formally. Therefore, Shanghainese and Chinese are both my mother tongue. These two languages ????will never be forgotten and will stay with me forever. According to my recollection, the two languages ??did not interfere with each other. My ancestral home is Xiangtan, Hunan. My grandparents all spoke Hunan dialect (Xiang dialect) in Shanghai and they can also speak Shanghai dialect, but the local accent is hard to change. I have been able to understand Hunan dialect since I was a child, but I don’t know if I can’t speak it or if I don’t want to speak it.
Chinese should be acquired and learned in two ways at the same time, and within the so-called critical period. Learning Chinese is just like ordinary primary school students, from easy to difficult. I didn’t memorize grammar rules, let alone the Three Character Classic, the Four Books and the Five Classics, but I read a lot of Tang poetry and Song lyrics. Starting from learning "whatever the size, go up and down", the most memorable thing is that my father hoped that every child should "draw red", that is, use a brush to write on a book with red letters printed on it. Helping students how to write in sequence will actually be very helpful for me to practice calligraphy in the future. I don’t know if primary school students in China still practice it. I also sometimes let my American students try writing calligraphy. Students’ interests should be cultivated everywhere.
The second stage is the stage of learning and acquiring English; my father was one of the first ocean shipping captains in New China, and English was the communication tool for his work. Every time I go back to China for vacation, I always like to read English books aloud, and we are not required to participate together. Now that I think about it, this experience had a somewhat positive impact on my language acquisition experience. When I was in middle school, I became more and more interested in English, and I firmly believed that English would be useful. In the early stage of learning English, I was completely self-study. Strictly speaking, I just read original English works. I started reading English grammar, dictionaries and other books that my father and uncle left at home. The one that impressed me most was the English version of "Reader's Digest" because the articles were short and interesting. Most of the time, I don't want to stop and look up the dictionary unless I encounter a word that I must look up. Generally based on interest and percentage, 80-90 is fine. I also read English newspapers and magazines in the future. What impressed me most at that time was the English version of "Beijing Weekly" and some English newspapers from developed countries. The most impressive English audio textbook is "Linge Style". Maybe I like this textbook and learned the British accent. Later, I learned "900 English Sentences" and learned an American accent. It took me many years to learn English by myself through reading. It was not until I entered the English Department of a normal university that I systematically learned grammar rules and strengthened my listening skills. But at that time, I already had a sense of the English language, and mistakes that did not conform to English standards would be immediately felt. Grammar and vocabulary are all learned through reading. I remember reading volumes 6-8 of Xu Guozhang. Generally, discussions with classmates and teachers are based on the premise of correct grammar and which ones are more in line with English habits.