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#1 The Second Language Research Forum is a gathering of linguists at the University of Maryland, who seem to be unable to understand the importance of data. They only hear about the success stories of adults in India who have acquired near-native English proficiency, without any mention of the thousands of adults who will never achieve native proficiency.

#2 The speakers at the conference seemed overly focused on the issue of age and how late you can start learning a new language, but I found that even in the United States, a New Yorker sounds different from a Californian.

#3 The field of applied linguistics has developed a strong theoretical basis over the last thirty years, but has not produced any practical results. I asked Byrnes if she had any success teaching German to students who didn’t know a word of German at the beginning of their freshman year, and she said yes.

#4 I was told that there were no materials available for adults to learn French, but that I could learn woodworking and math. I was convinced, but not completely.

Summary of William Alexander's Flirting with French