According to Cambridge Dictionary the noun “context” means “the situation within which something exists or happens, and that can help explain it“. As you might guessed I copy-pasted the meaning, hence the underlined words a linked to their meaning in the same dictionary.
The context is an important part when learning non-mother language, especially if you are learning it as an adult. According to Scientific American the ability to learn a new language is strongest until the age of 18, but to become completely fluent, learning should start before the age of 10.
OK, that’s the theory.
Then we have “real life” in which we are (not)motivated to learn languages. I’m going to use my context as an example. Born in 1955 in Praha, Czechoslovakia, I’ve learned Russian at school. Mandatory, started when I was about 9/10, few years after the armies of other lands of Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia and my motivation to learn Russian went down the drain. They even claimed they came to “help” us. Well … I don’t get it. How can help me if someone comes to my home, setting his/her rules there, destroying what’s dear to me?
Back to languages.
Belonging to the Warsaw Pact, we waited 20 more years shut behind the Iron Curtain, losing the precious time and motivation to learn languages used to communicate in the Western Europe.
Yes, we can learn languages the whole life, there are even methods emulating how kids learn. I like Vera Birkenbihl method that I used – without knowing the method – to learn German while living in Germany and English while living in England. However, the motivation was mine … eased by the fact, that I was surrounded by the foreigners or locals who didn’t speak Czech.