 Blackstone Audio Presents Becoming Fluent How Cognitive Science Can Help Adults Learn a Foreign Language by Richard Roberts and Roger Cruz. This book is read by P. J. Oakland. We dedicate this book to our parents, Makayla Whitaker and Richard Roberts, and Paul and Ila Cruz. Prologue Adulthood is the perfect time to expand one's horizons through the study of other languages. All too often, however, the pleasure that should be inherent in learning to speak another language is marred by negative thoughts and experiences, past and present, real and perceived. As a result, we wrote this book for adults of all ages who want to study a foreign language but don't know where to begin. Growing older confers on adults' knowledge and abilities that more than offset any age-related decline. Through this book, we strive to show adult foreign language learners how to take advantage of their considerable strengths. To do so, we have drawn upon relevant research from cognitive science as well as our own experiences teaching, conducting research, learning languages, and working and traveling abroad. Learning would give us greater pleasure than to know that this book has encouraged adults to think about the advantages that only experience can bestow and then to apply those advantages to language learning. 1. Terms and Conditions. If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem wonderful at all. Michelangelo. When you meet someone who speaks a foreign language well, you may attribute her skill in the language to natural ability. This is probably because you don't know about all the hard work that went into achieving this level of mastery. But with the exception of certain people we might call savants, anyone who has ever learned another language as an adult did so only as the result of real effort. In that way, this book is most assuredly not a quick fix. But if you apply the specific skills and abilities you have honed over a lifetime, learning a language can be fun and rewarding. The older you are, the more tools in your toolbox you can take advantage of to reach your goal. Everyone possesses unique sets of skills and abilities that can be applied to language learning if they can get past some false beliefs. It is to these that we now turn. All complete. Ready to continue?